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A study by Focus Economics describing the Commodities 2023 Outlook forecasts that commodity prices, which reached record highs in 2022, will fall slightly in 2023 in line with global demand. However, tight supply is expected to keep prices high compared to historical data. Energy prices, that peaked with the onset of war in Ukraine due to disrupted energy supplies from Russia, are expected to fall slightly going into 2023. Even though limited supply will keep prices relatively high, the prices of gasoline are following a downward trend. Oil prices are set to fall slightly in 2023 in line with lower demand. In 2022, even though higher energy costs are forcing central banks to take measures to control inflation, high oil prices can be offset with the transition towards Green Energy. World economic growth is expected to slowdown in 2023 and base metal prices have slumped by over 25%, as Russian metal supply has not been affected by sanctions. Metal prices are expected to keep falling going into 2023 in line with the slowdown in the U.S. and Europe. Precious metal prices are expected to increase slightly in 2023, especially for platinum and palladium that are used in catalytic converters for motor vehicles. Since gold is used as a hedge against inflation, there is also rising demand. Agricultural prices, that reached record highs in 2022 in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, have fallen sharply with Ukrainian agricultural exports resuming. Agricultural prices are expected to fall slightly but will remain historically high with wheat prices that are expected to remain at around USD 800 cents per bushel. However, this will be mitigated by the increase in wheat supply from Canada. The outlook for 2023 is expected to be slightly better than in 2022 and the transition towards Green Energy should contribute towards brighter prospects. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/commodities-2023-outlook #FocusEconomics #Commodities2023Outlook #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Bio-Hub Portugal, the national platform for development research on innovative biopharmaceuticals, is investing EUR 19.2 million for a programme that is funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). Bio-Hub, that deals with the development and marketing of biological medicinal products, has already received a down-payment of EUR 2 501 289, that is 13% of the total amount. The programme, that is starting on January 1st 2023, is developed in order to create an international hub in the field of Health Sciences. The hub will support the production of innovative biological medicines, that are medicines whose active substance is made by a living organism. This will increase the supply of innovative biological products and support exports, as the initiative will add value to exports from the biopharmaceutical sector. This new programme, that is under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), will provide synergies between academia and the business sector. The Bio-Hub consortium is comprised of 4 promoters and involves the creation of a production unit that will provide support for the development of biopharmaceuticals as well as product marketing. Investments in the sector will reach EUR 46 467 798 as the consortium intends to position Portugal to spearhead the development of new biological therapies for various pathologies. The programme’s first beneficiaries include the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon, that received EUR 1 million and the Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation IAPMEI, that received a total funding of EUR 19.2 million. The RRP provides investments to be implemented by 2026 for a sustainable and inclusive recovery. It comprises of 6 pillars for the 2030 EU strategy, that are the transition to a Green economy, digital transformation, smart growth that includes SMEs, social and territorial cohesion, health and economic resilience as well as well as policies for future generations. There is an ongoing Call for Proposals for the selection of projects and beneficiaries of the RRP fund that will support the development of a Portugal Biopharmaceutical Hub. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/bio-hub-portugal #biohubportugal #recoveryandresilienceplan #universityoflisbon #IAPMEI #biopharmaceuticalsportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal’s FinTech ecosystem attracted over €1 billion in total funding and is attracting major international players. Global FinTech Reltio, that has a total funding of $ 237 M according to Crunchbase, has just announced that Lisbon is to be their Tech Hub in Europe. Global FinTech Reltio, that has a valuation of around EUR 1.7 billion, has crossed the $ 100 million mark in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Reltio just announced that they have selected Portugal as their Tech Hub for the adoption of cloud Master Data Management (MDM) solutions as part of their digital transformation strategies. Reltio Portugal will serve as an EU hub for developing innovation with cloud, big data, and machine learning technology. According to the Portugal FinTech Report 2022, the total funding from the Portugal FinTech ecosystem, excluding international FinTech companies operating in Portugal, totals € 1,079,745,694. The top Portugal FinTech companies have raised an aggregate of over € 1 billion euros, this figure excluding global FinTech companies operating in Portugal. Funding for blockchain and crypto accounts for a share of 76%, while the lending and credit segment accounts for 12% and the RegTech and cybersecurity segments obtained 6% of funding. On average 48% of companies obtain funding from international investors. Lisbon and Porto are the main FinTech hubs. According to the Portugal FinTech Report 2022, Portugal is now at a mature stage of the FinTech ecosystem. This is because Portugal is a world class hub for FinTech companies, with the presence of several unicorns. Portugal created a fast-track to attract FinTech companies to Portugal. The start-up Visa is a program for start-ups as well as companies in a more mature stage. Within a short period of time, seven unicorns emerged in Portugal, attracting the attention of international funds and investors. Fintech House created an ecosystem where companies from the FinTech, RegTech, InsureTech and Cybersecurity segments in Portugal can easily interact with regulators, banks, investors and other relevant entities. Its new facilities house 80 FinTechs. Fintech House is a FinTech incubator that collaborates with BPI, Fidelidade Seguros, INCM, Morais Leitão, Visa and KPMG in order to provide