Critical Software and BMW will settle at the city centre and create 500 skilled jobs

The joint venture between Critical software and BMW, aka Critical TechWorks is shaking up the car industry as pioneer software to be used onboard BMW cars is being produced in Porto.

So, the future of cars is already in Porto, but the address will move from Campo Alegre to the Edifício dos Correios, next to Porto City Hall.

The near future represents 500 jobs, highly skilled labour force that will be hired by Critical TechWorks till 2020. Porto is thriving with human resources excellence as "it is the city of opportunities for inward investment from day one", as Critical Software asserted, since 2017.

Once again, the company has chosen Porto, together with BMW, to produce the car that will tell the next chapter in the car industry.

On 1 July, the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, the CEO of Critical TechWorks, Rui Cordeiro and the BMW Representative, Nicolas Peter, visited the construction site; also present were the Ministry of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, The Secretary of State for Internationalisation, Eurico Brilhante Dias, the Chairman of Critical Software, Gonçalo Quadros, and the Financial Director of Critical TechWorks, Paulo Guedes, just to mention a few.

Growth is the name of the game for this business, which operated in Praça da Galiza and Campo Alegre as of 2016. With business expanding, Critical TechWorks is redesigning its office space in the former Post office building, known as "Edifício dos Correios"; and this is a unique opportunity to settle the new offices and workplaces, in a 5000 meters square area, as stated by the Jornal de Negócios.

Critical Software history begins in 1998, in Coimbra. Almost twenty years later, the success story continues to be told with a slightly different utterance, Porto style, in the words of the company's CEO, Gonçalo Quadros, "with energy, ambition and creativity".

According to Critical Software's CEO, "Porto has an increasingly strong technological DNA, bringing together all the essential factors - material and human, lifestyle, energy and youth to seduce and contaminate the most qualified talents. And that's what we'll be working for. Because if Porto is already a prominent engineering exporter, it will be even more so in the future".

Critical Software is one of the most important software companies in the world. Its client portfolio includes the United Kingdom Armed Forces, north-American NASA, the European Agency ESA, Chinese Agency CNSA and Japanese Agency JAXA, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, EDP (Energias de Portugal) and the Bank of New York.

"Porto is a vibrant city, internationally acknowledged as an innovation leader, with intelligent workforce and material mix of excellence", declared Critical Software CEO at the time of the opening of the company's premises in Porto in 2017.

The city of Porto is a magnet for new business investment, drawing in people and investors from different parts of the globe. The process of targeting Porto as the ideal city to hosting Critical Software offices was supported by InvestPorto, the municipal entity that acts as a non-stop shop for investors at all phases of the investment process, providing tailor-made assistance in order to enhance investment processes.