According to a report by ECO, the process is currently being studied and the location has not yet been chosen. But, like the four other centres in the country, synergies with higher education will be a major factor in choosing the location.

The information was provided to ECO by the new president of IBM Portugal: “We are thinking of expanding with one more”, said Ricardo Martinho, who took over the leadership of the multinational in the Portuguese market at the end of last year.

It was in 2013 that the company installed its first centre of this type in Tomar, taking advantage of the synergies with the Polytechnic Institute of the municipality. More than eight years later, the Tomar centre has “about 200 people” working, according to company figures. In Viseu, where IBM installed a Technological Innovation Centre in 2016, 120 jobs were created.

Fundão in 2019 and Portalegre in 2020 were the two other locations chosen for the installation of IBM centres. Added to these is the Shared Services Centre in Braga, whose operation is different from the other four.

“It's not just Lisbon or Porto that have good universities. Here we have a relationship with other types of people and other types of training that enrich the teams. Then, we want to be a catalyst for how the world works in a better way, and that is also helping the country, so that it has centres and a more dynamic economy in more inland and less central areas”, explained Ricardo Martinho, when asked about the importance of this decentralisation for the company.