News
- Portugal is One of the Leaders in eBusiness, eCommerce, eGovernment for Enterprises
According to the 2008 report of the European Commission on the i2010 initiative for the Information Society, recently published, Portugal has one of the best positions in the European Union (EU) on eBusiness and eCommerce, integrating the group of 5 EU countries that, taking into account all the 10 indicators considered for these areas, are in the best positions. Besides Portugal, this group includes Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Austria.
In 6 of the 7 indicators considered for eBusiness the values for Portugal are higher than the EU average, and in 3 of the indicators they even reach the 2nd or 3rd best position across the EU:
- Digital Economy Seminar for SMEs – 1st European SME Week 09
The Digital Economy Seminar for SMEs was held on 8th May 2009 at the Customs House in Porto. It was part of the 1st European SME Week 09 and was organised by the DGAE – Directorate-General for Economic Activities in collaboration with IAPMEI – Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Innovation Support Institute, IP, of the Ministry for the Economy and Innovation.
The Digital Economy Seminar for SMEs programme (in Portuguese) involved an opening intervention by the Director General for Economic Activities, Mário Lobo, followed by an intervention by the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), Luis Magalhães, entitled The Information Society in Portugal (text in Portuguese), a presentation the Digital SMEs and SIED – System of Incentives for the Digital Economy actions by the DGAE’s Director of Service for Entrepreneurial Innovation and Competitiveness, José António Feu, a presentation of best practices for SIED projects by 5 enterprises, and a presentation of the actions supporting the Digital Economy at QREN.
- 2nd UTEN Network Seminar on Internationalisation and Technology Transfer
The 2nd Seminar on Internationalisation and Technology Transfer, organised by UTEN – University Technology Enterprise Network was held on 30th March 2009 at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon. It involved a dialogue with MIT experts on technology transfer and marketing, including discussions of Portuguese case studies.
The UTEN network was set up in the scope of the UT Austin – Portugal Program of the Partnerships for the Future action, which is part of the Commitment to Science for the Future of Portugal (text in Portuguese), which also includes the MIT – Portugal Program, the CMU – Portugal Program and the Fraunhofer – Portugal Program, all of which were invited to contribute to this seminar.
- Portugal Adopts the Highest Level of Fiscal Incentives in Europe for R&D Companies
Reductions in Company Tax (IRC) up to 82.5% of expenses on R&D.
Companies active in Portugal may make deductions in their annual taxation amount by at least 1/3 of the revenue expended on Research and Development (R&D), thus benefitting from the most favourable table of fiscal benefits within the European space.
- UMIC and ACEP Meet with Brazilian FAA and USP Delegation
The ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal and the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) met a Brazilian delegation from the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), which operates as a university based in São Paulo, and the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) following the interest shown by these Brazilian bodies in cooperating with regard to how civil society and the State have participated in eCommerce, eInvoicing and e-Business in general.
- 5th eCommerce week
The 5th eCommerce Week, organised by ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal (site in Portuguese) in partnership with Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), was held from 16th to 25th October 2008. It included various initiatives, of which the following are of note:
- 18th and 20th October: Free distribution of the Practical Guide Buying on the Internet with the Jornal de Notícias, Diário de Notícias and Público newspapers (310,000 copies).
- 20th October, 10.00-12.00: TSF Forum dedicated to eCommerce, featuring the President of ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal and the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) live in the studio.
- 22nd and 23rd October, 10.00-10.30: Digital Business Conference Lisbon'08. This conference kicked off with a session chaired by the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, José Mariano Gago, with the guest speaker Chris Anderson, author of the book The Long Tail and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Wired. The conference topics were: e-business adoption and trends throughout the world and in Portugal; benefits, opportunities and risks of e-business; e-business legal and fiscal framework; electronic business processes including contracting and eInvoicing, mobile commerce; digital marketing; national and international case studies, online banking; systems and processes in the value chain in e-commerce and best practices, certification systems and market regulation.
