New “tech hub” will land in Portugal through Brazilian investors

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Connecting technology and education. This is one of the goals of the Brazilian group that intends to build an “innovation tech hub” on the already acquired land in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.

The plan is to build an ecosystem uniting the “academic and professional worlds” and with “the capacity to compete on a global level”, attracting brands such as Google, Microsoft and Netflix. But this will only be possible after investing between €700 (US$790) million and €1 billion in the project over the next 5 years.

This venture is now underway and has a name: Gaia Innovation City. This new hub is, in the words of Gaia Mayor Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, “the largest investment project for a technology campus in the North of Portugal, which will combine higher education with a technology park, aiming at the large-scale integration of technology research, education, and economic entrepreneurship, in an environmentally sustainable framework,” he said.

GCMP – Gestão de Capital & Management, controlled by three São Paulo entrepreneurs, is leading the investment and has set up the vehicle company Gaia Innovation City, Lda. In order to develop the tech hub, the company has already sealed the purchase of the 20.8 hectare land by paying €8 million to the Gaia Douro fund – the land is part of the Madalena Camping Park owned by the fund.

The project had been under analysis by the local authority and all indications suggest that the Gaia City Council approved the project on Monday, January 24.

The acquisition of the land does not imply the extinction of this campsite. “The campsite will not cease to exist, but it will be reduced and, in fact, its occupation model will have to be reconsidered because there were people living there all year round and this cannot happen,” explained Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues in a press release on January 11.

The investment behind the new Gaia Innovation City will have an expected initial cost of €700 million euros, as advanced by the municipality in the same note. But the total capital allocated to the project may be even higher: the investment may exceed €1 billion during the 5 years of its development.

The first phase of the project will cover a construction area of 166,400 m2, which could reach 250,000 m2. Of this area, about 35% should be allocated to offices, 20% to student residences, 14% to educational facilities and research and health centers, 13% to housing for teachers and executives, 11% to a hotel and conference center, and 7% to commercial units.

AMAZON, FACEBOOK AND TESLA MAY COME TO SETTLE IN THE NEW TECH HUB

Gaia Innovation City “will integrate a whole set of services and infrastructures that enhance the incubation of talent, with an estimated learning and entrepreneurial cycle of 10 years, which will enable the training and preparation of those who will be the future managers of the world’s largest companies,” according to the same note.

And that is why, they say, this facility “will be able to generate employment in several areas, with teaching equipment, innovation and technology companies, hotel, retail area, and infrastructure asset management services.” It is estimated that a total of 15,000 direct jobs will be created.

Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, Apple, IBM, Google, Microsoft and Netflix are among the “potential candidates” to operate in this facility, which will also have partnerships with universities, including student housing.