support to start-ups by connecting them to banks and by fostering growth for globalization. Thus, collaboration between FinTech segments is now streamlined in Portugal, with mature players creating an ecosystem. It is an environment where start-ups collaborate with larger companies and banks. In April 2021, Banco de Portugal (BdP) adopted a regulation for companies that provide virtual assets. In Portugal, Bison Bank is the first bank that was authorized to provide virtual assets’ custody through the Bison Digital Assets. The company acts as a bridge between the Traditional Financial segment (TradFi) and the Cryptocurrencies or digital assets segment. FinTech companies provide a new disruptive technology to enhance traditional financial activities. Visa, being in a privileged position at the core of the payments system, bridges the gap between traditional systems and emerging technologies developed by FinTech companies. The total value of the entire crypto market is around $1 trillion. Centralized crypto exchanges and established blockchains are not vulnerable to hackers due to enhanced cybersecurity measures. While Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols have multiple layers of security, they are lucrative targets for hackers as the market segment has the largest growth in terms of the processed transaction value. Therefore, securing blockchain protocols is the next step of the Web3 process. The Global Cybersecurity Index 2020 report measures the commitment of 193 countries towards cybersecurity issues. In this report, Portugal ranks 14th for the Global Index and 8th for the European index. This is attracting major players in the field of cybersecurity and digital sovereignty, such as UBCOM that just opened an office in Portugal. UBCOM is planning rapid growth in 2023 as they expect to reach a turnover of EUR 1 M and to recruit seven engineers on-site. With the Market in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) coming into force, there are now benchmarks for crypto assets in the EU. Another evolution includes the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). CBDCs will transform the banking system which currently uses the Swift system. CBDCs will provide digital validation for information that pass-through the banking system and this will lower transaction costs. China has already started testing CBDCs in a number of cities including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou. In France, the central bank is working with IBM to use blockchain technology. Banks are now transforming into Tech companies. In the EMEA region, some banks have well-developed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and AI systems. Belgian bank KBC now has a subsidiary focused on AI applications that target the prevention of financial crime. With the MiCA regulation of crypto assets and the move towards Central Bank Digital Currencies, the digital Euro may become a reality by 2026. Despite falling Tech stocks and concerns about an economic downturn, global FinTech Venture Capital (VC) is seemingly not affected. Companies like Uphold have managed to raise Euros 30.6 M capital with investment from Hard Yaka. Private capital from investment funds have reached an all-time high of $3.6 trillion. Public companies are looking into Mergers and Acquisitions in the FinTech sector that is not showing any sign of a slow-down. Start-up Pleo raised $200 million in December and chose Portugal for their FinTech hub in Europe. Lisbon is renowned as a hub for FinTech innovation. The Web Summit, that started in Dublin, was held in Portugal since current Portugal Prime Minister convinced the organizers to move. The move attracted innovative FinTech companies and contributed to the dynamic Tech environment. Anchorage Digital, Portugal’s first crypto unicorn, raised $350,000,000 last year, and this provided them with a buffer that could sustain many years of downturn. There is a number of international FinTechs operating in Portugal, such as Arcopay, Sfera, Weavr, Unify Giving, Yapily and many others. Moreover, there are more than 10 unicorns coming out of Portugal, and the trend is continuing with emerging blockchain companies such as Anchorage, Wallet Connect, Utrust and Consensys Diligence, to name a few. Global player Reltio, that has a presence in 140 countries, has just announced that they have selected Lisbon for their EU hub. Reltio collaborates with 14 of the Fortune 100 companies and with global companies that include Pfizer, L'Oréal and AstraZeneca, which all rely on the Reltio platform. Reltio and Google Cloud are expanding their partnership to unleash the impact of analytics and data science. Portugal’s FinTech success story is yet to lead to more major developments in the financial sector with more and more start-ups and global companies joining the dynamic Tech scene. Fitch Ratings have just announced that they have upgraded Portugal’s long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to BBB+ and has stated that the outlook is stable. It is a sign of the market confidence and will further strengthen the Portugal FinTech sector as a mature segment with a high-growth potential. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-fintech #PortugalFinTech #Reltio #FintechHouse #PortugalTechHub #BisonBank #Visa #UBCOM #Uphold #Pleo #AnchorageDigital #Arcopay #Sfera #Weavr #UnifyGiving #Yapily #Anchorage #Wallet #Connect #Utrust #ConsensysDiligence #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews #fintechportugal

The Rise of Digital Humans may be silent, but in five years they will represent such a large population that they will have hundreds of millions of conversations daily. And it is not just about the metaverse, as the presence of digital humans will be woven into the very fabric of society. We live in a digital age where flying cars have obtained the certification of airworthiness and air-taxi services with digital tracking will be available as soon as 2030. Digital humans are being cloned after existing employees. Not only will your colleagues soon be digital, but they will know better than you how to achieve the best results. The digital humans’ industry is now in its incubation period with the use of Web3, the metaverse and AI. This will lead to the rise of digital clones representing a market of USD 527.58 billion in 2030 according to a study by Emergen Research. Digital humans with an AI brain will assist humans in their daily lives. They work 24/7, they never complain, they never go on strike, nor do they take a coffee-break. What was deemed to be futuristic is not anymore and investors are targeting the digital sector. China plans to regulate Digital Humans as the government has projected