Battery Norway meets Portugal´s business life

The event put a spotlight on business cooperation in the following four areas:

1. Maritime technology
   2.Fishing and aquaculture
   3.Energy resources and biotechnology
   4. Digital transformation and Industry 4.0

State secretaries and ambassadors

The Portuguese delegation visited Norway on 7 – 9 November 2022. The delegation was headed by the Secretary of State for Planning and the Secretary of State for Internationalisation. It includes Chairman & CEO of the Portuguese Trade and Investment Agency (AICEP), which will open its Oslo office these days in November. The delegation was accompanied by the Ambassador of Portugal in Oslo, the Director of the National Focal Point for the EEA Grants in Portugal, directors of the EEA Grants programme on the Environment and the programme on Business Innovation in the Portuguese ministries and others including staff.

The delegation also included approx. 20 representatives from Portuguese businesses in the areas of marine, maritime, renewable energy and digitalisation.

From the Norwegian side, Norway’s Ambassador in Lisbon as well as staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Innovation Norway was part of organising the visits, meetings and events.

Will increase business cooperation

The aim of the event was to increase business cooperation in the marine and maritime sector, and within digitization and renewable energy sources. Therefore, companies with green, innovative and competitive solutions from Norway and Portugal were invited. The aim is to strengthen bilateral business and industry cooperation within the development, adaptation, commercialization and scaling of solutions from both countries.

Investing massively in green

Portugal is now investing massively in green and digital transformation, both from the national budget and EU funds. The EU's recovery package for Portugal (Recovery and Resilience Plan - Portugal 2030) consists of 16.6 billion euros in investment through tenders that will kick-start the economy at the same time as implementing Europe's green deal. In several of the tenders that are now being rolled out, there are good cooperation opportunities for Norwegian businesses. See the upcoming tenders on the Portugal 2030 website.

These participated in the meetings: 

• HE Secretary of State for Internationalization of Portugal – Bernardo Ivo Cruz (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• HE Ambassador of Portugal in Oslo – Pedro Pessoa e Costa
• Chairman & CEO of AICEP – Portuguese Trade and Investment Agency – Luís Castro Henriques
• Board Member of AICEP – Madalena Oliveira Silva
• Advisor to the Secretary of State for Internationalization of Portugal – Susana Tavares
• Director for the Nordic Countries of AICEP – Luís Miguel Fontoura
• Project Manager of AICEP Norway – Denil Pinto

• Advisor EEA Grants and Economic Relations at the Norwegian Embassy in Lisbon – João Telha
• Director EEA and Norway Grants at Innovation Norway, Magnar Ødelien
• Senior Advisor at Innovation Norway, EEA – Rannveig S Gimse