One of the challenges of modern times is to make cities more sustainable – the so-called Smart Cities. Last Friday, February 26, Técnico hosted a session “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities – a European Mission. A Portuguese perspective”. The session brought together companies and academia, and was attended by the Deputy Director-General of DG MOVE, Dr. Matthew Baldwin and the President of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), professor Helena Pereira.
The President of Técnico, professor Rogério Colaço, opened the session and stressed the importance of these thematic areas and expressed his pleasure to host the event at Técnico. Engineer João Leitão, Adviser to the Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Técnico alumnus, shared the enormous challenges that cities will face and how urgent it is to respond to them. “We must be aware that digital transformation and climate transition go hand in hand and can only be achieved by acting in cities”.
“The main goal of a Smart City is to use digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business”, stressed João Leitão. Smarter urban transport networks; upgraded water supply and waste disposal facilities; more efficient ways of lighting and heating buildings; more interactive and responsive city administration and safer public spaces were some of the examples shared to make cities more functional and attractive.
Considering these opportunities, but also looking at the multiple and distinct challenges that Portuguese cities face, it is being developed the National Smart Cities Strategy, a project that involves the Técnico professor Paulo Ferrão (Department of Mechanical Engineering and president of IN+). João Leitão, who is also part of the project team, highlighted the benefits of this project, which he considers “crucial” to leverage the sector.
Cláudia Rocha, Strategy Advisory Partner at PwC Portugal, explained the work carried out by the project team since July last year, when it started, and the action plan that will be implemented.
Pedro Guerreiro, Técnico alumnus and Senior Manager at PwC Portugal, shared some data collected in the diagnostic phase. “50% of the municipalities surveyed have implemented strategies related to Smart Cities and 30% are planning to implement them, with the private sector initiative being the first driver”. “The role of academia is also important, as it occupies the second position as an engine that drives the development of these initiatives forward”, he added. “The municipalities consider these partnerships with universities very useful because they allow them to have privileged access to knowledge”.
The National Smart Cities Strategy aims to promote the development of smart cities that provide people-centered, inclusive, sustainable and interoperable services throughout the national territory. The project, coordinated by the Portugal Digital Mission Structure, is developed in collaboration with the Agency for Administrative Modernisation, the Directorate-General for Local Authorities, the Directorate-General for Territory, and with contributions from the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and the Smart Cities Portugal Cluster, among other entities. The project implementation is carried out by the Strategy Consulting Team of PwC, in partnership with CEiiA, Porto Digital and LARSyS.
Professor Paulo Ferrão presented one of the research works carried out at Técnico on this thematic area. His research team is discovering the “fingerprint” of several cities. Through urban energy modeling it is possible to assess the energy consumption of buildings, to analyse rehabilitation scenarios, to evaluate thermal comfort and the potential for renewable energy production. “The implementation of policy decisions based on information are essential to develop strategies for climate-neutral cities”, added the Técnico professor.
Matthew Baldwin focused his speech on the EU mission “Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities”, launched in the end of 2021, which aims to make one hundred cities carbon neutral by 2030. At least 16 Portuguese municipalities and two intermunicipal communities (West and Coimbra Region) expressed their interest to become part this EU Mission, which received 377 applications, as shared by the Deputy Director-General of DG MOVE.
Highlighting the potential of cities for their population density and the important role of research and innovation, Matthew Baldwin stressed “if 100 cities in Europe achieve climate neutral by 2027, that will be a valuable contribution to the total time”
The chosen cities will access Horizon Europe funding,and other public and private funding. It is intended that these urban areas will be a beacon of decarbonisation of the European economy, influencing other territories, and contributing to the achievement of the EU’s climate goals.
Professor Paulo Ferrão, moderator of the round table, explained the purpose of this meeting: “We need to innovate, and the university needs to innovate too. So, we need to demonstrate that breaking down silos is possible and start to develop interdisciplinary work, which lately has providing solutions and ideas for cities”. The Técnico professor challenged the representatives of the various entities to share some ideas and challenges, so that Técnico and its Research Centers can develop solutions in this regard.
The participants in the session were: Dr. Nuno Lacasta (Portuguese Environment Agency), Engineer Catarina Selada (CEiiA), Dr. Paulo Partidário (Directorate General for Energy and Geology), Dr. Joaquim Pedroso (European Investment Bank), Dr. António Vicente (Deputy Head of Representation at European Commission), Dr. Lee Hodder (GALP), Dr. Maria João Rodrigues (Lisboa-Enova), Dr. Ana Marques (Portugal Digital) and Engineer João Teixeira (“Trato Lixo” – Waste Management Utility).
The representatives of some Técnico research centres were: Professor Manuel Pinheiro and Filipe Moura (CERIS), professor Pedro Coelho (IDMEC), professor Carlos Salema (Instituto de Telecomunicações – IT) and Pedro Carvalho (INESC-ID).
