“PACT is a reflection of the transformation of the Alentejo” – SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS PACT AND MEETS WITH COMPANIES IN THE ECOSYSTEM
22 June 2023
On the afternoon of June 21, a working meeting was held at PACT that was attended by the Secretary of State for the Economy, Pedro Cilínio, and representatives of some of the companies in the PACT ecosystem, within the scope of the “Closer Government” initiative in the district of Évora.
The Executive President of PACT, Soumodip Sarkar, highlights that “in addition to the dynamic role of a new Alentejo that PACT has, through the leadership of the SRTT (Regional Technology Transfer System), attracting innovative companies with high potential for value creation and boosting innovation through the dynamization and promotion of synergies between the academic and business ecosystem, PACT also has an aggregating role at regional level. In this regard, we seek to provide spaces for discussion and establish points of communication, essential for the coordination and success of regional and local development activities, of which this session is an example.”
In the session, which opened with a speech by the Executive President of PACT, the various companies had the opportunity to present the work developed so far, highlight the main benefits of integrating the PACT ecosystem and share the challenges they have encountered and in which they would like to have more support from the Government, namely in terms of the scarcity of resources and talent, the most pointed factor.
After the meeting, which was attended by representatives of 14 companies that are part of the PACT ecosystem (ALÔ UNIVERSE, BRIGHTEN, CEiiA, DECSIS, EMPOWERED STARTUPS, INTERPREV, ITGEST, KPMG, NOV@BIT, NTT DATA, OXR TECH, TE CONNECTIVITY and TWO IMPULSE), this was followed by a visit to the offices of some of the companies present, the facilities of the Jerónimo Martins Building and the PACT 2.0 work. The meeting ended with a short moment of coffee break and networking.
In the words of the Secretary of State for the Economy, “PACT is a reflection of the transformation of the Alentejo. Their contribution to the remarkable progress of the region is very relevant”. In his speech, Pedro Cilínio stressed the importance of the existence of knowledge hubs for regional development and territorial cohesion, and pointed out the advantages that the new economic model, based on the operation of collaboration and innovation networks and the differentiation of products and services, presents.
The objective of the session, says Soumodip Sarkar, was “to give an account of the ambition of the Alentejo, to prove that the region has all the conditions to be specially developed and responsible for strong contributions to the country in terms of technology and innovation, and to show that this transformation is already a reality.”
Currently, PACT is in a growth phase, with a project to expand its facilities signed by the architect Carrilho da Graça, through the creation of four new buildings. In addition to hosting companies linked to its strategic areas (Aeronautics, Circular Economy, Health Technologies and Industry 4.0.), the new infrastructures will have spaces dedicated to research.
