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

learning and teleworking. It also includes individual vocational guidance
sessions;
- cultural and tourism digital map containing all the interesting cultural spots,
(particularly museums), as well as information on the wine industry;
- real estate e-market that intends to build up a prototype system for the purchase
of real estate property (houses, flats, land) through electronic means in real
time.
A range of key public institutions of <strong>Porto</strong> and the inhabitants of the city can be considered
as the main beneficiaries of <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong>. The citizens of <strong>Porto</strong> will be able to take
advantage of a number of outcomes of the project, such as the use of public services
provided by the city council via the Internet, cost reduction for accessing the Internet,
centralisation of information on employment, vocational training and entrepreneurship, as
well as better traffic information. Also a number of institutions based in <strong>Porto</strong> are
beneficiaries of the initiative. These include the City Council that will be endowed with
new e-communication infrastructures allowing the provision of new services; universities,
high schools and primary schools will be connected to the city broadband network; social
institutions will receive IT equipment for free; and museums and other cultural institutions
will benefit from the new cultural digital map and web-based virtual visits.
The following can be considered the main results of the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> project:
- a broadband infrastructure with coverage of most of the city comprised of almost 93
km of optical fibres connecting local administration premises, universities, primary
and secondary schools, research laboratories, museums, etc.;
- one data centre (at the <strong>Porto</strong> City Council) that contains the servers which host the
websites of the project;
- a number of interactive sites available through the Internet (e.g. digital city services,
employment, culture, tourism, real estate, business, etc.);
- a number of information sites available though the Internet (e.g. counselling and
social support, virtual visits with 3-D modulation, etc.);
- IT equipment available for free during short periods on a rotating basis in a number
of selected schools and non-profit institutions;
- the “City of Jobs”, the key reference in the city of <strong>Porto</strong> in the employment,
vocational training and teleworking fields.
The project is expected to have an impact on the following main fields:
- Education – boost the quality of the infrastructure available to support the use of ICT
technologies in all levels of education, from primary education through university;
- Employment and vocational training – increase the competitiveness of the local
human resources market and make it more attractive for national and foreign
investment;
- Public administration – increase the efficiency of the public administration services
and bring them closer to the public at large.
- Quality of life – increase the quality of life of the inhabitants living in the urban area,
the workers of and visitors to the city of <strong>Porto</strong>.
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