that, by 2025, the market will hit $ 7.3 billion in Beijing alone. Digital humans will soon work in online banking, in PR, in sales and in tourism. Tech giant Alibaba created a digital influencer for the 2022 Olympic Games and the outspoken young woman was passionate about sports and had her own fans. To bring Dong Dong to life, Alibaba built a special cloud-based AI model that uses Text-to-Speech technology and leveraged 3D-driven innovations to create her realistic facial expressions and natural body movements. Digital tech companies are creating digital humans and the rise of digital humans is being led by Portuguese company Didimo. According to Crunchbase, Didimo is the world’s leading platform for digital humans. The company has received a total funding of $ 15.9 M and has just raised $ 7.3 million funding mostly from Armilar Venture Partners, but also from Bright Pixel Capital, Portugal Ventures and Techstars. Founder Veronica Costa Orvalho has stated that a new world of digital humans is dawning. Didimo has developed a method for realistic 3D face reconstruction using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that directly estimates the shape coefficients of a custom 3D Morphable Model (3DMM) from a single picture. An enhanced 3DMM will cover facial expressions to harness the power of effective digital human twins. From the Greek word Didimo, that means twin, the company’s pioneer technology led them to work on projects with Amazon and Sony. Other companies operating in the field include Microsoft Corporation, UneeQ, Wolf3D, HOUR ONE AI and many others. The digital sphere will become more human and the lines will become blurred, as companies will capture the faces of their employees and turn them into 3D digital human twins. By 2027, investments in metaverse technologies developing fully virtual workspaces will grow by 30%. Virtual spaces are the future of luxury retail as digital marketing will evolve to include metaverse marketing. The future of luxury branding will include trend mapping methods in order to market trusted brands to new generations. The world’s largest diamond producer, the De Beers Group, just launched their 2022 Diamond Insight Report, titled ‘A new diamond world: bringing trusted brands to new generations in a digital age’. The report talks about a new breed of humans produced by the fusion of physical and digital that is described as being “phygital”. This new breed of phygital beings is now being incorporated into retail strategies, branded offerings and Web3 experiences, as these are the key trends shaping how consumers, in particular Gen Z, perceive and engage with suppliers. These trends are converging and accelerating, spurred by global events and by the power of digital technology for a new generation of consumers. According to De Beers, around half of all diamond jewelry purchases in the US are now researched online, highlighting the importance of digital humans. Web3 and the metaverse are potential game-changers in the field of marketing. These nascent technologies aim to merge the physical and digital worlds and a number of high-profile luxury brands are already investing heavily in this space. Portuguese company Exclusible is creating a NFT marketplace for luxury brands. The company just obtained a Euros 5M funding. The Portuguese start-up in the field of Web3 and the Metaverse aims at creating a new web generation. The company just bought architectural firm Polycount that produces digital projects on the platform Spatial.io. This allowed Exclusible to penetrate the US market as the first photorealistic metaverse builder and to build a portfolio of prestigious partners. A fleet of virtual workers with infinite scalability is now emerging. Didimo founder Veronica Costa Orvalho envisions a world where technology not only retains our humanity but enhances it. The rise of digital humans is not to be confused with the “didymo” species, an invasive algae that is to be prevented from spreading in our rivers. If you ever see a “didymo”, you are invited to contact the Ministry of Environment as soon as possible. With the rise of the Alibaba breed of digital humans in China, the Chinese government has stated that digital humans need to be registered with their real-life human twin for identification. This will be a deterrent against scams and misinformation and means that data collected on platforms needs to be tied to users’ human identity. Digital human twins do not die, even if their human counterpart dies. A recent podcast amazed listeners when they heard a live interview of Steve Jobs, even though he is dead. The Apple founder, who died in 2011, was recently interviewed in a podcast by the company Play.ht. The podcast used an AI model to resurrect Apple's co-founder. Listeners heard a resurrected Steve Jobs talk about his life before his death. Ethical questions arise and include how humans will react to digital humans and whether they will trust in their opinions. Digital humans are created to mimic humans in a way that is indistinguishable from a real person, and it is difficult to imagine the conversations that may arise between the two species and the type of information that will be stored, as digital humans are not only listening, but they are able to collect and use the information obtained in unexpected ways. The Rise of Digital Humans is emerging, and the future is now. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/digital-humans #Didimo #Exclusible #ArmilarVenturePartners #BrightPixelCapital #PortugalVentures #Techstars #Alibaba #DeBeersGroup #Emergen #digitalhumans #Web3news #metaversenews #metaversemarketing #NFTmarketplace #AInews #Portugalmetaverse #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews #digitalnewsportugal

