According to the Portuguese Association of Electronic Commerce and Interactive Advertising (ACEPI), the best digital project of public administration was “SmartSigner: Sistema de Assinatura Digital de Documentos”, developed by the IT Services at Técnico. The award ceremony took place last Thursday, October 25, at Pavilhão Carlos Lopes.

SmartSigner is the solution that allows a qualified e-signature of official documents, fully developed at Técnico, and the use of smart cards issued by the Electronic Certification Entity of the State (ECEE) or Citizen Card. Currently, it is used to sign enrolment certificates and the documents required to issue Sub23 passes. Besides speeding up the process, SmartSigner eliminates the need to issue paper documents, thus having a significant financial and sustainable impact on school services.

Around 20,000 documents are digitally signed annually using this system, a number that might increase substantially if more schools adopt this technology in administrative procedures. SmartSigner is interoperable and based on open and standard industry solutions. SmartSigner comprises document generation, access and authorisation control mechanism, document workflow management systems and an app for digital signature. SmartSigner external APIs allow integration with other applications and workflows.

ACEPI annually distinguishes the best performers in the Digital Economy in Portugal, from 20 different categories, contributing to the promotion and development of knowledge society and digital economy. This award is a recognition of the outstanding work developed by Técnico also in what concerns IT solutions for the modernization of public administration.