Observing the Information Society in Portugal Seminar: State of Art

118% average annual growth over the last two years for hospitals with a broadband connection of above 2 Mbps.

Hospital websites with information on prevention and health care doubled from 2004 to 2006 (now on 50% of sites).

Hospital websites with guidelines on what to do in emergency medical situations quadrupled from 2004 to 2006 (now on 30% of sites).

The Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon will host the Observing the Information Society in Portugal Seminar: State of Art on 13th December 2006. The agenda for this seminar features a first part on the presentation of the publication “The Information Society in Portugal 2006”, prepared under the coordination of the INE – National Statistics Institute and the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), in the scope of the Higher Statistics Board, and a second part on Challenges to Observing the Information Society in Portugal and Europe. UMIC is one of the organising bodies, together with the INE and the Higher Statistics Board.

The presentations are available by following the links on the seminar program (text in Portuguese).

The following points are of note from the “The Information Society in Portugal 2006” publication data:

THE POPULATION AND ICT

• The percentage of computer users in the total population (16 to 74 year olds) is 42%. However, it is one of the highest in the EU25 for people with secondary schooling (87%) and those who have attended higher education (91%), and is also very high among the student population (99%).
• The percentage of Internet users in the total population (16 to 74 year olds) is 36%. However, it is one of the highest in the EU25 for people with secondary schooling (80%) and those who have attended higher education (87%), and is also very high among the student population (96%).
• The number of households with broadband Internet access rose from 8% in 2003 to 24% in 2006, with average annual growth of 44%.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

• All Public Administration Bodies have an Internet connection, 77% with a speed of or above 512 Kbps, while 49% of bodies have connections of or above 2 Mbps (32% growth over the last year).
• 88% of Central Government Bodies have an Internet site, while this figure is considerably higher for bodies with 50 to 249 employees (92%) and with more than 250 employees (96%).
• 27% of Central Government Bodies order online.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

• 63% of bodies in the Autonomous Region of Madeira and 46% of bodies in the Autonomous Region of the Azores have Internet connections of or above 512 Kbps and 86% and 77% respectively have websites.
• 93% of Regional Government bodies in the Azores and 43% of bodies in Madeira use computers regularly.
• 10% of bodies in Madeira and 21% of bodies in the Azores order online.

MUNICIPAL COUNCILS

• 93% of Local Councils have an Internet connection with a speed of or above 512 Kbps, while 64% have connections of or above 2 Mbps (68% growth over a year).and 96% have their own website.
• 43% and 30% of Municipal Councils use open source software for operating systems and for Internet servers respectively.
• 16% of Municipal Councils order online. The most purchased products are IT consumables.

ICT EDUCATION

• All primary and secondary state schools on the mainland were provided with broadband Internet connections in January 2006 by the research and teaching network (RCTS - Science Technology and Society Network). Work had begun on broadband connections the previous academic year, with 7% of state schools with this type of connection in January of the said academic year.
• Connecting schools to the Internet by means of the RCTS began in 1997 when all 5th to 12th year schools were given a RDIS connection, resulting in roughly 15% of all primary and secondary state schools having a connection. Work continued with the 1st cycle of primary education resulting in roughly 20% of all schools being connected in January 2000, more than 80% in January 2001 and 100% in January 2002. Portugal was one of the first countries to fully achieve these two goals;
• The number of students per Internet-connected computer in all primary and secondary schools dropped from 34 to 14 between 2001/02 and 2005/06.
• The number of graduates from higher education ICT courses increased from roughly 2,500 to 3,700 between 1997/98 and 2003/04, the average annual growth rate of 6.6% being slightly higher than the number of graduates in all fields (6.4%).

ICT IN HOSPITALS

• 97% of hospitals have an Internet connection, mainly broadband (94%), with 38% with a connection bandwidth of or above 2 Mbps (118% average annual growth over the last two years).
• The main growth areas in terms of functions available on hospital websites from 2004 to 2006 were: information on prevention and health care doubled (now on 50% of sites), guidelines on what to do in emergency medical situations quadrupled (now on 30% of sites) and the tables with costs of services provided doubled (now on 19% of sites).
• The following planned additional functions on current Internet sites are of note: making appointments online (on 43% of sites), online appointments with a doctor (on 21% of sites), online medical screening (on 17% of sites);
• 23% of hospitals provide telemedicine, chiefly telediagnosis and teleconsulting.
• A third of hospitals ordered online in 2005, of which a third also made payments online.

DIGITAL ECONOMY

• 96% of large enterprises, 83% of medium-sized enterprises and 59% of small enterprises have a broadband Internet connection, putting Portugal in 2nd, 10th and 13th place respectively in the EU25 ranking for large enterprises (alongside two other countries);
• The average annual increase in enterprises with broadband connections has been 43% since 2003;
• 100% of large enterprises, 98% of medium-sized enterprises and 78% of small enterprises have an Internet connection.
• The main uses of the Internet for enterprises dealing with public bodies are: obtaining forms (92% of enterprises with an Internet connection), filling in and submitting forms online (91%), and obtaining information (90%). These figures lie above the EU25 average, with Portugal in 4th place (alongside one other country) in the EU25 ranking for filling in and submitting forms online.
• 48% of large enterprises, 31% of medium-sized enterprises and 25% of small enterprises use the Internet or other electronic networks to order and/or receive goods and/or services.
• All enterprises in the financial sector have an Internet connection, 89% of whom have broadband;
• Approximately 90% of enterprises in the financial sector use the Internet to interact with public bodies;
• Roughly half of all financial sector enterprises use the Internet to interact with clients (49%).
• Roughly half (49%) of all micro enterprises use the Internet, 26% of whom have broadband;
• 21% of micro enterprises use the Internet to interact with public bodies.