Cablegate: Portugal Launches Global Entrepreneurship Week

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RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHLI #0584 3241408
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201408Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY LISBON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7974
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS LISBON 000584

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EEB/CBA JOHN JOSEPH AND STEVEN KOLTAI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL LAUNCHES GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK

REF: STATE 112998

1. Summary: In observance of Global Entrepreneurship Week
(reftel), the Portuguese Association of Business Angels
(APBA) and the Association for Social and Economic
Development (SEDES) organized a series of events to promote
entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. Emboffs
participated in the November 16 opening session, which
included keynote remarks by President Cavaco Silva and a
panel on successful case studies of entrepreneurship and
innovation in Portugal. While Portugal's culture of
entrepreneurship is relatively new and not yet firmly rooted,
it is gaining in popularity, especially among a younger
generation of scientists who are using new technology in
business models. End Summary.

2. In a video message shown during the opening session of
Portugal's Entrepreneurship Week (November 16-22), President
Cavaco Silva stressed that Portugal must resist a tendency to
conformity and encourage risk-taking and ambition while also
developing a capacity for self-evaluation and risk
management. He noted that the traditional concept of
employment is becoming more obsolete with changes in the
market and work relations, while entrepreneurship is becoming
key to economic and social progress. He observed that there
is a growing willingness in Portugal to take risks and to
undertake new business projects as a form of autonomy and
personal fulfillment but that Portugal is still far from
having a deeply rooted culture of entrepreneurship. He
stressed the need to cultivate entrepreneurial spirit in
youth and to provide them with training so they can develop
the necessary skills as early as possible. He viewed Global
Entrepreneurship Week as an "excellent opportunity" to
promote values such as self-confidence, perseverance, and
initiative.

3. Emboffs participated in the opening session that brought
together public and private sector representatives and
highlighted entrepreneurship and innovation in Portugal. A
panel on successful case studies featured young Portuguese
entrepreneurs, including the founders of Emove, a company
that converts motion into electricity; AlgaFuel, an
industrial micro-algae production company; and LaserLeap, a
transdermal drug delivery business.

4. As part of a panel on entrepreneurship around the world
focusing on Portugal, Angola, India, China, and the U.S.,
Embassy Senior Commercial Officer played the Secretary's
Kauffman Foundation video clip and discussed entrepreneurial
activity in the U.S., the role of the U.S. Commercial Service
in promoting innovation in Portugal, and the initiative of
the Obama Administration in creating two new entities within
the Department of Commerce. The new Office of Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, which reports directly to the Commerce
Secretary, identifies issues of interest to entrepreneurs and
coordinates with the White House on developing policy to
transform ideas into economic growth. The National Advisory
Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an advisory
body comprised of entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators
that recommends solutions to issues related to the
entrepreneurial environment.

5. Comment: Portugal's nascent entrepreneurial culture is
attracting an increasing number of innovators who see new
technology as an engine of economic growth and personal
success. Portuguese participation in Global Entrepreneurship
Week recognized the Portuguese entrepreneurial spirit and
reflected the high level of interest, especially among youth,
in greater entrepreneurship and business training, and the
rewards and challenges for innovators.

For more reporting from Embassy Lisbon and information about Portugal,
please see our Intelink site:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/portal:port ugal
BALLARD

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