About : Multidisciplinary approach
The Center of Competence for Future Cities focuses on the concept of a future city as an urban environment centered on human needs, while exploiting the massive use of ICT embedded in the city fabric.
By working with teams of different areas, the Center of Competence for Future Cities promotes and strengthens interdisciplinary research and knowledge transfer to the Portuguese industry.
The intelligent use of low-cost ICT solutions in advanced urban systems that support large-scale sensing, sustainable mobility and citizen engagement, can go a long way in improving the environmental sustainability and quality of life in the cities, while providing new opportunities for business and technology commercialization.
The overall strategy of the center is based on the following key guidelines.Multidisciplinary team
The Center of Competence for Future Cities' work was developed with the support and collaboration of several companies and institutional partners, both national and international.
This typifies the project's strategy, stressing the existing collaboration with some of the best research centers in the world in areas such as technology and science, and fostering new partnerships (see Ecosystem).Living lab (testbeds)
A key goal of the Center of Competence for Future Cities is to turn the city of Porto into an urban-scale living lab, where researchers, companies and startups can develop and test technologies, products and services, exploring such subjects as sustainable mobility, urban-scale sensing, safety and privacy, and quality of life for the general population (see Action Plan – Porto Living Lab).Work closely with end users
As the Future Cities involves the development of information and communication technology allowing sensing and monitoring data, the role of end users becomes essential in order to understand the benefits and advantages of using the equipment installed. Therefore, end users are a priority for the project.Partnerships with industry
Another of the Center of Competence for Future Cities' priorities is the establishment of an affiliation program with the industry, in order to stimulate the development of technologies, products and services, enabling the resolution of real-life problems.Knowledge creation and sharing (data sets)
The interdisciplinary work enables the creation and exchange of knowledge among partners and other companies and institutions. The data sets acquired throughout the project should be shared, encouraging future research and innovation projects.