Lisbon wants to “giant leap” in technology – Observer

The Council of Lisbon, which integrates with London and Milan a project on ‘smart cities’ or’ take a giant leap “in technology that enables greater sustainability of the territory and improving the quality of life.

Speaking to Lusa, the councilor of Finance of Lisbon, João Paulo Saraiva said the municipality’s strategy to be a ‘smart city’ based on the sharing of information in order to promote innovation , with the collaboration of organizations, businesses, third sector institutions and universities.

“it will allow us to take a giant leap into what is the city development strategy,” said the mayor, stressing that achieving Lisbon European technology event, entrepreneurship and Web Summit innovation is important for the territory and for the promotion of start-ups and technology matrix companies.

the exclusion phenomena associated with technological developments are a concern of the municipality, said John Paul Scott, referring to the need to foster social cohesion in the city.

For the alderman of Finance a ‘smart city’ ( ‘city smart’) should not be exclusively engaged in technology, so that the Lisbon strategy has to focus on the “improvement of people’s quality of life” and be applied as “an integrating factor.”

According to the municipal director Economy and Innovation of Lisbon, Paulo Carvalho, the smart city strategy “raises a very significant savings and resource efficiency”, from the management of public lighting management of the water used in the city.

“a set of benefits that are absolutely tangible,” reinforced Paulo Carvalho.

under the concept of developing ‘smart cities’, the city of Lisbon, along with London and Milan, includes the recent European Sharing cities project, which aims to “demonstrate how the innovative use of technology can improve the lives of those who dwell in cities,” taking advantage of a European Commission funding of about EUR 25 million to develop replicable solutions within the mobility, energy, data and information and communication technologies.

The project will be presented at the international conference Zoom Smart Cities, to be held in Lisbon during Wednesday and Thursday, with more than 40 speakers and with the participation of about 350 people.

According to the coordinator of the project in Lisbon Rui Franco, the initiative kicked off earlier this year and is expected to last five years, with the participation of ten other Portuguese cities, which are following what is being tested in the capital.

“the urban development, smart and sustainable” are the main characteristics that define a ‘smart city’, defended Rui Franco, whereas Lisbon “has very special conditions” in terms of technological development and governance, citizen participation, and sharing and collaboration between public, private and third sector.

the main problems that the city faces are, in his view, the asymmetries and lack of socio-economic cohesion. There are challenges in terms of housing policy and the balance between tourism and quality of life for residents, he said.

One of the instruments responsible for the development of the city “has to do with the data, that is, with information that today is produced, “said Rui Franco, arguing that the availability of existing data on the city allow you to create” an endless range of sector specific measures “in the area of ​​mobility, energy efficiency, the collection of municipal waste and tourism.

according to the coordinator of the project ‘Sharing Cities’, Lisbon can be a much smarter city, but “it would be unreasonable to say that Lisbon is not a smart city.”