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Pedro Faria e Castro, the Undersecretary of the Presidency of the Azores, Source: Government of the Azores

Azores government assures recovery possible through digitization

Azores government assures recovery possible through digitization

Regional Undersecretary of the autonomous archipelago spoke at an online conference dedicated to the ´Islands of Innovation´ Interreg project

The Government of the Azores organized an online conference called ‘Digital Innovation Roadshow’ on 28 April in order to take stock of the innovative spirit on the archipelago in the context of the ‘Islands of Innovation’ Interreg project. For his part, Pedro Faria e Castro, Regional Undersecretary of the Azores Presidency, highlighted the strategic axes that the current government had set to achieve in its programme document, which was published at the end of last year.

The view of the regional administration is that digital transition can only boost private entrepreneurship

The Interreg project itself began in 2017 and is slated to complete this year. Its purpose is to bring about diversification of the small economies of various island regions in Europe. The participants in this initiative, apart from the Azores, are: Friesland (the Netherlands), Samso (Denmark), Kuressaare (Estonia), the North Aegean Region (Greece) and Madeira (Portugal).

The government official took the opportunity to align the administration’s plan for post-Covid economic recovery and the Interreg project’s objectives through the lens of digital transformation. In that regard, he recalled the work planned in several sectors meant to promote a “more effective, swift and less bureaucratic public administration”.

For example, through the #AzoresE-Government, the intention is to “implement the digitization of all public services”, used by citizens and by companies. The #AzoresSmartSpot will also be developed - a project that “will allow the incorporation of ICT technologies and solutions” in order to “optimize the available resources”.

The Government of the Azores, likewise, plans to “digitize health”, through the implementation of #AzoresSmartHealth, with the objective of substantially changing the relationship between the disease, the patient and the Regional Health Service. In this way, in the Undersecretary’s opinion, the intention would be to reinforce Telesaúde (remote health provision) as an alternative in order to reduce waiting times.

Through #AzoresE-Social, the authorities intend to support people in the purchase of equipment packages or Internet services, with "digital training for SMEs" also being foreseen.

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