- Portugal National Day at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Brussels
Portugal National Day is being held at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Brussels on 28th November 2007, which includes a session with a panel dedicated to the topic “2007-2013: Employability and Innovation”.
- 3rd Innovation Days
Adl – the Innovation Agency – is organising the 3rd Innovation Days, with the support of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) and the Knowledge Society Operational Programme, to be held from 7th to 10th November 2007 in Pavilion 3 and the Multiusos Pavilion at FIL - Parque das Nações. The objectives of these days are to share R&D results, support economic appreciation of the results and to encourage partnerships and synergy finding between entrepreneurs, researchers and investors.
- TSF Forum on eCommerce
The 5th November TSF Forum from 10.30 am to 12.00 pm on 5th November 2007 will be dedicated to eCommerce. The President of ACEP – ACEP – Association for e-Commerce in Portugal and the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
- eCommerce Week Opening Session
The eCommerce Week Opening Session will take place on 6th November 2007 from 10.00 am to 10.30 am in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Auditorium in Lisbon. It is being organised by ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal and Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
- eBusiness: Opportunities, Risks and Benefits for Portuguese Companies
The "eBusiness: Opportunities, Risks and Benefits for Portuguese Companies" Seminar (in Portuguese) will be held on 6th November 2007 from 10.30 am to 1 pm in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Auditorium in Lisbon.
- 2nd Public Administration Open Source Meeting
The 2nd Public Administration Freeware Meeting will be held on 7th-8th November 2007 at the LNEC – National Civil Engineering Laboratory in Lisbon. It is being promoted by the Office of the National Coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy and the Technological Plan, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), AMA – Agency for Administrative Modernisation, IP, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture and the ODF Alliance.
The agenda (in Portuguese) for the 1st day has sessions on: opening session with interventions from the Secretary of State for Justice, the National Coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy and the Technological Plan, the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), the Director-General for Innovation and Curricular Development and the President of LNEC, Free Software in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education, Free Software in the Modernisation of the Public Administration, e-Accessibility and e-Inclusion, Open Norms – the Market’s View.
- Internet Banking: Online Financial Services – Trends and Challenges
The "Internet Banking: Online Financial Services - Trends and Challenges" Workshop (in Portuguese), organised by ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal, will take place on 7th November 2007 from 9 am to 12 pm in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Polyvalente meeting room in Lisbon.
- eInvoicing: Organisations' Efficiency and Competitiveness in a Global and Digital World
The "eInvoicing: Organisations' Efficiency and Competitiveness in a Global and Digital World” Conference will be held on 8th November 2007 from 9.30 am to 6 pm at the Hotel Tivoli in Lisbon, with the institutional support of ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal and Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
- Mobile-Commerce as a Catalyst for eCommerce
The “Mobile-Commerce as a Catalyst for eCommerce” Workshop will be held on 9th November 2007 from 9.30 am to 1 pm in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Polyvalente meeting room in Lisbon.
- "Using ICT for SME Competitiveness" Conference
The Using ICT for SME Competitiveness conference will be held on 13th November from 9 am to 6 pm in the AIP/FIL Auditorium in Parque das Nações, Lisbon.
- Iberian-American Seminar on Self-Regulation in eCommerce
The Iberian-American Seminar on Self-Regulation in eCommerce (in Portuguese) will take place on 14th November 2007 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Instituto Politécnico de Beja.
- New Business Opportunities: Buying and Selling in Electronic Markets for Companies
The New Business Opportunities: Buying and Selling in Electronic Markets for Companies workshop will take place on 15th November 2007 from 9 am to 1 pm in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Polyvalente meeting room in Lisbon.
- eCommerce in Portugal Accessibility - Main conclusions from the Integra21 project
The “eCommerce in Portugal Accessibility - Main conclusions from the Itegra21 project” workshop will take place on 16th November 2007 from 9 am to 1 pm in the Fundação das Comunicações’ Polyvalente meeting room in Lisbon.
