Fostering digital transformation in cities: Ubiwhere unveils its Urban Management Platform and success cases at the 1st Conference Smart Cities Portugal

According to Jornal de Notícias: ‘Over the last decade, this focus on smart cities has promoted urban development, technological innovation and improved quality of life in different sectors, ranging from mobility to security, education and urban maintenance.’ With this in mind, Ubiwhere played a central role in the event, presenting its technological innovations and contributing to the debate on urban digital transformation.

With an eye on the present and future, inspired by examples of success, national and foreign experts attended the 1st Conference Smart Cities Portugal at Porto Business School. The event started at 3 pm with Filipe Araújo, deputy mayor of Porto, and Vítor Santos, director of JN. One of the main speakers, Karl Filip, president of OASC, the global Open & Agile Smart Cities & Communities network, followed in the programme line-up, where he addressed issues such as interoperability, one of the features included in the Ubiwhere’s Urban Management Platform. The next panel was one of the highlights of the conference. Its theme was ‘Urban Platforms, Present and Future’: this panel was moderated by Paulo Calçada, CEO of Porto Digital, and featured speeches by Mário Campolargo, former Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation, Ricardo J. Machado, from the University of Minho, José Esteves, Dean of PBS, and Nuno Ribeiro, co-CEO of Ubiwhere, who presented Ubiwhere’s digital innovation trajectory and the relevance of our technological solutions, with particular emphasis on our Urban Management Platform, a technological tool that offers strategic and personalised solutions for urban management, adapting to the specific needs of each territory.

An equally significant panel was entitled ‘Success stories: from theory to practice’ and included the participation of Ricardo Machado, Head of Digital Services, Engineering & Development at Porto Digital, Olga Maia, Municipal Director of Citizen Services at Porto City Council, and Ricardo Machado, Director of the Department of Innovation, Digital Transformation and Economy at the Municipality of Guimarães, moderated by Helena Norte, Editor-in-Chief of JN. In this panel, the Urban Management Platform was highlighted: one of the success cases that was showcased was the implementation of this digital solution by Ubiwhere in the city of Guimarães, acting as an integrated platform for the efficient management of the territory, in line with best practices and international standards. Ubiwhere’s Urban Management Platform complies with the reference architecture of the National Smart Territories Strategy (ENTI) to support decision-making and facilitate communication with citizens. Presented as a success story, the implementation of the Urban Management Platform in Guimarães was considered a best practice by the European Commission.

To conclude the 1st Conference Smart Cities Portugal, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, Minister for Youth and Innovation, used audiovisual media to mention the importance of urban management platforms and the digital transition of national cities and territories.

The 1st Conference Smart Cities Portugal provided a valuable space for exchanging ideas and experiences, highlighting the fundamental role of technology in building smarter and more sustainable cities. Ubiwhere’s active participation highlighted the importance of collaboration between technology companies, municipalities and other organisations in promoting the digital transformation of urban territories.

Ubiwhere’s participation was part of the Route 25 project, funded by the PRR.