Artificial Intelligence Agency
in Coimbra
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant technology. It is a practical tool that businesses in the Coimbra Region — from Coimbra to Figueira da Foz, from Cantanhede to Oliveira do Hospital — can use today to automate processes, respond faster to customers and capture more business opportunities.
AutoThinkAI is an international artificial intelligence agency with a genuine connection to this region, through its co-founder Francisco Carnide.
A Region With Its Own Identity
Talking about Coimbra is talking about much more than a university city. The Coimbra Region is an intermunicipal community with 19 municipalities, including Coimbra, Figueira da Foz, Cantanhede, Arganil, Condeixa-a-Nova, Góis, Lousã, Mealhada, Mira, Miranda do Corvo, Montemor-o-Velho, Mortágua, Oliveira do Hospital, Pampilhosa da Serra, Penacova, Penela, Soure, Tábua and Vila Nova de Poiares, spread over around 4,336 km² and home to approximately 440,000 residents.
It is a diverse economy: research and healthcare in Coimbra, industry and sea in Figueira da Foz, biotechnology in Cantanhede, forestry inland, agriculture along the coastal strip, and commerce and tourism spread across the whole territory. This diversity is precisely what makes the region interesting from an artificial intelligence point of view: each sector has different repetitive processes, and each one can benefit from automation tailored to it.
19
Municipalities in the region
~4,336 km²
Of territory
~440,000
Residents
A genuine connection to the region
Local Roots: Francisco Carnide
AutoThinkAI is an international agency, but its connection to this region is not merely commercial. Francisco Carnide, co-founder and technical lead of AutoThinkAI, has family roots in the Coimbra Region that go back several generations.
That personal connection shapes the way AutoThinkAI works here. Francisco Carnide knows the character of the region, the way local businesses operate and the importance of solutions that respect how each business already works, instead of forcing it to change everything. It is this combination of international experience in artificial intelligence with a genuine understanding of the region that sets AutoThinkAI apart.
A Bigger Economy Than It Seems
The Coimbra Region has more than 50,000 registered companies, the highest number among all the intermunicipal communities in the country. This is not a small market, nor one dependent on a single sector.
Coimbra
Knowledge, healthcare and technology
The healthcare sector counts 6,743 companies and more than €493 million in turnover, with hospitals and clinics representing around 92% of that sector.
ICT brings together 1,075 companies and around €359 million in turnover, close to 30% of the sector total in the Centro region, with particular strength in programming and IT consulting.
Manufacturing counted 2,503 companies in 2023 — pulp, paper and cardboard, food industry, materials, ceramics and electronics — and many of them export abroad.
Cantanhede
Biotechnology
Biocant Park hosts around 50 companies dedicated to biotechnology.
Around 600 workers are concentrated in biotechnology and research.
Figueira da Foz
Sea, industry and tourism
The port, fishing activity, shipyards and nautical tourism are pillars of the local economy.
Accommodation and food service bring together 3,952 companies, around €504 million and more than 11,000 jobs.
The municipality of Coimbra recorded around 709,000 overnight stays in 2024, around 60% of them international.
Sea, agriculture and forestry add up to 4,422 companies and around €416 million.
This diverse economic base is the reason AutoThinkAI does not propose a one-size-fits-all solution. A clinic in Coimbra, an exporter in Cantanhede and a hotel in Figueira da Foz have different needs, but all of them can benefit from automation and AI applied to their own processes.
19
Municipalities in the region
~4,336 km²
Of territory
~440,000
Residents
50,000+
Registered companies
~149
R&D units
5,446
International students
University, Research and Innovation
The Coimbra Region is one of the largest knowledge hubs in the country. The university, research institutes and incubators form an ecosystem that connects academic knowledge with the creation of companies.
University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra has more than 25,000 students and an academic community of more than 28,000 people, including 5,446 international students from 118 nationalities.
Research and R&D
The region counts around 149 R&D units, a solid base for applied research and for connecting academic knowledge with companies.
Instituto Pedro Nunes
Instituto Pedro Nunes has already incorporated more than 560 companies since 1996, with an export rate of 80%.
Innovation ecosystem
Coimbra iParque, INOPOL and Biocant Park in Cantanhede complete an innovation ecosystem that connects academic research with real companies.
Around the university, an ecosystem has grown that connects academic knowledge with real companies: Instituto Pedro Nunes, Coimbra iParque, INOPOL and Biocant Park in Cantanhede form a network of incubation and innovation that brings research and business closer together.
