Portugal at the Next Web Conference'2023

The Next Web Conference is one of the main B2B events in Europe's technology, innovation, start-up, and scale-up sectors. Due to the growing interest of Portuguese and Dutch innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in deepening their collaboration and exploring new opportunities and the potential in the Dutch market for Portuguese technology companies, AICEP participated with an institutional stand at the event. Portugal's strong attractiveness for investments in this area reinforced AICEP's decision to join the conference.

This event attracts many C-level corporates (22%) who want to establish connections with new companies and start-ups or deepen existing relationships in a more intimate and casual environment. This year's edition surpassed the numbers reached in 2022, with around 10 000 participants from more than 120 countries, including more than 1 500 start-ups and 6 000 companies.

During the 15th and 16th of June, AICEP had the opportunity to present the potential of the Portuguese technology sector and establish numerous connections with companies and investors from The Netherlands and many other countries. Additionally, AICEP was a meeting point for the Portuguese companies that visited the event.

One notable participant was Faurecia Aptoide, a Portuguese company specializing in innovative software solutions for the automotive sector. Faurecia Aptoide demonstrated its cutting-edge software solutions in its booth, setting a great example of Portugal's talent.

Overall, the event provided a platform for AICEP and Portuguese companies to demonstrate their strengths, forge new connections, and explore business opportunities in the global market.

The Netherlands is widely recognized for its dynamic innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology ecosystem, rising to the top of the leading international rankings such as the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2022, 2020 IMD Ranking, Start-up Ecosystem Report 2022, and The Next Web Conference. In recent years Portugal has emerged as a hotspot for major IT companies and has an ever-growing number of start-ups and successful scale-ups, with one of the highest values of unicorns per capita in Europe.