The Coimbra Innovation Park (iParque) is a science and technology park located in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The park was projected with 150,000 square meters of industrial sites intended for development and 700 square meters of office space. Additional facilities such as a data center, several conference halls and meeting rooms of different sizes, a restaurant and a green park were in the initial plans. The park was also intended to offer a range of specialized services to support business development, internationalization and establishment of foreign companies.

History and mission

Outdoor map in the Coimbra iParque January 2011

has good educational, scientific and technological facilities in a number of fields due to its ancient university - the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

. Within

, the Coimbra region has a number of incubation initiatives that serve both companies and ideas, a wide range of R&D groups and centres, as well as some successful innovative companies. The Coimbra iParque was founded in order to connect these initiatives and businesses and work with them, establishing cooperation networks, creating synergies and competitive advantages. Coimbra iParque mission was to develop and modernize Coimbra as well as the region's economical activity by promoting, creating and settling companies with a high technological content and by aiming towards innovation, experimental development and the use of new technologies in advising or training actions. It intended to create a new concept of competition based on the collective efforts of a number of institutional initiatives that were credible and promote the attraction of highly educated

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

and investment, turning

into a new technology-based business hub on par with some of the most

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...

and

entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

small and mid-sized

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

university town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...

s (i.e.

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

, Leuven, Lund,

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

to name a few). MCS
Coimbra iParque: Empresas que vão inaugurar o espaço serão conhecidas em breve - presidente
,

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings. The current co ...

, retrieved on 24 January 2008 The area was

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and many private owners were forcibly

expropriated Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

by the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in order to build the park. The construction of the park was concluded in 2010, around the time that the Portuguese Republic requested a financial bailout. In spite of that, a few businesses started operations in the park immediately. Between 2011 and 2017, the park became the headquarters of a small number of companies and applied research centers with expertise in the fields of ICT,

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

nanotech Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

cleantech Clean technology, in short cleantech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Cle ...

and

green building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

. A second development phase – consisting of an additional 200,000 square meters of industrial sites and 3,500 square meters of office space was approved, so there was plenty of space for expansion. This second phase also included dedicated areas for housing, shopping, green parks and sports facilities. As of 2018, most of the park remained largely undeveloped in such a way that all the site looked like a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

. Some people of Coimbra area used the infrastructure available for

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

, biking,

dog walking Dog walking is the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog's residence and then returning. Leashes are commonly used for this. Both owners and pets receive many benefits, including exercise and companionship. Description ...

and even street racing.

References

External links

CoimbraiParque Official Website
''Other related sites:''
Municipality of Coimbra

University of Coimbra

Partnership with the University of Coimbra

{{coord missing, Portugal Science parks in Portugal University of Coimbra Buildings and structures in Coimbra