Artificial Intelligence Is Already Arriving in the Region
AI is not an abstract novelty for the Coimbra Region. The Coimbra Region 3.X programme, for the period 2025–2027, explicitly includes the adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in digital public services. The municipality of Coimbra has already tested AI in areas such as automatic email classification, workflow management and recognition of geographic objects in a smart city context.
This shows a region that is receptive to technology. What is missing, for many companies, is practical implementation: knowing where AI can really help their specific business and having someone implement it properly.
What AutoThinkAI Implements
Business Automation
With more than 50,000 companies in the region — across industry, healthcare, hospitality, agriculture and technology — many still lose time on repetitive administrative tasks. We automate processes such as order handling, moving data between systems, document management, reporting and follow-up, so that your team stops manually repeating the same work every day.
Lead Generation
Between technology companies, exporters, biotechnology companies and professional service providers, the region has a business fabric strongly oriented towards B2B, reinforced by the international ecosystem that gravitates around Instituto Pedro Nunes and the University of Coimbra. We help these companies identify potential customers, qualify interest and structure that contact into an organised sales process, instead of relying only on one-off contacts.
CRM and Integrations
Companies that use several systems at the same time — healthcare bookings, industrial sales, hospitality requests, B2B contacts — often lose information between channels. We connect forms, email, WhatsApp, calendars, CRM platforms and internal databases, so that every request is registered and followed up in a single place.
AI Voice Agents
Between healthcare bookings, hotel and accommodation requests, questions from international students and contacts from potential customers, many organisations in the region receive a constant volume of repetitive calls. We implement AI voice agents that answer, qualify, route and register these requests automatically, in several languages when needed, handing the conversation over to a person whenever the situation requires it.
SEO and GEO
Tourism, healthcare, technology, biotechnology and commerce companies in the region increasingly compete for visibility, not only on Google but also in the AI search tools that more and more people use to find and compare services, such as ChatGPT. We work on traditional search engine visibility and on optimisation for these new forms of discovery, known as GEO, without promising guaranteed results that no agency can ensure.
Sectors Where AI Makes a Difference
Healthcare and Biotechnology
Bookings, information requests and integration of administrative systems, always in non-clinical functions.
Technology and Research
Internal automation, CRM and B2B lead generation for companies connected to the university and incubation ecosystem.
Industry and Export
Process automation and organisation of sales pipelines for manufacturing companies with international activity.
Tourism and Hospitality
Voice agents, multilingual customer service and online visibility for hotels, local accommodation and tour operators between Coimbra, Figueira da Foz and the Serra da Lousã.
Agriculture, Forestry and Sea
Administrative automation and process organisation for companies connected to the coastal and forestry economy of the region.
These are examples, not limitations. The same principles of automation and AI apply to any business with repetitive processes or customers to manage.
Why AutoThinkAI
We do not sell isolated tools or generic packages. Every project starts by understanding how the company works today — its systems, its processes and its customers — before proposing any implementation.
- 01We analyse the real processes and friction points of your business
- 02We identify where AI and automation can create concrete value
- 03We design the right solution, without forcing unnecessary technology
- 04We integrate with the systems the company already uses
- 05We automate the relevant workflows
- 06We support and adjust the system over time
AutoThinkAI is not the only AI agency in the region, nor does it claim to be. What we offer is international experience in artificial intelligence implementation, combined with Francisco Carnide’s local knowledge of the character and real needs of the companies in this region.
Frequently Asked Questions
It can automate repetitive administrative tasks, capture and qualify leads, answer calls and common requests, and improve the company’s online visibility, adapting to the sector and size of each business.
We do not have a physical office in the region, but we work with companies across the whole Coimbra Region remotely, with a genuine personal connection through co-founder Francisco Carnide.
Yes, which is particularly relevant in a region with a significant international academic community and a tourism flow of around 60% foreign visitors in the municipality of Coimbra alone.
Yes. Process automation and B2B lead generation are especially relevant for manufacturing and exporting companies in the region.
SEO works on visibility in traditional search engines such as Google. GEO works on how the company is understood and referenced by artificial intelligence search tools, such as ChatGPT.
It begins with a free consultation, where we analyse the company’s current processes and identify, together, where AI can have the most practical impact.
Talk to Us
If your company — in Coimbra, Figueira da Foz, Cantanhede or any other municipality in the region — wants to understand where artificial intelligence can really help, talk to us. Francisco Carnide and the AutoThinkAI team are available to analyse your business and identify practical opportunities for automation and AI.