Cities and ICT technologies

Submitted by Tedora Aibu on 14 July 2020

Summary of the European Alliance Against Coronavirus Daily Webinar on 13 July 2020.

This daily session looked at the possibilities of ICT technologies in the development of cities. The presentations were given by four speakers from Portugal: Vasco Lagarto, Daniela Monteiro, Luís Felipe Antunes and Rafael Caldeirinha.

Vasco Logarto, from TICE.pt, provided insight into the important role and potential of ICT in the development of Smart Sustainable City with regard to the United Nation Agenda 2030. A Smart and Sustainable City is an innovative city that uses ICT to improve the quality of life of its citizens, efficiency of urban operation, services, and competitiveness with respect to economic social and environmental aspects. Thematic priorities for smart cities as agreed in the Urban Agenda and featured in the Pact of Amsterdam include: jobs and skills in the local economy, urban poverty, and housing.

Daniela Monteiro presented the work from Porto Digital, a private non-profit association created in 2004 by the Municipality of Porto, the University of Porto and the Portuguese Business Association (AEP), in cooperation with the company Metro of Porto. Its scope is to promote ICT projects within the context of the city of Porto, the metropolitan area, and the companies. The idea is to consider cities as a market made up of different stakeholders: people, government, mature companies, entrepreneurs, but also innovation and technology. In the city of Porto, the digital infrastructures have started to upgrade and to develop with the objective to make them more sustainable and efficient. This is possible through also the involvement not only of the companies but also of the citizens in all the age groups.

Luís Felipe Antunes from the University of Porto talked about data security in smart cities. The use of sensors allows to collect a lot of data. However, in order to be used effectively, the data must be safe and private. Safe systems can allow the monitoring of useful data to improve the quality of life of citizens and make the city smart. Looking at the future of the EU27, it is possible to give a projection to 2025 with: (i) an increase of global data volume equal to 530%, (ii) value of data economy equal to 829 billion EUR, (iii) data professional will be 10.9 million and (iv) 65% of EU population with basic digital skills.

Finally, Rafael Caldeirinha from Polytechnic Institute of Leiria presented the project “Invisible 5G”. The main idea is to develop new types of antennas for the deployment of 5G in cities. The goal of Invisible 5G is to incorporate small antennas into the streets’ furniture and city’s landscape (especially in the historical part on downtown). They could be integrated with a lower level of exposure to radiation for the people, as they work with small cells.