One year after presenting an optimistic Letter of Commitment to Portugal’s government, Empowered Startups is on track to meet or exceed the lofty goals it declared. Through its novel HQA Visa Program, the Canadian multinational has attracted a significant number of transnational entrepreneurs to invest in innovative projects across Portugal and has substantially grown its network of partnerships with higher education institutions throughout the European country over the course of the year.
“We’re very pleased to confirm that the volume of our actions in Portugal has exceeded that of our words,” expressed Chris Lennon, President of Empowered Startups. “Last February, we committed to a bold vision: to bring 25 projects and high potential founders to each of 10 Portuguese universities and polytechnics in the span of 36 months through our HQA Visa Program. By delivering tangible results in line with our projections for the first twelve months, we’ve clearly demonstrated our ability to increase, by orders of magnitude, our impact towards making the national territory more cohesive, more inclusive, and more competitive.”
Empowered Startups has delivered more than 60 new projects and international founders to Portugal via the HQA Visa Program, coordinating over 3 million Euros of direct investment in research and innovation at universities and polytechnics. The results align with Empowered’s forecasted scaling of the program, which predicts considerable annual growth as the HQA Visa Program matures and continues to gain traction both abroad and domestically. A clear example is the expansion of the program via more partnerships with higher education institutions in Portugal since February of 2023. The network now includes 13 different universities and polytechnics following the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the historic University of Coimbra, an event that was attended by Portugal’s Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa.
“May the signing of this commitment take us far in the name of science and the development of our country,” stated Abrunhosa in her remarks to those gathered to witness the signing. Minister Abrunhosa has been a consistent advocate for Empowered’s implementation of the HQA Visa Program, which directly supports Portugal’s efforts to increase territorial cohesion in the country. When Lennon publicly introduced Empowered’s Letter of Commitment on February 8th, 2023, Abrunhosa remarked, “We look at you as a close friend and partner of territorial cohesion. Thank you for choosing our country. Thank you for bringing your knowledge, your experience. Thank you for your new ideas.”
Recognized as a leader in the migration of accomplished transnational businesspeople, Empowered is poised to participate in a public session on Best Practices in Talent Immigration this week in Portugal. Lennon, along with colleagues Francesco Berrettini and Paulo Martins, will offer insight and answer questions on various topics at the forum, which will include a member of European Parliament, university representatives and other dignitaries. The session has been organized by SEDES and will take place Friday, February 9th at the University of Algarve.
