Government signs €24M investment contract with Altice Labs

The final draft of the investment contract to be signed by AICEP and Altice Labs, as the lead promoter of a €24 million project, was published on Tuesday in an order in Diário da República.

Order no. 7872/2023, of 1 August, “approves the final draft of the investment contract and its annexes, to be concluded by the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal [AICEP], representing the Portuguese state, Altice Labs, as the lead promoter, and, as co-promoters, the Telecommunications Institute, the University of Coimbra and the Pedro Nunes Institute – Association for Innovation and Development in Science and Technology”, said the document signed by the minister of economy and maritime affairs and the secretary of state for internationalisation.

Altice Labs, as lead promoter, “and, as co-promoters, the Telecommunications Institute, the University of Coimbra and the Pedro Nunes Institute – Association for Innovation and Development in Science and Technology, propose to carry out, in consortium, an investment project under the Incentive System for Research and Technological Development provided for in the Specific Regulation of the Competitiveness and Internationalisation Domain (RECI)”, says the order.

This project will have “a total investment of approximately €24 million” and “aims to create an innovative portfolio of products and services, mostly based on cloud and cognitive technologies, through a significant research and development effort aligned around four strong technological vectors of transformation: 5G networks, Edge/Cloud computing continuum, data-driven technologies and business models and Artificial Intelligence”.

The realisation of the project will allow Altice Labs “not only to maintain but also to expand its market share in the markets and geographies in which it is already present, as well as to address new business segments worldwide, with innovative services in the field of industrial IoT [Internet of Things] (based on 5G), IoT for urban agglomerations/cities/municipalities, and simultaneously expand into new business spaces in the segment of Big Data and data monetisation and analytics services, and digital markets for cognitive and non-cognitive algorithms associated”, said the order.

“Power – Empowering a Digital Future will contribute to the increase in the volume of expenditure on R&TD [research and technological development] in the business sector by implying a volume of expenditure on R&TD by Altice Labs of around €19.7 million, and may, at a later stage, imply the realisation of new investments by the co-promoters or even by other companies, as a result of knowledge spillovers originated”, the document states.

The R&D expenditure made by Altice Labs “will represent a value equivalent to 25.8% of the company’s GVA [gross value added] in 2025 (post-project year), which corresponds to a technological intensity (weight of R&D expenditure in GVA) well above the national average, which translates into a very positive contribution to the increase in the volume of R&D expenditure in the business sector”.

In addition, “the project will contribute to increasing national exports of goods and services with high technological intensity since it aims to develop a portfolio of highly updated, renewed and disruptive solutions worldwide, so its successful completion will bring very positive results in terms of increasing Altice Labs’ export capacity”.

It is expected that the project “will have a very significant impact on the company’s international sales volume, allowing it to achieve a cumulative turnover resulting from the project of more than €585 million between 2024 and 2030, of which €380 million will result from exports”.

For the project, “15 highly qualified jobs will be created by Altice Labs for its R&D activities”.

Regarding the co-promoters, the University of Coimbra foresees the hiring of 17 fellows, corresponding to 14 master’s degree research fellowships, one post-doctoral fellowship and two undergraduate fellowships. The Telecommunications Institute foresees the hiring of 21 fellows, corresponding to 11 undergraduate research fellowships and 10 master’s degree fellowships, also foreseeing the hiring of 10 auxiliary researchers, three of whom are PhDs, it said.

The Pedro Nunes Institute – Association for Innovation and Development in Science and Technology IPN foresees the hiring of four fellows, corresponding to two bachelor’s degree research fellowships and two master’s degree fellowships, and the hiring of a doctorate is also foreseen.

“The project includes a promotion and dissemination programme, both nationally and internationally, in order to capitalise on the work developed and ensure the dissemination of the results in the dual technical-commercial and scientific-technological aspects”, and “the knowledge acquired will be valued through publications, presentations at forums and conferences of the speciality and reference for the sector, demonstrations at technology fairs and specialised events for each line of work, as well as actions with the first target customers, which will include demonstrations of products and services”.

The consortium will “design a cohesive and distributed results dissemination plan among the co-directors, in order to ensure the wide dissemination of the project results and their impact at national and international level”.

The order takes effect from the date of its signature.