[ HQA PARTNER INSTITUTIONS & TYPES OF PROJECTS ]
The HQA Visa Program program gives qualified entrepreneurs the ability to establish their own company in Portugal while making an investment in an R&D project in collaboration with a government supported research facility (a Portuguese university).
Below is a sample of the types of projects & universities we work within the HQA Visa Program
| Universidade Do Algarve | Universidade De Evora | Universidade De Aveiro | Politecnico De Leiria |
| Biomedicine | Management | Environmental & Marine Sciences | Engineering Technology |
| Marine Sciences | Language | Higher Ed Policies | Agricultural Sciences/Biosciences |
| Arts, Communication & Humanities | Sociology | Construction (Risk & Sustainability) | Life/Health Sciences |
| Electronics | Art History | Didactics & Tech in Teacher Ed | Social Sciences/Humanities/Business Sciences |
| Tourism | Health Research | Mathematics | Health Demographic Change and Well-being |
| Archaelogy | Political Science | Digital Media & Interaction | Food security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry |
| Adult Education | Social Sciences | Health Tech & Services | Marine Sciences |
| Sustainability | Mathematics | Psychology | Maritime & Inland Water Research |
| Human Behaviour | Earth Sciences | Languages, Literature & Cultures | Bioeconomy |
| Optoelectronics | Green Chemistry – Clean Tech & Processes | Mechanical Tech & Automation | Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy |
| Telecommunications | Marine & Environmental Centre | GeoBioSciences | Smart, Green and integrated transport |
| Health Tech | Agriculture | GeoTechnologies | Climate Action, Environment, Resource efficiency and raw materials |
| Computer Science & Informatics | GeoEngineering | Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Sciences | |
| Philosophy | Communications/tele tech | Information and Communication Tech | |
| Aesthetics of Music | Biomedicine | Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology | |
| Cultural Studies | Electronics & Informatics Engineering | Advanced Materials | |
| Economics | Ethnomusicology | Advanced Manufacturing | |
| Design, Media & Culture | Processing & BioTechnologies | ||
| Nanostructures, Nanomodelling, Nanofabrication | |||
| Chemistry & Tech | |||
| Governance & Public policies |
Become the Best
We educate and empower founders to build market offers and business models that empower their ideas to become the best in the world. We guide them through the rigours of Lean StartUp and Horizon Methodology, and cycle through the validated learning process of build-measure-learn.
Connect with the Best
We select entrepreneurs from around the world with the best innovative and scalable concepts to startup in Portugal, with international reach. We are skilled at assisting entrepreneurs in de-risking their projects, increasing their speed to market, and enhancing the overall prosperity of the Portuguese ecosystem they are entering.
Sell Internationally
We build startups that define and aggressively pursue revenue goals on this equation: My startup will sell $X of Y product to customers A, B, C in N number of countries in M number of months.
[ PARTNERS ]
Our valued partnerships provide transnational entrepreneurs with opportunities to deepen the foundations and extend the reach of their ventures.
Politechnic of Leiria
Our partnership with the Politecnic of Leiria offers entrepreneurs access to innovative research in sea basin technologies.
University of Évora
Our partnership with the University of Évora provides entrepreneurs with access to state-of-the-art expertise in Industry 4.0 solutions.
BEP
Our partnership with BEP provides start ups with ready access to top tier researchers, according to their business needs.
University of the Algarve
Our partnership with the University of the Algarve provides entrepreneurs with access to pan-Mediterranean collaboration opportunities.
[ PORTUGAL NEWS ]
Empowered Startups Releases 4th Video Featuring The Government of Portugal’s Endorsement of Empowered’s HQA Visa™ Program
Empowered Startups has released the 4th video in a series of recordings highlighting the Portugal HQA Visa™ Program. In this video we hear from the Government of Portugal, who in February, officially endorsed Empowered Startups as the delivery partner for the Portugal...
Bloomberg Reports Europe’s ‘Golden Visa’ Programs Are Dying Out as Housing Costs Rise
On May 4th, Bloomberg Online posted an article about the impending death of Golden Visa programs in the EU, siting the driver for shutting down "golden visa" programs across Europe is rising home prices. These CBI (citizenship by investment) programs allow foreign...
Empowered Startups’ HQA Visa™ Program Makes Headlines With Another New Partnership
Empowered Startups is making headlines for their recent partnership with Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, a renowned educational institution in Portugal. This partnership provides a pathway for entrepreneurs and domain experts to utilize world class R&D...
[ ADVISORS ]
The following professionals generously offer their perspectives on our plans. We are grateful for the influence they continue to have on our projects.
Paulo
Bandeira
Executive Director, STARTUP LAB – SRS Advogados
Hugo
Barros
Director , CRIA – University of the Algarve
Alex
Rodrigues
Entrepreneurship & Investments Officer, Brigantia-EcoPark