On April 21st, United Nations´ World Creativity and Innovation Day, Porto Business School is launching the Center for Entrepreneurship, Growth & Competitiveness, a new strategic platform designed to convert entrepreneurship and innovation into real growth and long-term competitiveness.
This Center is built with a clear ambition:
to position Porto, Portugal, and Europe as leading ecosystems for building, scaling, and competing in the next decade.
Why this Center, why now
We are at a critical moment.
Europe faces structural challenges in productivity, business scale, and global competitiveness.
Portugal has shown strong entrepreneurial momentum, but still struggles to translate it into economic scale and impact.
This Center addresses those challenges and opportunities by:
- Strengthening entrepreneurship across all stages of business
- Accelerating the growth of startups, SMEs and family businesses
- Contributing to a renewed agenda for national and European competitiveness
A unique approach: from entrepreneurship to competitiveness
The Center is structured around three interconnected pillars:
- Entrepreneurship
New models for venture creation and innovation - Growth
Scaling, internationalization, and sustainable expansion - Competitiveness
Productivity, resilience, and economic positioning
More than an academic initiative, this is an action-driven ecosystem, connecting knowledge, companies, capital, and policy.
An international platform for collaboration
To deliver on this ambition, the Center will be developed in collaboration with leading national and international partners, combining:
- executive education
- applied research
- practical projects with organizations from the private and public sectors
- events and initiatives to connect the ecosystem
Agenda
April 21st | Porto Business School
14:30 | Welcome Coffee
Reception of participants and initial networking
15:00 | Institutional Opening
José Esteves, Dean of Porto Business School
Álvaro Santos, President of the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission
15:15 | The Vision and Architecture of the Center
Diogo Almeida Alves, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Growth & Competitiveness
15:45 | Strategic Panel
Entrepreneurship, Growth & Competitiveness: The Next Agenda for Portugal
A discussion about the main challenges and opportunities for the Portuguese economy, crossing entrepreneurship, investment, scale and competitiveness
Lurdes Gramaxo, Partner Bynd VC and President of Investors Portugal
Simão Soares, CEO SilicoLife and Chairperson of the Portuguese Association of Bioindustry
Inês Sequeira, CEO of Rede Capital Social e Head of Partnerships of the Long Life Venture Builder at London School of Economics
Micaela Pires Cabral, Advisor of the Board of Directors at José de Mello e Alternate at the Associação Business Roundtable Portugal
Marco Moreira, Equity Manager at the Banco Português de Fomento
17:05 | Intitutional Closing
Carolina Ferreira, Chief of the Municipal Division of Talent and Promotion of Employability of the Porto City Council
17:35 | Networking Cocktail
Who should attend
This event is designed for:
- Business leaders and executives
- Entrepreneurs and investors
- Public sector and institutional leaders
- Porto Business School community and alumni
Join Us
Secure your place and join us for this foundational moment.
Register here!