The expansion of Empowered Startups’ HQA Visa Program to the University of Coimbra has received significant attention throughout Portugal. Uniting the Canadian multinational with one of the world’s oldest universities with public support from Portugal’s Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, who attended the ceremony in person, generated wide-spread interest from publications across the European country.
More than a handful of national media outlets provided coverage of the announcement, including Visão, Observador, and Jornal Económico, which quoted the President of Empowered Startups, Chris Lennon.
“We know the history and quality of the work developed in this institution, and we know that this will be a very important partnership for the entrepreneurs we work with. Going forward, we will help attract investment and qualified people, so that new companies with global potential can be born,” commented Christopher Lennon.
The forming of this partnership was also circulated by national news agency Lusa, as well as numerous regional print outlets and online publications. The University of Coimbra’s regional radio station, RUC, also published audio from the announcement, including the following remarks from Empowered’s Manager of Partnerships and Projects in Portugal, Francesco Berrettini.
Listen to the interview in Portuguese below
Momentum continues to build as Empowered nears the anniversary of being exclusively endorsed by the Portuguese government as the delivery partner of the HQA Visa Program. Empowered’s growing network of partner institutions increases the capacity for transnational entrepreneurs to seed their futures in Portugal with world-leading R&D resources available to advance their innovative startups.
