The University of Saint Joseph wants to create a business incubator by September to attract startups from Portuguese-speaking countries and help Macau companies to reach Lusophone markets.

The director of the Department of Business Management at USJ, Alexandre Lobo, told Lusa today that the incubator will focus on areas such as financial technology, “aligned with the strategy of the Government” of Macau and with “very advanced” innovation ecosystems in Portugal and in Brazil.

This summer, the USJ will send professors to Portugal, Brazil “and eventually to Angola”, to carry out a series of initiatives not only with universities, but also with other existing business incubators and accelerators, explained the Brazilian academic.

Alexandre Lobo said that teachers will also seek to identify the first projects that can be incubated at the USJ, “even if initially in a virtual way”, given the restrictions on entry into Macau due to the pandemic.

On the sidelines of the presentation of the 928 Challenge, a competition of university startups between Portuguese-speaking countries and China, the academic said he was “confident” that in 2023 it will be possible for foreign entrepreneurs to enter the Chinese region without quarantine.

Alexandre Lobo recalled that the authorities announced last week the lifting of border restrictions on university students and foreign teaching professionals, including Portuguese teachers.

In an interview with Lusa earlier this month, USJ dean, Stephen Morgan, had already stated that it was “terribly important (…) to return to the countries” where the institution was “recruiting heavily, in Asia, Africa and in Europe and bring students” to Macau.

Macau, which has only registered 82 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, has maintained strong border restrictions since the beginning of 2020, banning the entry of foreigners, betting on a policy of ‘zero cases’ of covid-19.

Source: Macau Business