In the last ten years, Lisbon has seen an explosion of incubation and acceleration spaces for companies and start-ups, coworkings and fablabs and other similar spaces that make up the Lisbon’s ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. The global COVID-19 pandemic affect significantly our lives, forms of work and mobility and also has suspended much of the local entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. During the lockdowns, several incubators, accelerators and coworking spaces were forced to close or to reduce their activities. Many of them quickly moved their services to online to continue to support the community. Following the government guidelines to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, they implemented restrictions on the use of space and sanitary measures such as rigorous disinfection and physical distancing. In addition to revenue losses, there are more difficulties in network development, access to capital and re-establishing supply chains and in links to local businesses affected by the crisis. But the crisis has also created opportunities for those who have developed innovative solutions to new circumstances. The pandemic accelerated the use and diffusion of digital tools, and consequently, remote working practices, remote learning and the development of e-services. Many of these spaces can be used by a growing workforce and companies that will continue to work remotely. This research presented here is based on the collection and analysis of data available in articles, policy documents and reports, as well as semi-structured interviews with key informants. It aims to observe and analyse, from an interdisciplinary point of view, the short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, responses and measures related to the NWS, as well as perceptions about the future of these spaces and new forms of work.

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