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

Real estate electronic system to be available on the Internet
The real estate electronic system will allow the purchase of real estate property (houses,
flats, land) in real time: this system, which implies the coordination of several public and
private organisations (e.g. registry and land registry offices, other state services, deeds
offices, real estate agencies, etc.), will be the first in the world when operational. It will
offer a fast and safe service to the potential customers and will prevent tax evasion.
New e-services available at the city council
The new services include general online services for the public (e.g. request of documents
and payments), e-procurement system, and an Intranet for internal services of the city.
Working against social exclusion
The project is helping disadvantaged social groups to access the Internet and services
provided by <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong>, namely making computer equipment available for easy and free
access to the Internet at institutions that support groups suffering from social exclusion.
For the moment, seven institutions use the equipment provided by the project. This figure
is expected to grow to 50 organisations by the end of the project, as more machines will be
made available. There are also members of the project technical staff who are helping the
beneficiaries. These technicians work also at the “City of Jobs”. As part of the <strong>Porto</strong>
<strong>Digital</strong> Training Programme (budget of €0.5m) more facilitators are trained to promote the
use of information and communication technologies.
The mobilisation of the city and of such a large number of actors toward the
implementation of the project activities is also worth mentioning. This allowed the
combination of a variety of human, physical and financial resources, which were
fundamental to intervene in such a wide range of fields and achieve the ambitious goals of
<strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong>. Today, the <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> Association is commonly considered in the city as
an added-value entity for <strong>Porto</strong>. The Association has become a privileged forum where the
main actors of the city (e.g. city council, university, and business association) meet and
discuss the relevant themes of the community. The project has therefore created a strong
momentum.
5. SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSFERABILITY
5.1. Sustainability
The project promoters decided in November 2007 to provide extra funding to <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong>
for the year 2008 in order to guarantee the continuation of some activities. In particular, the
promoters are planning the expansion of the broadband communications infrastructure to
<strong>Porto</strong>'s Metropolitan Area (14 city councils, about 1.6 million people), the creation of
<strong>Porto</strong>'s Metropolitan Area events portal, and the continuation of the City of Jobs. Contacts
are also being made with the Portuguese government, so as to gather support for launching
the world’s first Real Estate Electronic Market.
Moreover, some other elements should support the continuation of <strong>Porto</strong> <strong>Digital</strong>. The
Association has no more than 10 full-time employees and relatively low operational costs.
On the other hand, the broadband network infrastructure, which costs approximately