Inov Contacto, AICEP’s international internship program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, has helped train more than 6,000 young people in international skills. It involved approximately 1400 hosting entities in 85 countries, mostly companies, and helped create an international knowledge network that currently numbers 5700 professionals. “It is a program that always produces excellent results for the internationalization of Portugal,” assures the president of AICEP.
At stake are entities such as Bial, Bosch, Turismo de Portugal, Barbot, Logoplaste or Embraer, but also, among others, the Petrotec group or Musa – Cerveja Independente, who have been partners in this program, “which helps to promote of Portuguese talent and the country’s competitiveness”.
And although the “great majority” of these young people continue to work abroad, they are in internationalized Portuguese companies. Therefore, believes Luís Castro Henriques, there is no loss of national talent. “In a highly globalized and internationalized world, an experience like this, at the beginning of their careers, is remarkable and strengthens not only the technical qualifications of our young people, but also their soft skills and natural adaptability,” the official defended.
Luís Castro Henriques recalls that the “highly qualified” talent of young Portuguese “is today the main differentiator in the country’s competitiveness” and guarantees that the proof of Inov Contacto’s success lies “in the brilliant careers that many of these young people have had to create” over the years.
With the registration phase for the 26th edition running until December 7th, AICEP took the opportunity to announce the results of the satisfaction survey among participants in the previous edition: 92% of trainees believe that the experience has made their international career boost, 94% say it has improved their networking skills. 88% say the internship is an opportunity to acquire new skills and tools and 97% recommend the program.
“These are very positive results, not only because the demand continues, but above all because of the satisfaction of the young people who have participated. It is clear that it is a program with excellent results, very satisfying and motivating.”
The quarter century of the Inov Contacto program was marked yesterday with a ceremony at the Leixões Cruise Terminal, a moment to “give thanks not only to the companies that have worked with us all these years, but a very special one, to the founders of Inov Contacto: Alberto Castro, Guilherme Costa Pinto dos Santos.
Luís Castro Henriques, who was questioned on the sidelines of the event about foreign direct investment in Portugal, guarantees that the investment pipeline this year will reach 10 billion euros, 10 times higher than in 2014. The conversion rate of new customers is three times higher than it was in 2014.
“The October data showed us that we had already broken the all-time record for 2021 of new customers for the country and it is very interesting to see that two of them were solid contacts in the context of the Hannover Messe,” the technology fair said. for the industry that took place in May in this German city and hosted by Portugal.
In terms of sectors, the president of AICEP emphasizes that there is “a large part” in software and new technologies, “which continues to bring a greater value-added dimension to the investment brought to the country”.
Ilídia Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