AI company Unbabel will invest EUR 78 million to translate Portugal into the Future. The Portuguese AI translation platform intends to position Portugal to spearhead AI developments. The economic spillover is expected to reach EUR 250 million in total exports by 2030 with the development of 21 new AI products. A report from Verified Market Research shows a 2.8 percent growth in the translation industry by 2028, representing a total value of $46.22 billion. Unbabel, that raised a total Series C funding of $ 100 M, was elected among the top Portuguese scale-ups and is among the major global companies in the field. Founder Vasco Pedro stated that the US market accounts for 70% of revenues, but that Europe and Asia are part of their growth strategy as they intend to corner the market in the field of multilingual customer service. With headquarters in San Francisco, Unbabel works with leading brands such as Booking.com, Nestle, Panasonic, Patagonia and UPS. By removing language barriers and blending AI, Portuguese Unbabel is discovering new frontiers. New frontiers in the field include the Fintech sector that is disrupting User Experience in Banking. Fintech disruption is to be reflected in a global market growth that is expected to triple by 2028 to reach $ 332.5 billion. Fintech companies can scale-up by providing their products across multiple languages without hiring translators or using generic machine translation for marketing and customer support, including chatbots. Google translates more than 300 trillion words on a yearly basis, while the professional translation industry produces around 200 billion words yearly. With major players in this field, such as Microsoft Bing Translator, Yandex MT, Alibaba, Tencent, Amazon and Apple, Machine Translation is more productive overall. Research by Gartner forecasts that 75% of translations will be done through AI, while human input will be used for editing purposes. According to Forbes, the market for online education services will reach $ 325 billion by 2025, and this is yet an untapped market. More brands are reaching a multilingual audience globally through Transcreation, which is a term coined from Translation and Creation. Multilingual SEO strategies allow users to optimize content for different markets for e-Commerce or even for video content. The Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) is central to innovative projects. The RRP will implement investments that will help translate Portugal into the future, through economic growth. It is part of the EU strategy for 2030 that includes smart growth and innovation. Translating Portugal into the future and discovering new frontiers, the Unbabel consortium, that comprises 11 start-ups and 2 unicorns, is pushing ahead of the game. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/translating-portugal #Unbabel #RecoveryandResiliencePlan #portugalfintech #PortugalAI #digitalportugal #portugalnews #digitalportugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

NeoGreen Portugal invests EUR 1 billion for a Green Hydrogen production plant in the Sines Hydrogen Valley. This investment that is formalized on the 14th of November is one of a pipeline of investment projects that total EUR 20 billion by 2030. These projects include EUR 2.500 in land and sea logistics, EUR 12.500 in industrial circular projects for decarbonization and EUR 5.000 M in telecommunications, submarine cable stations and data centers. According to Crunchbase, NeoGreen Hydrogen has obtained seed funding amounting to $ 232.1K on the 4th of October 2021 and according to PitchBook, the latest deal amounts to $ 1.2 M. The company, based in Canada, is a Green Hydrogen developer focusing on emerging markets, with the goal of generating electricity from Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia to store and distribute it. NeoGreen Portugal is a joint venture between NeoGreen Hydrogen Corp and Frequent Summer S.A. (Portugal), that develops photovoltaic parks. The investment contract is to reserve the rights to an area of 10.5 hectares in the Sines Logistics Industrial Zone (ZILS) to invest over EUR 1 billion in a Green Hydrogen production plant. The Green Hydrogen plant will consist of an electrolyzer with a capacity of 500MW that will produce Green Hydrogen as well as fuel by-products. This project is in line with Portugal’s strategy for the Sines Hydrogen Valley towards the energy and digital transition. Sines is consolidating is position and attracting major investments in the fields of Logistics, Industry, Energy and Telecommunications from a number of countries including Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, China, Australia, Brazil, the US and Canada. Sines in Portugal is strategically positioned within the EU to become one of the top Green Hydrogen Valleys (H2Vs) globally. The Sines Hydrogen Valley is Portugal’s largest development area, with 2.375 hectares dedicated to different sectors including energy. Energia Sul brings together energy industries, refineries, petrochemicals and chemicals but with the focus on renewable energy. Portugal is concerned about climate change and focuses on energy transition in line with the EUs ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035. This is enabled by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) that provides grants and loans to support reforms and investments in the EU Member States at a total value of €723.8 billion. Under this Facility, Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion, that allows countries to tackle climate change for sustainable development. The transition towards climate neutrality by 2050 gives energy a central role, as energy is today responsible for more than 75% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. REPowerEU will speed up this transition and move towards renewable energy sources and Green Hydrogen. This will make Europe more resilient and independent while providing sustainable and affordable energy. The emphasis is on innovation for finding novel and disruptive renewable energy technologies and energy storage solutions. As Green Hydrogen will play a key role for long-term energy storage and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, REPowerEU provides for the implementation of a Hydrogen Accelerator for renewable hydrogen. The EU is funding a total of EUR 5.2 billion for hydrogen projects including infrastructure in Portugal and in 12 other EU countries. This is part of the EU rules on state aid for projects of common interest within the EU such as the construction of infrastructure in the hydrogen value chain. The IPCEI Hy2Use project involves Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Slovakia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Portugal’s involvement includes the construction of infrastructure for hydrogen, which will be the responsibility of the Portuguese group in the chemical industry sector Bondalti, according to the European Commission. Portugal is expected to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 through investments in public transport and hydrogen. The government is enacting a new Climate Act and has also managed to close down its coal-fired power stations. The Portuguese government has also defined its national strategy for hydrogen for industrial use, as the country is currently dependent on natural gas. Moreover, the government is planning to export Green Energy and this is in line with the recent agreement with Spain and France for the creation of a “green corridor” that will enable exports to the EU. Counting only the Iberian market, this represents 60 million people. In addition, Portugal plans to