The announcement of the deal between Olhão council and Altice Laboratories took locals by surprise as, far from Altice setting up a research facility in this Algarve municipality, it is sponsoring and facilitating a new incubator for technology-based companies.
Altice and the local mayor, António Pina, signed an agreement today that has taken nine months to prepare and paves the way for a high-profile technology incubator to be set up in what once was a city renowned for its canned fish products.
This new partnership between Olhão council, a long list of Algarve bodies and Altice Labs, a division of the Altice Group which owns PT and MEO among other brands worldwide, was signed in the town hall on September 13th.
Altice has two similar projects, both in universities, so it must be must be sure of its ground in setting up in the Algarve.
Mayor Pina said that, "Altice is a fundamental partner for us in a sector in which the Algarve, and particularly Olhão, wants to distinguish itself. This is the formal beginning of a new project, which has been worked on over the past 9 months."
The mayor outlined the reasons why Altice had selected Olhão, including quality of life, climate, proximity to the sea, the University of Algarve and the airport. These, “were factors to which Altice did not remain indifferent."
According to the mayor, this new technology hub will act as a business where companies and private developers will be able to work on new applications or technologies that fit Altice’s development strategy.
The word 'partnership' means the council is responsible for providing the physical facilities and motivating the entities that will have to evaluate the various proposals.
This ‘Strategic Council’ will be composed of people from Altice, the University, the Regional Coordination and Development Committee, the Algarve Intermunicipal Community, the Algarve Business Association, the Algarve Hotel and Tourism Association, the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs, and any others who are invited.
Altice will contribute all the resources at its disposal, from funding to know-how, through access to a global market for the innovative ideas, products and technologies that emerge.
By the end of October, meetings will have taken place with entities making up the Strategic Council, and once this is formally established, António Pina, if he is still mayor after October 1st, aims to start work on establishing the ‘technology based incubator’ in early 2018.
Pina ended by saying that this deal is "One more step towards creating, not only traditional jobs, but new types of job that came with the technological boom of the last few years. Olhão must be at the forefront of this new reality so that our young people do not have to go to live and work in Lisbon, or even abroad, if they want to have a career in the new technologies."
Detractors, including local blog Olhão Livre, point out that this plan is nothing new, although the inclusion of Altice Labs is, as in 2009 a similar project was announced by the then mayor to build incubator units to provide space for young tekkies, in partnership with the University.
Also, the mayor seems to be committing local taxpayers to expenditure which has not been approved by the council chamber and, if Pina no longer is mayor after the October 1st local elections, is making a substantial financial committment that may well be reversed by a future administration.
From a practical point of view, the establishment of a Strategic Council involving so many stodgy State-funded bodies inevitably will thwart progress, kill enthuiasm and end up as another embarassing error of judgement.
Alcino Lavrador, Director-General of Altice Labs, Mayor António Pina, and André Figueiredo from Altice
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