Lisboa’s innovative landscape

The city innovation ecosystem leverages on the cooperation and participation of the stakeholders, empowering partners and citizens and creating a real Community of Talent, providing a unique framework for companies and startups to face daily challenges through collaborative decisions, promoting knowledge transfer, shared solutions and inclusive innovation.
Engaging citizens, choosing data-driven decisions, involving academia, companies and governmental institutions, leads to a genuine participatory process fostering a strong innovation ecosystem. Lisboa’s innovative landscape is also known by its unique conditions (great weather, great food, good infrastructures, collaborative institutions) to foster those who want to start up a new project, to scale up businesses or just embrace a revolutionary endeavor.
After all, Lisboa is the home of the believers.
This network guarantees the availability, by the Municipality and stakeholders, of spaces in the city with different characteristic, where experimentation is possible, partnerships are encouraged and co-creation projects are implemented. These spaces bring together different areas of expertise by intersecting various subjects and skills.

Innovation comes from diversity and from this intersection in different areas, in these spaces that are open to all, and where people, from different backgrounds and profiles, cross paths.
In an era of rapid technological advancements and a growing emphasis on innovation, this interactive ecosystem empowered Lisboa as an innovation Hub, a living laboratory where public bodies, companies, universities, research centers, technological institutes and citizens collaborate in developing, testing, and experimenting new products and services. In building the Lisboa of the future, the city council recognizes innovation as a driver of development for every public policy, not limited to its role in the economy but extending its transformative potential to all areas of public action. Innovation, being accessible, allows the design of a fairer, more inclusive, and more authentic city and a more democratic and more transparent society. The city is committed in keep opening innovation as a solution to urban challenges, in an interventional and constructive strategy based on People, Science and Technology and Culture.
In building the Lisboa of the future, the city council recognizes innovation as a driver of development for every public policy, not limited to its role in the economy but extending its transformative potential to all areas of public action. Innovation, being accessible, allows the design of a fairer, more inclusive, and more authentic city and a more democratic and more transparent society. The city is committed in keep opening innovation as a solution to urban challenges, in an interventional and constructive strategy based on People, Science and Technology and Culture.
Facts and Figures about Lisboa:
  • Since 2021, more than 50 foreign companies invested in Lisboa creating a tech hub , representing more than 8000 highly qualified jobs
  • Lisboa is “the” place to be for more than 150 coworks, incubation & acceleration entities (vs. less than 10 in 2015)
  • We have 3 of the top 50 world universities, according to the Financial Times
  • There are nearly 150,000 students enrolled in universities in Lisbon, of which 25,000 are international students
  • 20% of the population of Lisboa is foreign residents. In 10 years, the number has increased by 145%
  • There are 7 unicorns with Portuguese DNA (vs. 2 in Italy and 1 in Greece)
  • Lisboa is #4 most popular startup hub in Europe (2022)
  • Monocle (2023) places Lisboa in the Top 10 cities with better quality of living
  • Lisboa is in Top 3 city for digital nomads (Nomad List)
  • Portugal is in TOP 10 best countries to launch a startup, ahead of the US, France or Germany (2023, Business Name Generator)
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  • …and last but not the least…Lisboa is #1 happiest city in the world (2022, iVisa)