Conscensia Opens New IT Development Hub in Portugal

23. March 2023

The newest Conscensia Hub opens in Porto in Portugal in 2023. Here, we’d like to tell you a little about why we selected this prime location as our new IT development destination.

When Conscensia chooses a location for a new IT development destination, there are many factors to investigate and analyze. They include the following: the education system, the number of students in the science/tech sectors and number of students graduating each year from universities (including level).

Naturally, the salary level is an important factor, as well as the culture, the time zone, travel time to the location, the working laws and regulations, expected inflation, the country’s political stability etc. It is definitely an advantage if the country’s government prioritizes IT – and makes sure that many young people have good opportunities to study IT related fields.

Investments in Portuguese IT Sector

In recent years, the Portuguese government has made significant investments in the IT sector, providing support for startups, digital innovation, and technology training programs. This has led to a thriving ecosystem of technology companies, both large and small, operating in areas such as software development, digital marketing, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. The Portuguese National ICT is a highly innovative and dynamic industry, which is already responsible for nearly 10% of Portuguese GDP, generating almost USD20 billion in total turnover. Portugal is also actively promoted as an IT hub offering tech visas for IT specialists from outside the Schengen area and attracting IT specialists from Portuguese speaking countries such as Brazil.

Popular Nearshore Destination

It is no coincidence that Portugal is becoming one of the most popular destinations for companies to establish nearshore development teams. The country has a highly educated and skilled workforce, with a strong tradition in engineering and technical fields. Many refer to the Portuguese nearshore IT market as Europe’s Silicon Valley. And after investigating and analyzing the Portuguese IT market, we agree!

Portugal has many positive attributes, such as:

  • Portugal has 95,000 highly skilled and experienced IT specialists.
  • 16,000 ICT graduates each year.
  • Portuguese have a very high proficiency in English.
  • European time zone makes it easy to cooperate with European customers.
  • Competitive salaries in the IT industry.
  • Strong social and political stability.
  • Flights to Portugal from all major capitals.

All these factors combined make Portugal an attractive destination for nearshore software development, and explain why it has become a popular choice for businesses looking to outsource their development needs.

Conscensia opened its first development center in Ukraine in 2006, providing us with many years of experience in managing a development center. We look forward to opening our office in Porto with experienced Conscensians in charge of establishing and managing our third development center.