INESC Porto connects northern Portugal to a network

INESC Porto has been actively working on the development of the “Norte em Rede” Collaborative Platform, in collaboration with the Commission for the Coordination and Regional Development in the North of Portugal (CCDR-N).

This platform will constitute an essential tool for CCDR-N. This Commission will collaborate closely with the main regional actors and support the management and dissemination of knowledge as well as strategic information to plan, programme, execute and assess regional development activities.
This will be an important tool to improve the regional development in the Portuguese Northern Region at a European level.

This Platform is structured around five sections: Regional Pact for Competitiveness in the North of Portugal; Networked Regional Administration; Regional Information Network; Observatory for Territorial Dynamics and National and Community Funding Instruments.

The “Regional Pact” Section will provide updated information, such as news, publications and events regarding the design, development and monitoring of the Regional Pact for Competitiveness in the Portuguese Northern Region, as well as its 15 Action Plans (Innovation; Internationalisation; Tourism; Creative Industries; Fashion; Health; Sea; Employment; Mobility; Transportation and Logistics; Digital Region; Support to Enterprises; Energy; Sustainable Rural Development; Cities and Urban Development and Environment).

The Steering Committee, the Advisory Committee and the experts associated to each Action Plan will also provide the necessary functionalities for information management, as well as participation Forums and public consultation.

On the other hand, the Regional Information Network will offer regional information including recent news, several publications and events. At the same time, it will also provide information regarding public calls for applications, legislation or regional conjuncture, as well as website news which may be interesting to regional areas. These news will be updated by RSS and several relevant institutional links.

The Funding section will provide information on news, open meetings, events and publications regarding available funding in various national and community programmes: ON.2 The New North; PO Territory Valuation; PO Competitiveness Factors; PO Human Potential; Rural Development Programme; PO Fishery; Pos Territorial Cooperation, such as the Cross-border Cooperation Portugal – Spain, Interregional Cooperation -  INTERREG IV-C; or “Espaço Atlântico” Transnational Cooperation.

There will also be information about the following programmes: “Sudoeste Europeu” Transnational Cooperation; 7th EU R&D Framework Programme; TEN – Trans-European Transport Network, TEN – Trans-European Energy Network; Marco Polo II; Education and Training; Competitiveness and Education; PROGRESS; Life+; Civil Protection; Public Health; Consumer Protection; Culture; Youth in Action Programme; Media; Citizens for Europe; Cooperation for the Development and European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

The Networked Regional Administration will support the activities carried out by the Intersectorial Coordination Council and by the Regional Council. At the same time, it will provide information from and to the main decentralised services, municipalities and its associations.

On the other hand, the Observatory for Territorial Dynamics will provide studies and decision-support statistic information at the level of regional development.
This Collaborative Platform will be applied to every regional and local actor until the end of the first quarter of 2008.

INESC Porto’s technical team is lead by Paulo Melo from the Information and Communication Systems Unit (USIC), in collaboration with the Management Information System (SIG).