ISALTINO MORAIS
MAYOR, THE MUNICIPALITY OF OEIRAS
When, in late 2017, I took office as Mayor of the Municipality of Oeiras, one of the goals to which I committed myself was to set in motion a new development cycle for the municipality.
The official launch of the Oeiras Valley project was a historic step towards the realization of this mission and, nowadays, fills us with pride to see how local-based companies have already taken ownership of that brand.
Oeiras is now home to many technology based companies, established all over the municipality and, particularly, in the Taguspark, Quinta da Fonte, Lagoas Park and Arquiparque business parks, among others. We are the headquarters of research and development laboratories. We have excellent infrastructures, where the various business, scientific and technological parks in the municipality stand out.
But we want more. We want to go further. We want to create conditions to make Oeiras the largest breeding ground for innovation, creativity and technology in Portugal. We want Oeiras, like Silicon Valley, to be a pole of attraction for the best talent, the best ideas and the best technology.
We want to make Oeiras the largest innovation ecosystem in the country, favouring the establishment of technology, pharmaceutical, nanotechnology and oceanographic research companies, stimulating the creation of jobs with high added value.
We aim to reach higher. To that end, one of the axes of our development strategy is the internationalization of the Oeiras Valley brand by introducing the project in foreign markets to attract more investment to the Municipality.
We will continue to invest in creating conditions and incentives to place Oeiras on the international business map and strengthen its position as an exporting municipality.
Thus, we will invest close to 400 million Euros in Economic enhancement, Education, Housing, Environment and Territorial Intelligence until 2026. We will continue to invest in the axes that position our municipality as one of the main drivers of economic, social and human development in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the country.
An example of this growing dynamism is the Municipality’s commitment to the Oeiras Educa program, which connects schools, families and the community with the goal of having the best students in the country in Oeiras. And, in this chapter, we have a lot of work in progress: new schools are being built, others rehabilitated and others equipped with the best technology.
Along the same lines, we launched a Science and Technology Strategy, based on three main spheres: Education and Society, Innovation and Internationalization. The goal of this strategy is to have an ambitious agenda that involves society, universities, research institutes and companies and that definitively consolidates Science and Technology as part of the identity of the Municipality of Oeiras.
At the same time, we have been developing and furthering a cultural profile that positions Oeiras as one of the most important centres of the arts, entertainment, cultural innovation and creativity in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. This comprises the Oeiras 27 initiative, a strategy that is the foundation of our candidacy for European Capital of Culture, but that will happen regardless of the result of that candidacy.
We are going to transform society. For the future of Oeiras’ citizens. For the progress of Portugal.
