On June 26, Set.Up Guimarães hosted the first RegionX meeting for the Northern region, an initiative by Startup Portugal aimed at strengthening collaboration between the country’s innovation ecosystems.
The event took place at IDEGUI – Guimarães Institute of Design, and brought together around 80 participants from incubators, universities, public entities, accelerators, and innovation-driven businesses. Throughout the afternoon, attendees identified the main challenges, opportunities, and resources of the North, currently the second Portuguese region with the highest number of startups, just behind Greater Lisbon.
According to data shared by Maria João Cardoso, Client Director at Informa DB, during a session dedicated to mapping the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, the North is home to 1,154 startups, representing 24% of the national total. Greater Lisbon leads the ranking with 2,127 companies. In 2024, for the first time, the North led the creation of new startups with 13.8% of all new companies, surpassing Lisbon’s 13.4%.
The region is also responsible for 30% of the sector’s turnover, 32% of exports, and employs around 8,300 people, with an average monthly salary of €1,920, slightly below the national average.
Over the past decade, more than 6,000 tech-based companies have been founded in the North. According to event data, 37 of them are based in Guimarães.
The opening session featured remarks from the Municipality of Guimarães, represented by Marta Mota Prego, Head of the Economic Development Division, and Rui Pinheiro, Community Manager at Set.Up Guimarães, as well as from Startup Portugal, represented by Ivanoel Rodrigues. This moment highlighted the city’s important role in fostering an entrepreneurial culture strongly connected to industry.
Rui Pinheiro, from Set.Up Guimarães, was also a key figure in the panel “Behind the Scenes of Set.Up Guimarães” , where he managed to emphasize the key strengths of the local incubator.
Marta Carvalho, founder of Ave Valley Smart Hub, a startup hosted at Set.Up Guimarães, said that support from the incubator was “crucial from day one,” stressing that “there’s always someone nearby to answer questions.” Her company focuses on digitalizing processes for textile companies, taking advantage of the city’s strong ties to the sector.
Rui Neves Ferreira, mentor at the incubator and co-founder of Nova Legal, highlighted two aspects that set Set.Up Guimarães apart: “its relationship with industry” and the “individual approach to supporting each project.” According to him, “Set.Up’s leadership knows every startup it has ever incubated by name and there have been hundreds.”
The program also featured a panel discussion on regional ecosystems, moderated by David Magboulé (LabtoMarket), with representatives from CCDR-N, ANI, UPTEC and IPN. The panel explored strategies to build more cohesive and effective regional innovation systems.
The afternoon concluded with a participatory workshop where attendees were challenged to identify infrastructures, gaps, public policy needs, and opportunities for collaboration to strengthen regional entrepreneurship. The session included a coffee break designed to encourage networking among participants.
This was the first of several RegionX events organized by Startup Portugal, with upcoming editions planned for the Centre, Alentejo, and Algarve regions. In Guimarães, it became clear that the North is asserting itself as a growing hub of innovation, and that collaboration between local and national stakeholders is key to sustaining that momentum.