This workshop is being organised by ACEP and the Vector21 company.
- 4th eCommerce week
The 4th eCommerce week, organised by ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal in partnership with Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), will be held from 6th to 16th November 2007. The objective is to debate such topics as: eBusiness, Internet banking, eInvoicing, e-retail, mobile-commerce, Internet accessibility, among many others.
The following planned public initiatives are of note:
- Launch of the 2nd Wave of Living Labs
The launch of the 2nd Wave of the European Network of Living Labs is taking place in Brussels on 17th October 2007 under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU at the event: “Co-creative Research, Development and Innovation to Connect the Lisbon Strategy to People: Launch of the 2nd wave of the European Network of Living Labs”.
- Novabase-Diário Económico Conference on ICTs Creating Value for Business
A conference organised by Novabase and Diário Económico on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Creating Value for Business is being held at the Pestana Place Hotel on 29th May 2007. The conference, entitled Building Business Value With Technology: does IT really matter? will include a speech by Nicholas Carr, a former Harvard Business School Press executive and the author of the book Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage, which was published in 2004 by the Harvard Business School Press and which gained international attention by drawing peoples’ attention to computers becoming commodities, . The following speakers will also address the conference: Tor-Jakob Ramsoy, Partner, McKinsey & Co.; Rogério Carapuça, President of Novabase; Carlos Zorrinho, Coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy and the Technological Plan, Luis Magalhães (text in Portuguese), President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), and Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, Secretary of State for Administrative Modernisation.
- Public Administration Open Source Meeting
The Public Administration Freeware Meeting is being held on 29th November 2006 in Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. The objective behind the agenda (in Portuguese) is to flag specific cases of free software use and to identify constraints on and the potential for its use by public services. Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) is one of the organising bodies, together with the Office of the Coordinator of the Technological Plan, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice.
- Seminar on Adoption of eInvoicing in Public Administration
Adoption of eInvoicing in the Public Administration stimulates companies to provide services and adopt eInvoicing solutions
The "Adoption of eInvoicing by the Public Administration" Seminar (in Portuguese) is being held on Monday, 6th November 2006 from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm in the Fórum Picoas Auditorium, Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo nº 38C, Lisbon. The Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education will attend the 4 pm closing session. The seminar is being organised by the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
- eCommerce week
ACEP – Association for eCommerce in Portugal and Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) are working in partnership to promote the third version of eCommerce Week, an initiative which, from the 4th to the 14th May, aims to kick-start the debate from the North of the country to the South on this subject area.
- Europaper Digital 2006
Digital Europaper 2006 is part of the Europaper trade fair being held by FIL - Feira Internacional de Lisboa/AIP, from 2nd to 5th March 2006 with the theme of eCommerce. In this context, due to the Government’s decision in August 2005 for eInvoicing to be adopted by the public administration by the end of 2006, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), in partnership with FIL, is organising the following seminar on 3rd March 2006:
2nd Digital Europaper Seminar:-Adopting Electronic Invoicing as a Modernising Feature
- Resetting and reinforcing tax incentives for entrepreneurial R&D
Law nº 40/2005, of 3rd August, which was approved following a Government initiative in the scope of the Technological Plan, resets and reinforces the Tax Breaks for the Entrepreneurial R&D System (SIFIDE) in force from 2002 to 2004. This system, which was first introduced in October 1997, had already been reinforced by the Decree Law approved in 2001, but was interrupted in 2004.
- Council of Ministers rules on adoption of eInvoicing
The Council of Ministers Resolution nº 137/2005, published in the 17th August Diário da República, states that by the 31st December 2006, the public services and organisms that are directly and indirectly part of the State administration shall issue invoices or equivalent documents by electronic means and shall give preference to receiving invoices by electronic means also. Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) was selected to monitor and assess the execution of this resolution.