reduce its dependency on the volatility of global markets in relation to gas. Prime Minister António Costa has stated that the reason for the current low electricity prices in Portugal is because 60% of the energy currently consumed comes from renewables. He also added that Portugal’s goal is to have 80% of the energy consumed being based on renewables by 2026. The Iberian solution, which avoids excessive contamination of the price of electricity by the price of gas, works well since a high percentage of the energy produced comes from renewable sources. According to Statista, the primary source of renewable energy to produce green hydrogen is solar photovoltaic. Portugal has 28 green hydrogen production facilities and ranks number 8 globally. In 2020, the levelized cost of hydrogen from utility-scale solar PV in Europe was the lowest on the Iberian Peninsula. The lowest levelized costs for producing green hydrogen are possible due to the abundance of solar and wind resources. Sunny Portugal has a bright future for its Green Hydrogen Valley. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/neogreen-portugal #NeoGreenPortugal #GreenHydrogen #SinesHydrogenValley #SinesLogisticsIndustrialZone #NeoGreenHydrogenCorp #FrequentSummerSA #HorizonEurope #REPowerEU #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal wine exports reach EUR 677.3 million, representing a 3.5% growth in relation to the corresponding period if the Porto wine is excluded. Wine exports are reaching record highs in 2022 and grew by 3.7% in September to reach EUR 92.2 million. The success in Portuguese wine exports in 2022 is driven by non-Porto wines as the export data for this segment shows a growth of 3.5% to reach EUR 460.6 million. However, even though there is a slowdown in exports for Porto wine, this segment still accounts for nearly a third of total wine exports. In addition to the high growth in export volume, the average price is also reaching new highs with a 1.6% increase to reach EUR 2.80. Without taking into account Porto wines, this price increase represents a growth of 2.4%. The main export market for Portuguese wine is the US at the top of the chart, that also performs with a higher average price to reach EUR 4.24. Excluding Porto wine, the average price growth reaches 16.14%. The top five export markets include Canada with a growth of 7.58% and Angola with a growth of 86.7% to reach EUR 30.5 million. The other countries in this ranking include France, UK and Brazil but these countries have registered a slowdown in wine exports. Forecasts for total wine exports for 2022 show a 1 to 1.5% growth, due to the best performing export markets that include the US, Canada and Angola. The best performing wine regions include the Dão that is located in Beira Alta, in a mountainous enclave towards the north of Central Portugal. This regional wine registered the highest growth figures compared to the corresponding period with a 22.5% growth reaching a total amount of EUR 16.1 million. The Vinho Verde wine exports grew by 3.8% to reach EUR 65.6 million and the Alentejo wine exports exceed EUR 57.2 million, that represents a 13.3% growth. Wine exports from the Lisbon region grew by 4.4%, while the Madeira muscatel exports grew by 9% and the Bairrada wine exports grew by 12.8%. The Bairrada sparkling wine Nossa Solera Desde 2001 Extra Bruto obtained the ‘Wine of the Year’ award of the Revista de Vinhos magazine. Moreover, the Offley Clink Portonic canned tonic port wine from Sogrape won the Innovation of the Year award. It is to be noted that the Alentejo winery that belongs to the Esporão Group and is managed by João Roquette is one of the world’s largest producers of certified organic wines. It includes the 2019 Herdade do Esporão Reserva wine from the Alentejo region. The family’s other properties include Quinta dos Murças in the Douro region that is also 100% certified organic. The family has initiatives for water use, energy use, packaging and local labour. As a result, it received Michelin’s Eco Distinction award in the fall of 2022. It is also interesting to note the value of cork stoppers exported from Portugal from 2015 to 2020, by the type of cork exported. In 2020, EUR 416 million worth of natural cork stoppers were exported from Portugal, with Champagne stoppers totalling EUR 130.7 million. According to ViniPortugal, the Portugal Wine Association, the export figures for Portuguese wine show a positive outlook for 2022. The international trade data from INE shows that exports of all Portuguese goods including wine register a 28% increase for the quarter ended September 2022 compared to the corresponding period. Exports of all types of Portuguese goods have increased in all major economic categories compared to the corresponding period for the month of September, especially for exports of industrial supplies that grew by 24.3%, with Spain being the main export market. Portugal is expected to register a year with a positive overall performance and growth in exports for all goods in 2022. Since Portugal only has Porto wine as a benchmark region for the export market, the rapid growth in exports from other regions is extremely promising. So, Wine not Portugal? Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/wine-portugal #Portugalwineexports2022 #Dãowineregion #Bairradawine #OffleyClinkPortonic #EsporãoGroup #ViniPortugal #Sogrape #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal Exports reach EUR 100 billion in 2022 according to the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade. Portuguese exports will reach this figure for the first time in its history, despite the external environment and rising prices of energy and raw materials. During the first half of 2022, Portuguese exports grew by 49% of GDP, of which 20% accounts for the Tourism sector. With such successful figures, Portugal can become more ambitious for the industry and business sectors. It is to be noted that, despite a number of external shocks, Portuguese businesses are more competitive. The Portuguese Industrial Association (AIP) has an open Call for Proposals for 11 Digital Trade Accelerators to cover continental Portugal, the Azores and Madeira. There will be four consortiums that will be supporting the growth of businesses in the goods and services sectors via the digital transformation of processes and business models. The consortiums will also provide capacity building and support targeting direct investments and the globalization of SMEs. Another approach targeting SMEs for promoting exports includes an MOU with the Portugal Business Roundtable. The association, that comprises 42 of the largest corporate groups in Portugal, has as main goal to accelerate the country’s economic and social growth. This new partnership will contribute to driving the growth of Portuguese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are major drivers of growth, since they not only contribute to employment, but they are also innovative. With the number of support measures to be provided to SMEs increasing, it is expected that this will have a major economic impact and will drive the upward trend in 2023. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-exports-100-billion #PortugalExports2022 #PortugalEconomy2022 #AssociaçãoIndustrialPortuguesa #PortugalSMEs #AssociaçãoBusinessRoundtablePortugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

