Portugal, Technology & Others Reflections
With an extremely rich background Alyona has experience in the…
Have you noticed how fast the world is changing? Besides everything that is going on with the corporate world coping with a pandemic, sustainable concerns are taking over the workplace, companies take new approaches to work-life balance and technological progress is thriving.
I moved to Lisbon relatively recently and I can clearly witness these changes in the Portuguese capital. Five years ago, Lisbon was still quite a magic secret treasure in Europe’s western coast, nowadays, it is blooming and becoming one of the top destinations for Digital Nomads in Europe.
It is impressive how much this country has to give and how easily it is to fall in love with it, both as a tourism destination as well as a Business hub. In fact, Portugal ranks in the 25th place in Forbes “Best Countries for Business” list and is the 34th most competitive country in the world according to the Global Competitiveness Index 2019 by World Economic Forum – with some of its best scores being in the categories of ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Business Dynamism’, ‘Innovation Capacity’, ‘Institutions’ and ‘ICT adoption’.
Portuguese are known for being very warm and welcoming to foreigners. What is not so widely known is that Portuguese people do speak fluent English (EF English Proficiency Index 63.14 in 2019) and are very committed and skilled professionals. Interestingly enough, in 2019, Springer published a great article about the “New Skilled Emigration Dynamic” which shows how Portuguese nurses and recruitment are conquering the UK and German job markets. I believe this to be the case in many other sectors too as the technological field where Portuguese are mobilizing talents and creating a strong ecosystem. According to “The State of European Tech 2018” Portuguese developer community had an increase of 16.2% from 2017 to 2018 – compared to the European average of 4.2%. In the 2019 update of the same report, Portugal’s growth continued to have expression in several analyzed matters and the country ended up ranking in the 17th position as a European Tech Hub.
Furthermore, Portugal has a strong democracy, inclusive and forth-thinking culture, safe cities, and solid higher education capacity with 4 universities featured in the Top Financial Times European Business Schools rank.
Portugal has moved from making changes, to creating change. Lisbon is taking steps, very firm ones, to prove that it’s not only a tourism destination, but also the next Business center in Europe. With more than 50 direct destinations and regular flights all over the Europe, Portugal is becoming a strategical place for business developers.
As we currently find ourselves in these strange times world-wide, technologies keep us connected and on the front line of the progress. I am extremely happy to be a part of this movement. Even though, we are isolated, we are also connected. We can change our business strategies and our working models. We continue to grow and improve how we do technology and how we do business. We are flexible now as never before.
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With an extremely rich background Alyona has experience in the most diverse fields and markets and was one of Affinity’s key International Business Managers. From Hydrology & Hydrochemistry to Marine Biology, Women Health & Human Rights, Alyona never stops looking for ways to grow her knowledge, evolve and challenge herself!