Cisco and Portugal's Government collaborate for digital dividends

Collaboration focuses on innovative tech start-ups, digital infrastructures, digital skills, and cybersecurity.

Monday, 5th March 2018 Posted 6 years ago in by Phil Alsop

The Government of Portugal and Cisco have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate country digitization. The signing followed a meeting yesterday between Portugal's Prime Minister Ant?nio Costa, Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins, and Sofia Tenreiro, General Manager of Cisco Portugal.

Over the next two years, Portugal and Cisco will cooperate to capture opportunities presented by a digital economy, with the aim to positively impact economic growth, education, innovation, and competitiveness as well as social inclusion and quality of life.

The MoU will focus on several key points that are part of Portugal's National Reforms Program. These include support for entrepreneurship and business innovation, with a specific focus on start-ups; increasing and improving digital skills; the application of innovative digital technologies across public sector services, education, Industry 4.0, mobility; and cybersecurity.

Key highlights

Entrepreneurship and digital innovation: Supporting tech start-ups is one of the main pillars of the government's digital strategy. Cisco will continue the collaboration with Startup Portugal in priority areas such as security, mobility, and Internet of Things. Cisco also intends to evaluate support for other start-up programs and provide local start-ups with access to its European Venture Capital initiative and Incubation program to help them accelerate their business and expand internationally.
Digital skills and smart education: Cisco will use its proven Cisco® Networking Academy® (NetAcad) program to provide training for digital skills, with courses focused on next-generation networks and cybersecurity. Cisco and the Ministry of Education will evaluate the use of NetAcad content in secondary schools, and there is an objective to reach other organizations and people above the age of 45. The goal is to increase the annual number of students from around 3,000 currently to 7,000 by 2020. Furthermore, Cisco intends to help the Ministry design smart campuses and the digital school of the future to optimize study environments.
Connected government and public services: digital transformation of the Public sector is a priority for Portugal's government. The partnership includes working with several ministries, with a focus on public administration modernization, health, justice, and defense. The aim is to create highly secure platforms that will help enable extensive government collaboration and digital services, thus increasing efficiency and flexibility and reducing costs.
Industry 4.0 and mobility: Portugal's government launched a four-year Industry 4.0 plan to capture the benefits of digitization in strategic sectors. Cisco will support this plan by focusing on tourism, transportation, cities, and regions. The goal of this pillar is to improve services to citizens, visitors, and businesses, as well as to help competitiveness and operational efficiency. Cisco also intends to work with Turismo de Portugal to take advantage of Wi-Fi with analytics to improve experience and services and attract more visitors to the historical centers in Portugal. Cooperation in specific EU programs such as WiFi4EU to improve public wireless services is also planned.
Cybersecurity and digital infrastructures: Securing critical infrastructures, information systems, and online services against cyberthreats is a government priority. Cisco intends to collaborate with ministries and other entities such as Gabinete Nacional de Seguran?a to help ensure safety and privacy in critical national infrastructures. Cisco will help to design and consolidate national digital infrastructures as the platform for driving innovation, automation, and security across ministries.