A Spain-Portugal Fund of EUR 484 M, of which EUR 365 M will be financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has just been announced under the Inter-regional Spain-Portugal European Development Fund (POCTEP). It is the largest Program of the kind in the European Union. The POCTEP Program will provide support for the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy in the Spanish – Portuguese border region. The Program integrates borders of 1,234 km divided into six regions: Galicia-Northern Portugal, Northern Portugal-Castile and Leon, Castile and Leon-Central Portugal, Alentejo-Central Estremadura, Alentejo-Algarve-Andalucía and the multi-regional area. According to the Secretary of State for Regional Development, Isabel Ferreira, at the seminar to publicly present the POCTEP, “this is the largest EC-funded cross-border Program that will leverage development and competitiveness in the low-density regions." The Program will promote sustainable jobs, labor-mobility and corporate networks in order to boost research and knowledge transfer and to promote energy efficiency projects. In the field of Smart Growth, the Program will provide capacity-building for cross-border innovation as well as support to SMEs, especially in the field of R&D. Other areas of intervention include Sustainable Growth to adapt to Climate Change and Territorial Cohesion for cross-border public services. The Spain-Portugal Fund will Promote research, technological development and innovation for commercial use. This will include technological transfer, university-business cooperation and support to SMEs with a network of mentors as well as business incubation for globalization. Fund beneficiaries will include Universities, Technology Centers as well as Business Associations. Under this Program, Spain and Portugal will carry out joint initiatives and the first bids will be launched in December 2022. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/spain-portugal-fund #SpainPortugalFund #EuropeanRegionalDevelopmentFund #interregEurope #SmartGrowthPortugal #InterregionalSpainPortugalEuropeanDevelopmentFund #POCTEP #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

With the Porto Tech Hub Conference to be held on October 27, 2022, topics such as Cloud investments, AI and Blockchain in Portugal will be at the forefront with speakers from Google and Amazon Web Services. Portugal already distinguishes itself with its Portuguese-native company OutSystems, which was ranked by Forbes Cloud 100 among the 100 top global companies for private cloud. Forbes Cloud 100 has a panel of judges that are CEOs of public companies operating in the cloud sector. With most nominated companies reaching the milestone of Euros 97 million and some reaching Euros 7.2 billion, the outlook for the Cloud economy is promising. OutSystems, which was founded in 2001 in Lisbon, Portugal, is worth well over a billion dollars. The Portuguese founder of OutSystems, Paulo Rosado states that he provides a low-code platform for developing applications. The market for “low-code” software development platforms is expected to amount to 22 billion Euros in 2022. The company, which is the current market leader and supplier of the best product according to the prestigious technological consultancies Gartner and Forrester, is on the verge of becoming the next Portugal flagship enterprise. OutSystems is enabling cloud transformation that provides solutions to the main challenges faced by businesses. Major international market-players are investing in cloud applications in Portugal, including Chinese JD.com and Alibaba. JD.com is a Chinese e-commerce company that is a major B2C online retailer in China by transaction volume and revenue. It is a member of the Fortune Global 500 and a major competitor to Alibaba. Their Digital Marketing Jingteng plan integrates solutions for shopping and social data. The Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com launched a virtual desk dedicated to the sale of Portuguese products, after an agreement signed in 2018 with the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP). During the first phase, the portal focused on wines, but will also integrate agri-business. The company Eternal Asia, based in Shenzhen, is responsible for the intermediation between Portuguese companies and JD.com for the import, distribution and marketing strategy. China is the world leader in Internet sales. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the total volume of transactions in online sales in China reaches €4.2 billion, more than half of worldwide internet sales. Based in Beijing, JD.com is the second largest e-commerce firm in the country after the Alibaba group, that holds 25% of the market share. Alibaba Cloud Portugal, the Chinese e-commerce platform chose Porto to open the first of the company’s three international centers. Alibaba chose Portugal for its first service-center in Europe. The new hub will provide support to 88 countries in 3 regions. The two other hubs are Mexico and Malaysia. Alibaba is the fifth largest AI company and the second largest financial services group after Visa. Alibaba Cloud provides digital services to the Africa-Middle East region in collaboration with Teleperformance. With its growth in the EU region, Alibaba is described as a Gateway to China in order to sell products to Chinese customers. Alibaba also describes itself as “The Gateway to Portuguese Companies in China: E-Commerce, Technology and Innovation", with plans to create a trade route giving access to Chinese customers. With the online payment platform Alipay service, businesses can facilitate payments for Chinese tourists. The agreement signed between Alibaba and the Portugal Global Trade & Investment Agency (AICEP) aims at attracting foreign investment to help Portuguese companies reach 600 million Chinese customers. Alibaba’s European strategy also aims to further its fast-growing cloud business to deliver digital transformation using cloud computing technology in the areas of