Economy

Porto plays host to the Bea World Festival. The event runs from 15 to 18 November. This International Festival of Events and Live Communication gathers in Porto the best events agencies and customers from all around the globe. The highlight of this festival is the prize ceremony. The most anticipated moment is the award ceremony that happens 17 November in Rivoli.

Christmas lightings in Porto will be switched on 1 December at 5.30 pm. As usual, the occasion will be marked in Avenida dos Aliados, when the Christmas tree will be lit at General Humberto Delgado Square, in front of Town Hall and thus the holidays officially begin. As in the last two years, the City Hall marks this date with an open celebration at Avenida dos Aliados.

The Bea World Festival will gather in Porto over 500 people from all around the world. These awards don't come with a golden statue but rather with an elephant as a reference symbol. The Oscars of the events, the Bea Awards will be held, for the first time ever, in Portugal, in the city of Porto, from 15 to 18 November.

Porto Conference Centre (Old Customs House) was for three times considered the best in Europe by winning the "Best Meetings & Conference Center in Europe 2017" prize, granted by the Business Destinations magazine. Porto Conference Centre had already been awarded this prize in 2014 and 2015.

"Porto. For Talent" is the city's tagline at the attendance for the forthcoming Lisbon Web Summit 2017, from 6 to 9 November.

Wines from 33 producers from 11 Portuguese demarcated regions can be found in the 2nd edition of Wine Fest Porto, scheduled for 18 November at the Customs' Salão Nobre.

The "Efficient Resource Management in the Framework of the Circular Economy" is the theme of the conference to be held on 6 November at the EDP's Auditorium. This event, organised under the thematic conferences cycle of the Green Project Awards, is a participation free event but prior registration is required.

The co-operation among cities facing the same type of challenges is on focus at the Almeida Garrett Municipal Library, venue for the URBACT 2017 infoday. This initiative is devoted to the dissemination of good practices performed within the scope of URBACT, the European Learning Programme and experience sharing towards promoting a sustainable urban development.

"First runs in a new location are memorable, even magical", says Oliver Balch, writer and blogger that published his memorable and magical experience of running in Porto in the British daily newspaper The Guardian. Oliver Balch writes about runs and travels around the world and in a "cinematically sequenced" narrative, Balch describes his impressive "encounter" with Porto.

The Portuguese application is the only to provide three available venues to host the seat of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The three options fulfil the requisite criteria in EMA's relocation process.