Margarida Marques, General Director of Hitachi Digital Service (DS) in Portugal and Spain, emphasized that the investment decisions significantly vary between two neighbors. While Spain won the market scale - important for new factories - Portugal is outstanding compared to having less bureaucratic and simpler and simpler public administrative procedures, especially in business creation. Hitachi DS was created in the form of radioactive dust from Hitachi Vantara on April 1, 2024, and opened offices in Portugal and Spain.
Lisbon office uses about 250 highly qualified experts, including 30% from abroad. The company operates mainly as a specialized technical and developed center at international customer services, focusing on projects with strong innovation, where it can add a single value due to the expertise of the Hitachi industry (for example, train production or cars).
Marques realized challenges such as bureaucracy, taxes, high wages and retaining talents. It praised Portuguese measures to attract foreign investments, especially Japan, and highlighted the growth of Japanese trade interests related to sustainable areas and technology. A notable project includes developing a digital solution for Onethird, a British company, to reduce food waste with spectroscopic machine technology to analyze the quality of fruit - showing the innovation ability of Hitachi DS Portugal.
To optimize global projects, Hitachi DS operates mixed international groups, using Portuguese language skills, cultural closeness and time zone advantages as a bridge between customers in the United States, Vietnam and other places. Brands also noted the increasing importance of Japanese companies in Portugal, supported by the Portuguese-Japanese Chamber of Commerce, which presided over, emphasizing a positive trend motivated by the fields of energy and renewable technology.
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