Technology for efficient and sustainable management

Managing essential resources such as water, mobility, or energy efficiently to optimise the way cities, rural areas, forests, and protection areas are run, and develop connected regions that offer economic, inclusive, and sustainable development – these are the main aims of the National Smart Regions Strategy (ENTI).

It is a "set of guidelines to accelerate the municipalities’ transformation and position Portugal as a digital nation", explained the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation Mário Campolargo. The National Strategy "seeks to contribute to more informed and evidence-based decision-making and leverage an even smarter management of the essential resources in the regions".  

This Strategy, under the motto "transforming data into action", aims at making people and companies’ lives easier with efficient and sustainable management of the regions based on innovation ad transparency. There are 16 strategic initiatives and 31 local recommendations, which, through technological solutions, will enable the anticipation, management and planning of the regions’ needs, encompassing urban and rural areas, thereby also meeting a commitment undertaken with promoting territorial equity.  

ENTI already has a 60-million-euro investment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to build the Public Policy dashboard, the urban management platforms for the municipalities and metropolitan areas, and the Urban Procedures Electronic Platform to empower local administration, among other projects.  

Local councils, coordinating and regional development committees too part actively in its design and collaborative building, as well as intermunicipal communities and sundry entities, including companies in the field of technologies and telecommunications higher education institutions and bodies integrated in the national science and technology system.  

Underlying the National Smart Regions Strategy, one finds a shift in the approach on how it will be possible to generate data, integrate them, share them, and analyse them, which is why the Portugal Data Platform, coordinated by the Administrative Modernisation Agency will play a fundamental part. 

The presentation was held on the 18th at the Nova de Lisboa University rectory attended by the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Ana Abrunhosa and the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation Mário Campolargo.