Lisbon’s Unicorns Factory launches health hub with AstraZeneca, CUF, Linde and European Longevity Hub

Lisbon’s Unicorns Factory has set up a new innovation hub dedicated to health sector startups – Healthhub.

Described by Lisbon’s Mayor Carlos Moedas as the most important initiative for Lisbon to emerge from Web Summit Lisbon 2025 at the launch party held at co-working space SITIO on the city’s main square Praça Dom Pedro IV, the new hub brings together healthcare startups, investors, universities, and large pharmaceutical companies to accelerate solutions that can enhance innovation and efficiency in the sector while meeting the needs of patients and stakeholders.

After the successful launch of six other technology hubs in Lisbon over the past few years by Lisbon’s Unicorn Factory (The Beato Innovation District, AI Hub, Green Hub, Gaming Hub, Web3hub and Engineers Hub – hubs that are specialised environments that foster innovation and collaboration in specific sectors by bringing together startups, companies, and talent), this sixth hub strengthens Lisbon’s strategy to focus on strong growth areas by creating innovation neighbourhoods.

Despite appalling torrential rain, around 200 people including healthcare and Pharma executives, startup founders and staff, city council officials, journalists, academics, and well-wishers involved in the project packed the space to hear presentations from the CEO of Unicorn Factory, Gil Azevedo, and the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, as well as the partners involved.

The Healthhub will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, universities, such as Católica Medical School and Nova Medical School, and large companies to create a dynamic and collaborative community in the healthcare field that can gain international scale, driving new ideas and attracting new projects that promote the transformation of the sector.

This innovation hub in the new SITIO building, and has 11 private rooms and 56 workstations, which will host startups and teams at different stages of growth.

With the healthhub, Lisbon is strengthening its position as one of Europe’s most dynamic ecosystems, boosting opportunities for partnerships and startups to grow and scale their projects to international markets. The aim is to develop a global health innovation hub capable of attracting talent, investment, job creation and new strategic partnerships, further consolidating the city as the European capital of innovation.

The CEO of Unicorn Lisboa, Gill Azevedo, said: “This is the biggest announcement we have this year for Web Summit. We have been involved in different initiatives and during the summit we ran over 40 talks for side events and activities with our partners.

“We have designed four protocols from entities that range from Rock-in-Rio where we are going to create pilots for our startups to test their products,” he said.

Unicorn Factory has also started an alliance of South American startups to create bridges between South America and Portugal as well as a protocol with the United Arab Emirates with Hub 71, the largest innovation hub in the Emirates.

And discussions have been ongoing with a number of players in Spain to start creating an Iberian ecosystem where startups can take advantage of local expertise in both countries.

As for the Healthhub, Gil Azevedo says it is a project that they had been working on for over a year and joins thee other hubs it has in Lisbon and that are shaping innovation in the city.

“The healthcare sector faces significant challenges and is undergoing a process of transformation, which encourages innovation in this critical area. Healthhub was created to accelerate this change, bringing together talent and strategic partners to develop innovative solutions that bring efficiency to the sector, increase the responsiveness of health services and keep up with new areas of growth, such as longevity”, he explained.

Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon, said: “The Unicorn Factory continues to grow and create jobs for Lisboners. There are more than 16,000 job opportunities, mainly for young people.”

He said that the whole idea of innovation in Lisbon was a bottom up and top down idea. “The bottom up was the Unicorn Factory Lisboa, but how does one create a horizontal system where innovation is not just about an idea but a process”.

“The Unicorn Factory became that process where people can learn new skills and have mentors, but is also about scaling up and that was why we needed a horizontal system as well as a top-down approach,” he added.

This was why these horizontal hubs in specific sectors such as gaming or fintech were developed. “I think that of all the hubs we’ve set up, this one of perfect because it fits in with the DNA of the city,” explained the mayor.

However, he stressed that large companies and stakeholders had a duty to get involved in the community.

“We have to give back to the community and Lisbon as to be a city of harmony. I spend 95% of my time with the most vulnerable people such as the homeless and the people who can no longer afford to pay rent and you have a social responsibility too.”

Within the scope of the partnerships, Nathalie Cardinal von Widdern, President of AstraZeneca Portugal, says that “the healthhub represented an important step to promote collaboration and innovation in Health and Life Sciences.

“At AstraZeneca Portugal, we are proud to contribute to this ecosystem, working side by side with our partners to explore new ideas and approaches that can improve patient care and strengthen the healthcare system”.

At the event, Carlos Carvalho, Innovation and Business Excellence Director for the company explained how it has been creating hubs all over Europe, and has large ones in Madrid and Barcelona.

“Lisbon could not be left behind and is a great choice. This project aligns with our corporate and innovation strategies and is our latest project”, he said.

The Director of CUF, Paula Brito Silva, called the initiative “a natural evolution by joining forces” to creation of the Healthub, where CUF’s 80 years of experience and vitality meet the dynamics and growth capacity of Unicorn Factory Lisboa, strengthening the health ecosystem and driving the future through innovation.”

She added that this union “reinforces CUF’s connection to the health innovation ecosystem, fostering the evaluation and adoption of the latest trends, while supporting startups, either through mentoring in the early stages, or testing solutions in the more mature phases of projects.”

Tiago Esteves, Managing Director of Linde Saúde for the Western Europe region, added: “We are extremely excited to partner with Unicorn Factory Lisboa to bring this healthub to life. This partnership reflects our ongoing commitment to innovation in healthcare. We want to co-create solutions that make a difference where it matters: in patients’ homes and in the results of the healthcare system.”

Finally, Roberto Ludovico, co-founder of the European Longevity Hub, stressed that it is “important that Portugal continues to stand out as a European hub for innovation in health and longevity.

By uniting the global ecosystem of the European Longevity Hub with the entrepreneurial strength of Unicorn Factory Lisboa, we are creating a fertile environment to bring together startups, investors, companies and other entities that want to transform the present and future of healthcare”.