The Consultative Council for the Strategic Plan of the City of Knowledge of Setúbal met on the 20th, for the first time, to lay the general foundations for the implementation of this innovative project, for which the ambition is to attract worldwide investment.
This first meeting served to share and debate ideas and proposals, as well as to discuss the general lines that will define the future City of Knowledge, a project by The Pitroda Group LLC, which foresees the construction of modern infrastructures, in an area of 180 hectares in the Vale da Rosa area, capable of bringing together and enhancing cooperation between various entities active in the area of innovation.
The 14 entities that make up the Advisory Board met on the 20th, in a meeting that was attended by teleconference by businessman Sam Pitroda, founder of The Pitroda Group LLC.
“The City of Knowledge will create a cluster of knowledge capable of attracting investment from all over the world”, stressed Sam Pitroda, stressing that the project is an important and significant step towards the modernization of the current paradigms of economic development in the region and, consequently, from the country.
The project has a close partnership with the Setúbal City Council, with the mayor, Maria das Dores Meira, also present at the meeting on the afternoon of the 20th, highlighting that the future City of Knowledge, for which it will still be necessary “ breaking a lot of stones ”to make it a reality, will be something“ unique in the country ”and able to bring together“ experiences that can be replicated in other territories ”.
The City of Knowledge, designed by The Pitroda Group LLC, planned for an area of 180 hectares in Vale da Rosa, close to an important industrial and services hub in the municipality, as well as the campus of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, will be a location where people and companies will live, work, cooperate and innovate together.
The creation of a platform capable of geographically concentrating the stakeholders of a given sector, enhancing the exchange of knowledge effectively, is another of the objectives of the City of Knowledge of Setúbal.
For this project, Indian businessman and philanthropist Sam Pitroda wants to build offices, residential area, hotel, conference center, hospital, schools and universities, shopping areas, car parks, as well as leisure centers, art and culture.
In addition to The Pitroda Group LLC and the Setúbal City Council, the Advisory Council is made up of the five parish councils in the municipality, Municipal Assembly, Port Administration of Setúbal and Sesimbra, AICEP Portugal Global, AISET – Industry Association of the Setúbal Peninsula and Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
BlueBiz Global Park, Employment and Professional Training Center of Setúbal, Commission for the Coordination and Regional Development of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, Fundação Escola Profissional de Setúbal and Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal are also members of the Advisory Board.
This first meeting, which included the presence of Gustavo Miedzir, representative of Sam Pitroda in Portugal, took place five months after the signing of the cooperation protocol between the municipality of Setúbal and the group of Sam Pitroda for the preparation of the Strategic City Plan Knowledge.
In addition to the functional and urban articulation with the city, the plan, which is being prepared by the consultant CEDRU – Center for Studies and Regional and Urban Development, will identify areas of knowledge appropriate to the objectives and reality of Setúbal and the region.
The Setúbal City Council is responsible, among other objectives, for drawing up a Detailed Plan that allows the implementation of the planned infrastructures, a phase that will occur only after The Pitroda Group LLC ensures the economic and financial sustainability of the project, namely, by attracting investors .
Satyan Pitroda, 77, known as Sam Pitroda, is an engineer, inventor and entrepreneur in the telecommunications sector, having served as a consultant to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for almost a decade.
For the past forty years, he has maintained activity in the telecommunications sector in Europe, the United States of America and India, having collaborated with the International Telecom Union in the development of telecommunications infrastructures in developing countries.
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