University of Porto to invest €36 million in new lab
Development to be made on the site of a former refinery in Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos

In early 2025, the University of Porto (U. Porto) will launch the tender for the development of a laboratory on the site of Galp's former refinery in Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos. The lab, named JUST3I, will be the first development made by the University in its new campus facilities, with an expected cost of 36 million euros.
U. Porto expects to create 300 new jobs with JUST3I. The lab will be focused on research, innovation, and incubation in communications, wireless technologies, networks and applications, computer vision, detection technologies, computing, and machine learning. It will later be connected to the buildings being designed for the site's future campus, which will be dedicated to aerospace engineering.
In addition to teaching and research in the field of space, JUST3I will also be geared towards the provision of services and partnerships with national and regional companies operating in the sector. "The stimulus to technological development and the industrialization of space systems that the University of Porto will produce will be decisive for Portuguese companies - especially those in the North - to create new markets in this sector, strengthening their international competitiveness,” stresses Pedro Alves Costa, vide-dean of U. Porto.
"This new hub will strengthen the national scientific system and promote its connection to companies through new technological infrastructures dedicated to the space sector,” added António de Sousa Pereira, dean of the University.
The project will be financed to the tune of 23.5 million euros from the Just Transition Fund, a financial mechanism created by the European Union to ensure the transformation of former industrial sites into sustainable projects.