ScaleUp Porto. Call for Activities

ScaleUp Porto Call for Activities is an Open Call run by the Municipality of Porto to increase the impact of the actions of the city’s Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology community, promoting together an even more active and dynamic innovation ecosystem.

What was/is the challenge?

The impact of the activities promoted by the ecosystem stakeholders is primarily affected by the fact that there are limited resources available. As cities are becoming deeply involved in the Startup and Scaleup ecosystem, they are available to support entrepreneurs, communities and organisations in bringing their activities and ideas to life. However, this support is often granted to an individual, without a structured process.

Porto and its partners, through the ScaleUp Porto Manifesto, are committed to fostering the development of the innovation ecosystem by focusing on the city’s role as an aggregator, respecting the roles, complexity and heterogeneity of each stakeholder, and empowering local organisations under the same umbrella, strengthening internal relations and boosting collaborations. The stakeholders are already developing activities to support entrepreneurs, from early to later stages, and the role of the city is to support these initiatives and create new ways to enhance performance of the ecosystem.

How can the City of Porto support local stakeholders and challenge the community of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology in the city to contribute to a more active and dynamic ecosystem through a fair and transparent process?

What is the project?

Focused on the above challenge, the City of Porto launched an initiative, named Call for Activities, designed to:
Promote the entrepreneurial culture through a more dynamic and active community;
Increase networking opportunities and sources of knowledge in the city;
Boost the technological, startup and scaleup communities of the city;
Create a transparent and fair support system.

The Programme aims at supporting and increasing the impact of activities on the city’s Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology community. To achieve this goal, financial support of €70,000 is provided to the selected activities. Each project can receive up to €10,000.

The city strives to support the growth of the ecosystem by assisting stakeholders and enhancing their activity without replacing the excellent work they are already doing.

This new system allows any entity from the city to apply to the open call and seek support. It brings more transparency and improves what the community is already doing best.

Full Version of the article is accessible via our Portfolio – SCALE.CITIES Handbook