Advanced Industrial Production

• The Porto region hosts leading manufacturers and suppliers of specialised technologies for the manufacturing industry in Portugal, such as Frezite, Adira, and Efacec.

• The excellence in R&D and innovation enabled Porto to attract Engineering or Tech Centres of prestigious multinational companies such as Vestas, Voltalia, and Continental.

• The city is also home to PRODUTECH, the Production Technologies Cluster of Portugal, which was awarded in 2015 the Gold Label of the European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI).

• INEGI - Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, is a leading interface institute actively transferring technology to industry, and its research infrastructure includes a wide range of well-equipped laboratories and engineering tools for supporting research, development and production of industrial prototypes.

• INESC TEC - Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers, another cornerstone organization of industrial innovation in the Porto region, offers advanced ICT and electronic solutions for machinery and equipment. It established the iiLAB – Industry and Innovation Lab, with demonstrators in the Industry 4.0 domain, and is involved in the coordination of the iMan Norte Hub – Digital Innovation Hub for Customer-Driven Manufacturing @ Norte.

• Research Center for Systems and Technologies (SYSTEC) at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto gathers top researchers and scholars in systems, control, optimization, estimation and data science, Cyber-Physical Systems for Manufacturing, Smart Energy Systems and Technologies, and Networked Robotic Vehicles and Systems Technologies. Its Digital and Intelligent Industry Lab conducts research in advanced control concepts and systems, tools and technologies for a wide range of industrial applications including robotics, automation and networked systems, and in particular innovative systems based on networks with high industrial and social impact.

• Portugal is the 2nd country in Europe with the highest rate of engineering graduates.

• Porto’s macro-region has more than 56,000 students in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

• The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto is currently one of Portugal’s oldest and most prestigious teaching and research institutions in engineering and related fields. Its mechanical engineering course is ranked the 86th in the world (NTU ranking 2019).

• The School of Engineering of Porto Polytechnic is also one of the top schools of engineering and technology in Portugal and has achieved the European quality certification OE+EUR-ACE, the main European quality reference in engineering education.

Source: Eurostat (2019), DGEEC (2020), FEUP (2020), ISEP (2020)

• The tax benefits granted by SIFIDE II provide support to R&D activities related to the creation or improvement of a product, process, program or equipment that represents a substantial improvement of existing techniques. It allows to recover up to 82.5% of investments in R&D activities that did not benefit from any State grant.