retail, marketing, finance, logistics and other supporting services. In terms of Alibaba’s long-term growth goals, the company plans to reach two billion customers by 2036, which the company hopes to achieve in Europe. With the emergence of the 5-6G network, the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and increasing cloud storage, the demand for data transfer will only increase. Everything from public services to industrial production will become even more dependent on the smooth functioning of subsea data cables, elevating the strategic importance of the cable infrastructure, especially considering the limitations of satellite technology in supplementing big data transfers. According to IDC, the global spending on cloud computing services is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. Since the global pandemic of 2020, cloud technology jumped ahead in popularity due to the level of security of data and the flexibility of working options for remote workers. For example, Zoom grew over 160% in 2020 alone. With such economic prospects, Portugal is looking up to the cloud for major Foreign Direct Investments. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/cloud-investment-portugal

The Portugal Trade and Investment agency reported on the outlook of China’s Infrastructure Investment projects that describe the advantages of investing in Portugal. China’s minister of commerce made a statement at an International Infrastructure Investment forum held in Macao on September 28, 2022, about China’s global outlook that underlines that China’s foreign investment will reach Euros 187 billion this year. The China Forum included the participation of 1,300 leaders from over 600 organizations, including government agencies, financial institutions and global companies. AICEP (Portugal’s Global Trade & Investment Agency) is a government body focused on the development of a competitive business environment that contributes to the globalization of the Portuguese economy. AICEP Portugal took note of the report by China that forms part of the Belt and Road Infrastructure Development Report (BRiDi) 2022. As a reputable government agency, AICEP Portugal has a global network in over 50 countries. Its mission is to increase Portugal’s competitiveness and reputation by fostering structural investment. AICEP includes the Parks Management entity that advises on the best location for investment projects. The Portugal government agency also supports international investment projects that contribute to the Portuguese economy. According to the 2022 report released by China, Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries are part of the China initiative. Portugal is one of the countries targeted by China for infrastructure investment, as it is the Portuguese-speaking country with the best score in the sub-index linked to the environment. Since Portugal is especially attractive for investment in the field of infrastructure development, China is targeting projects in sectors that are linked to transport and to the environment. According to the report, Portugal signed transport and environment contracts worth over Euros 628 million in 2021. Portugal ranks high in the report as it is the Portuguese-speaking country that has the best score for the development index which includes, not only the environment, but also political, economic and market factors, as well as the ease of doing business. The China report about Portugal underlines that its operating costs and GDP are economic conditions that facilitate infrastructure investment projects. It also takes note of the fact that Portugal’s power production facilities are good and that the trend is towards renewable energy during this period of energy transition. The Belt and Road infrastructure development initiative was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It involves 71 countries in China’s international strategic plan to develop maritime, road and rail links, as well as investment in energy resources. The 2022 Belt and Road Infrastructure Development Index (BRIDI) report includes 8 Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs), that are chosen for near-term prospects in the infrastructure industry. The report uses the BRIDI index that looks into the environment and costs for infrastructure development in the Belt and Road Infrastructure countries. The higher the BRIDI, the better the prospect of a country’s infrastructure industry. Portugal ranks 27th with a score of 110 in the 2022 Belt and Road Infrastructure Development Index. While the EU launched in December 2021 the “Global Gateway” that will raise about EUR 300 billion for global infrastructure construction, the Belt and Road Initiative countries have developed their green infrastructure policies and promoted financing for green infrastructure projects. The China study finds that hi-tech green infrastructure projects with low operating costs and environmental impact have become the region’s preferred choice. Green infrastructure will be the hotspot for investments towards dual carbon goals, prioritizing green infrastructure development. This means sizeable investments in public transportation facilities powered by clean energy, such as electricity, hydrogen, advanced biofuels and natural gas, with a growth of 23% year-on-year. This also includes renewable energy power projects such as wind power and hydropower projects that grew by 36% year-on-year. Overall Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) register a higher score and ranking in this year’s report. This is also due to the environment where Portugal, Cape Verde and Mozambique are the top performers. The real GDP growth rate of Portugal is 4.9%, that is higher than the average of Belt and Road Infrastructure countries. Since Portugal has sound conditions for infrastructure projects, this sounds promising for future Chinese infrastructure projects in Portugal in the short-term. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/china-portugal-investments

