BrazilPNO Consultants enters Portugal with Lisbon and Porto offices
European subsidy and innovation consultancy PNO Consultants has launched in Portugal, opening two offices simultaneously in Lisbon and Porto.
The market entry into the Southern-European country means that PNO Consultants now has operations in eight European countries, with other hubs based in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
According to Paolo Salvatore, an Italian who sits on the board of PNO Consultants, the move into Portugal reflects growing demand for innovation services in the country. “The innovation trajectory of Portugal in the past decade has been remarkable,” he said.
Expanding on his assertion, Salvatore pointed at Portugal’s rise in the ‘European Innovation Scoreboard’, an annual assessment by the European Commission on the innovation performance of member states. Following gradual progress over the past decade, in 2019 Portugal was first classified as a ‘strong innovator’, building on strengths in areas such as digitalisation, a professionalising subsidy framework, a solid innovation ecosystem and the availability of talent.
“From our bases in Portugal, we aim to cooperate with the vibrant innovation ecosystem in Portugal and link it to our vast European network, towards further fostering the innovation potential of the country,” said Salvatore.
Leveraging its international expertise, PNO Consultants’ Portuguese arm will offer a spectrum of services in the field of public funding, innovation, and compliance, with a focus on the sectors energy, mobility & supply chain, climate & environment, aerospace, security, defence, life sciences & health, and information technology.
“Ranking the 31st place among 132 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index 2021, being an active participant in EU funding programs and also one of the European frontrunners in the area of renewable energy, Portugal offers many opportunities for a consulting firm such as PNO Consultants to support science, technology and industrial businesses innovation with its professional services,” added Salvatore.
Last year, another international consultancy – Metyis – also announced growth plans in Portugal. The opening of the new campus in Gondomar is planned to create around 1,000 new jobs in the region by 2025.
