Porto Digital leads smart cities with national model and record investment in 2024
Porto Digital leads smart cities with national model and record investment in 2024
Porto Digital has established itself as a national and international benchmark in urban digital transformation with the launch of the Porto Urban Platform Guide, adopted as the technical model for the National Strategy for Smart Territories.
Porto Digital has established itself as a national and international benchmark in urban digital transformation with the launch of the Porto Urban Platform Guide, adopted as the technical model for the National Strategy for Smart Territories. In 2024, the association recorded a total investment of more than €5.7 million, reflecting growth of around 25% compared to the previous year, driven by the implementation of 14 strategic projects in the areas of mobility, sustainability, urban data and citizen-centred digital services.
"The figures now presented by Porto Digital demonstrate the path we have taken since the beginning of this mandate. When we took office, we inherited a Porto Digital with serious financial difficulties, without a stable technical team and with a deeply degraded infrastructure. Since then, we have promoted a series of strategic investments in multiple areas, which have enabled us to recover and strengthen the capacity of this entity, making it a true driver of the city's digital transformation," says Filipe Araújo, Vice-Mayor of Porto and Councillor for Innovation and Digital Transition and Finance, Employment and Entrepreneurship.
The technological infrastructure managed by Porto Digital demonstrated robust performance in 2024, with a direct impact on citizens' lives. The city's urban platform recorded a 36% increase in the number of incidents managed, from 25,005 to 34,052, and exceeded three billion events recorded in a single year — a reflection of the growing digitisation and real-time responsiveness of municipal services.
At the same time, the Explore.Porto platform — which helps residents and visitors navigate and discover the city — saw an 11.9% increase in the number of users, totalling 208,087, with more than 1.2 million sessions recorded in 2024. The public Wi-Fi network exceeded 46 million accesses, allowing more than 900,000 devices to access the internet for free in hundreds of locations across the city.
Another revealing fact about the ongoing transformation is the growth of over 84% in the number of shared digital services and infrastructures, which rose from 167 in 2023 to 308 in 2024 — a development that represents a clear reinforcement of the digitisation of public services.
In 2024, Porto Digital launched the TECH4 Sustainability programme, focusing on circularity, clean energy and mobility, and held the first edition of CityXperiment, transforming the city into a true living laboratory. The various activities promoted throughout the year were attended by around 6,500 people, demonstrating strong civic engagement and the impact of the innovation ecosystem. Also noteworthy was Hackacity 2024, which brought together more than 100 participants to develop solutions based on open data.
Internationally, Porto Digital reinforced the city's profile at leading events such as the Smart City Expo World Congress (Barcelona) and OpenLivingLab Days, as well as organising the European meeting of the Intelligent Cities Challenge at the Palácio da Bolsa. The association currently has active partnerships with more than 240 entities in 24 countries.
"Today, the infrastructure managed by Porto Digital is critical to the functioning of the municipality. It supports fundamental systems such as video surveillance, ensures internet access for thousands of citizens, and sustains the operation of countless digital public services. These results reflect not only a recovery, but a true paradigm shift, which will continue to be deepened in the coming years," concludes Filipe Araújo.
The impact achieved in 2024 results not only from the implementation of multiple strategic projects, but also from solid and continuous investment by the Municipality of Porto. This commitment has been materialised through structural financing programmes, among which the Investment Contract for strengthening the city's technological platform stands out. This contract represents an investment of around €4 million, already at a high level of implementation, enabling significant advances such as the expansion of the fibre optic network and shared digital services infrastructure. A clear example of this reinforcement is the expansion of the municipal video surveillance network, which today is an essential pillar for Porto's urban security and management.
About Porto Digital
Porto Digital is a private non-profit association, created in 2004, responsible for implementing the Municipality of Porto's strategy for innovation and digital transition. It is owned by the Municipality of Porto, with the University of Porto and Metro do Porto as members.