Portugal’s White Gold Rush, Lithium mining, is driven by the demand for Green Energy. Lithium is a critical raw material for the ongoing energy transition. Portugal’s Prime Minister just announced a joint Portugal-Spain energy storage facility that will help overcome the severe energy crisis that is exacerbated by the record-breaking drought. This announcement, made in the wake of multiple crises in Europe, is leading to a White Gold, Lithium, rush to Portugal. The Iberian Peninsula will become strategically important to Repower the EU since the newly announced trilateral agreement with France that will lead to the creation of a Green Energy Corridor. The Corridor will interconnect Portugal and Spain to Marseille and to the rest of Europe. Since the announcement of the European Commission’s plans to create strategic reserves in order to prevent disruptions in the supply-chain, lithium is in the spotlight. It is now seen as strategically important for the EU and this has led to the European Critical Materials Act, that will be the driving force in the making of a new EU lithium powerhouse. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the current lithium demand to grow exponentially. The demand for batteries is a major engine of growth and is leading to a situation where demand is exceeding supply and prices are rising. Portugal’s White Gold reserves are 60,000 tons. Portugal ranks 9th in the Top 10 countries with the largest lithium reserves. However, China has a monopoly of rare earths reserves, followed by the United States, Japan and South Korea. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Lithium Spot Prices have risen by 900% since January 2020. China is the global manufacturing powerhouse since it owns 60% of the global supply for processed lithium. Amidst the call for Green Energy solutions for sustainable development, there is a rising demand that is not met by investors. The CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence underlined the difference between mining capacity and the quality of the final product, as the production of lithium batteries requires specific technology. This is why the supply of battery-grade material is a difficult process that may not be met by a simple mining strategy. Portugal’s approach does not only rely on mining lithium but also on a fully integrated value chain to produce batteries for the EU automotive sector. The linkages between lithium batteries and electric vehicles are taken into account by including the Portugal Automotive sector in the development plan. Galp and Northvolt have announced a Joint Venture, the Aurora project, that will become Europe’s largest lithium refinery. Setúbal was the site selected for the facility since it is close to Portugal’s car manufacturing center. The plant will be in the Sapec Bay Industrial Park as it has good access to railway and port facilities. This will lead to an integrated approach from mining to processing, to batteries being used for manufacturing electric vehicles in the same region. The Aurora plant will be located only a five-hour drive away from the Barroso Lithium project. The facility will produce the amount of lithium hydroxide needed for 50 GWh of battery production per year. 50% of the plant’s capacity will be used for battery manufacturing. With this expected output, Portugal will be able to produce over 700,000 electric vehicles. According to Statista, the Electric Vehicles market in Portugal is projected to grow by 23.68% (2022-2027) resulting in a market volume of US$6.17bn in 2027. Moreover, the Portugal-Spain energy storage facility will lead to the development of large capacity batteries to store energy. Portugal’s Prime Minister just announced the Portugal-Spain energy storage facility that will strengthen the electricity grid within the Iberian market. This new announcement is due to the fact that the main challenge in the energy transition is how to store the energy produced. Hydrogen is another way to store energy from renewable sources and Portugal is positioning itself as a Green Hydrogen hub, where the energy used to produce hydrogen will come from renewable sources. While Sines in Portugal is set to become the new Hydrogen Valley, the energy storage partnership with Spain will further enhance the usage of natural resources on the Iberian Peninsula. This will include lithium for producing large-capacity batteries that will be used to store energy on a large-scale. The stored energy will be used to respond to an energy crisis situation. This is critical since Portugal is facing a severe drought and has less capacity to produce hydroelectricity. The Green Energy Corridor includes plans for building a pipeline for green hydrogen in the long-term, while being used temporarily for the transport of natural gas. New announcements are expected following the trilateral meeting to be held in Spain on the 9th of December when Portugal, Spain and France will meet to further discuss the project. Spain and Portugal together represent a market of around 30 million cars and the share of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is growing rapidly, accounting for 10% of new car sales. Since EV charging and hydrogen are two high-growth energy transition businesses, major industry players BP and Iberdrola have announced that they will partner in Portugal and Spain to produce the first 5,000 fast charging points that are planned to be in operation by 2025. They believe that the outlook for energy transitioning on the Iberian Peninsula is sunny and that this will play a critical role in their transformation from international oil companies to becoming integrated energy companies. Portugal has an important role to play in the EU’s battery and electric mobility ecosystem, having the capacity to mine, to refine and to supply lithium. The Savannah Resources “Barroso Lithium Project” in the northeast of Portugal contains the largest lithium resource in Western Europe. Savannah Resources aims at building Western Europe’s largest lithium mine in Portugal and the company is expected to submit its project by mid-March 2023 for consideration by the Portugal government. The project is to develop a resource of around 27 million tons of lithium and the company believes that this will be enough to supply a significant share of Europe’s lithium demand over the coming decades. Portugal is already Europe’s top lithium producer, the supply accounting for about 11% of the global market. However, its output is entirely used to make ceramics and Europe imports the White Gold from China, Australia and Latin America’s Lithium Triangle. Portugal’s government is now studying the potential of issuing Green Bonds to fund Green projects such as renewable energy. Rui Amaral, who is a board member at the Portuguese Debt Management Agency IGCP, said that the size of an issuance would need to be benchmarked, but that it would be around 3 billion Euros. In line with the funding potential, Portugal will have to identify Green projects to fund. On the other hand, the EU plans to fund a third of the recovery plan through its own Green Bonds that will finance member states’ Green projects. While Europe eyes the White Gold Rush to Portugal, it remains to be seen if the demand for Green Energy will lead to the creation of a lithium industry in the country’s renewable energy portfolio. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-lithium