After the Web Summit, the visits turned to Portuguese companies. November 14 began at Continente Labs, the first supermarket with fully digital services, which has been operated by the Portuguese company Sensei Tech since 2021. Right in the heart of the Portuguese capital, you can explore a supermarket that was “Europe’s pioneering autonomous shopping experience” thanks to the joint efforts of the Sonae group and Sensei.
The day continued in Oeiras, at the headquarters of OutSystems, a Portuguese software company whose work is based on the development of low-code applications that can be used by companies to speed up and improve procedures or to strengthen customer service.
At this meeting, Tiago Azevedo, chief information officer, spoke about the journey of a company that has been on the market for 23 years after its timid beginnings as a start-up.
“It’s good that you’re interested in our products and technology. I’m glad that in your presentation you talked so much about the word innovation. It’s not simply by buying products that we’re going to create something new, and if we want to be innovative, we have to do it ourselves and be creative”, said the CIO of the company that increasingly wants to bet on AI as a way of improving its systems.
OutSystems assumes today that it was “visionary” in the way it entered the market. The company is currently in 87 countries, collaborating with 24 industries and has more than 665 global partners. During the visit, the Macao delegation listened, asked questions and left with yet another network of contacts established.
At the factory where it all happens
In the afternoon, the delegation went to see one of Lisbon’s major entrepreneurship projects: the Unicorn Factory in the Beato area, a former factory space that has given life to a new start-up ecosystem.
The project began to take shape in 2011 and is one of the reasons why Lisbon was named European Capital of Innovation in 2023. The business incubation program offers specific training courses, office spaces and logistical support, and the Unicorn Factory is also home to the organiser of the Web Summit.
Since 2012, it has supported more than 820 start-ups with an investment of more than one billion euros.
The mission was completed on Friday the 15th with participation in the Concrete Opportunities Workshop, presented by Manuel Tânger, co-founder and head of future of Beta-I Collaborative Innovation. This meeting focused on innovation strategies for companies and explored various aspects of technological advancement and innovation, highlighting the importance of collaboration and adopting startup-like approaches.