Startup Madeira Supports Entrepreneurship and Innovation With New Incubator

Startup Madeira Supports Entrepreneurship and Innovation With New Incubator

BRUSSELS, 24-Apr-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — EBN Member Startup Madeira / BIC Madeira in its 20^th anniversary opened a new incubator, on 12^th of April at Ribeira Brava, (Madeira, Portugal), with the aim to overcome structural disadvantages in the region and increase capacity of the current startup space in Campus da Penteada in Funchal, Portugal. Choosing Ribeira Brava was a strategic decision and a key step in Brava Valley project (more info in Portuguese), a wider initiative which purpose is to create a cluster of technological and innovation companies in the village of Ribeira Brava, located about 20 kilometers from Funchal.

Only last year Startup Madeira had 46 incubated companies and supported almost 500 entrepreneurs, and now, with the new incubator in Ribeira Brava, entrepreneurship and innovation on a regional level will be supported even more. The incubator will be open 24 hours a day, giving extra flexibility to startups and entrepreneurs, with 8 incubation and 8 co-working spaces.

This Government has bet heavily on entrepreneurship and innovation, conducting training and workshops and fostering the interest of people in these areas. Now it is fundamental to give these people, these entrepreneurs the space and means to develop ideas, projects and companies”, said Eduardo Jesus, Regional Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Culture.

According to the president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, “the investment in entrepreneurship and new technologies is a way to defuse the structural disadvantages of the Region and enter the international market. The world is changing very rapidly and to face this change we have two hypotheses: either we close ourselves and go into a regression system, or we face this change and try to be at the forefront of innovation processes. The executive will advance “very quickly” with the “total reconversion” of Ribeira Brava village into a large center for technological and entrepreneurial dynamism”.

SOURCE: EBN