Growing Investment in Portugal’s Defence Sector, with Francisca Mendes da Costa

In an interview with Advocatus, Francisca Mendes da Costa, Partner and head of the Defence and Security practice at Sérvulo & Associados, highlights that Portugal is establishing itself in the defence sector as “a centre of expertise in critical niche areas, such as maritime security or data storage”.

Portuguese economic groups are seeking to build “muscle” through consortia and the combination of capabilities in order to gain scale and competitiveness. “That can make the difference between merely ‘participating’ and actually ‘leading’ the market,” the lawyer argues.

“The establishment of the practice as an autonomous area with its own identity was a natural evolution: we formalised a dedicated practice when the market began to require a more integrated and permanent response, not only due to volume, but above all because of its transversal complexity (public, regulatory, international, technology, litigation and compliance),” the Partner explains.

Read the full special report in Portuguese here.