Coimbra has good educational, scientific and technological facilities in a number of fields due to its ancient university - the
University of Coimbra. Within
Portugal, 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 and
investment, turning
Coimbra into a new technology-based business hub on par with some of the most
innovative and
entrepreneurial small and mid-sized
European
university towns (i.e.
Leiden,
Leuven,
Lund,
Turku or
Uppsala to name a few). The area was
woodland and many private owners were forcibly
expropriated by the
municipality 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,
nanotech,
cleantech and
green building. 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. Some people of Coimbra area used the infrastructure available for
jogging,
hiking,
biking,
dog walking and even
street racing. == References ==