Porto Digital: on the way to the knowledge based society City of ...

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€2.5m, holds great potential for the future. It can be economically optimised through commercial agreements with companies (Internet service providers). The Business School of <strong>Porto</strong> prepared a sustainability plan for the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association, which concluded that the continuation of the association is economically viable. The infrastructure and equipments owned by the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association could commercially be exploited around services such as video surveillance systems (home and business), remote monitoring and control of buildings across the Internet, city traffic control, noise monitoring, air pollution monitoring, corporate TV, among others. Furthermore, the “City of Jobs” could be self-sustainable if it operates not at local but on a regional scale. 5.2. Transferability The internal management tools developed by the project management team to help partners undertake the right procedures regarding administrative and financial issues (i.e. project implementation manual and the spreadsheets for collecting financial information) are documents that could be of interest to projects co-funded by the Structural Funds (although the manual is written in Portuguese). All the results that were identified as the most innovative ones could be transferred to other places, namely the broadband network infrastructure, the e-government services at the city council, social inclusion via free access to ICT technologies, and the real estate electronic system available on the Internet which will allow the purchase of real estate property. However, regarding the real estate e-system, it is important to note this system, which is still going through an experimental phase, could be an object of intellectual property protection. 6. CONCLUSIONS: MAIN SUCCESS FACTORS Project critical mass Perhaps paradoxically, the project size and resources helped to make it a success rather than leading to complications in implementation: 38 partners, 10 sub-projects and a budget of more than €9m helped to concentrate the minds of all involved to ensuring success. <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> is a big and well-financed project with a rather impressive amount of results, which have helped to make it a well-recognised initiative in the city. Governance The fact that there was a very strong group of promoters composed of prominent and influential institutions in the city seems to be a very relevant aspect for the execution of a quite complex project (i.e. many activities and actors). The involvement of these strong entities in the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association, other than simply the city council, proved to be a wise strategy. The high-ranking representatives from the founder institutions that participate in the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association board are also significant asset. Experienced project manager The information technology profile of the project manager as well as his previous experience in a similar project co-funded by the Portugal <strong>Digital</strong> programme, was decisive in overcoming several difficulties related to technical problems, payment delays, slow response from the programme managing authority, and the larger dimension of the project. 10
PROJECT CONTACT DETAILS Name: Position: Organisation: Mr. Alexandre Sousa Project Director <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association Address: Rua das Flores 152 P - 4050-263 <strong>Porto</strong> Telephone: +351 223 392 360 Fax: +351 223 392 369 Email: avs@portodigital.pt Further information: http://www.portodigital.pt The information contained in this case study is up to date as of: December 2007 This case study has been prepared by Augusto Ferreira in the framework of a study carried out by Technopolis Group on behalf of the European Commission. The contents and views expressed in this case study are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the European Commission. 11
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