Exploring smart city platforms in Famalicão: Field notes from the Advanced Cooperation Mission

Famalicão, Portugal | 19 – 21 May

The IURC programme held its Advanced Cooperation Mission in Famalicão, bringing together representatives from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Guadalajara (Mexico), and Piraeus (Greece) to explore how urban data and smart city platforms can strengthen local governance and support risk management.

Over three days, participants explored how Famalicão has built its smart city ecosystem from the ground up — and together began to shape a joint pilot action to bring back to their own cities.

Day 1 | How a small city built a smart city platform

The mission opened at the Observatório de Famalicão, where the municipality presented its approach to data-driven urban governance. “The centrepiece of the morning was a detailed presentation of the B SMART Famalicão platform, which gave participants a concrete picture of how the municipality collects, structures and visualises urban data to support day-to-day decision-making. What stood out was not the technology itself, but the institutional logic behind it: the distinct roles played by data providers, platform providers and physical infrastructure providers, and the political commitment needed to hold it all together.”

A working lunch in a local restaurant gave the conversation room to breathe before an afternoon brainstorming session discussing the morning’s key ideas — such as the importance of political commitment to the digital platforms. The day ended with a welcome dinner hosted by the Municipality of Famalicão — an informal close that set a warm and collaborative tone for the days ahead.

Day 2 | From operations centres to nanotechnology labs

The second day moved beyond Famalicão’s own platform to explore broader questions about data governance, smart city infrastructure and the conditions that make digital platforms succeed or fail. Participants exchanged experiences from their own cities, reflected on the needs and potential contributions of each within the CoP, and began a joint discussion on how urban data can support risk management, prevention and response.

In the afternoon, the group travelled to CeNTI (Centre for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials), a research institution that provided a different but complementary perspective on urban innovation. The visit raised questions that went beyond smart city platforms: how do research ecosystems connect with public policy and urban transformation?

The day closed on a lighter note with a walk through Parque Da Devesa, where the municipality has deployed a range of smart city technologies in a public space setting. Seeing the infrastructure being used on a day-to-day basis gave the more abstract platform a human dimension.

Day 3 | Research, innovation and institutional cooperation

The final day took the group to DATA CoLAB in Viana do Castelo, the technological partner behind Famalicão’s digital infrastructure. The visit sparked one of the most substantive debates of the mission: the trade-offs between in-house solutions and third-party partnerships; between platforms built to measure for a specific municipality and off-the-shelf products that offer speed and scalability but less flexibility. Underlying this discussion was a shared recognition that, regardless of the model chosen, cities need to rely on capable and expert stakeholders — partners with genuine capacity for data analysis, management and visualisation — if digital platforms are to deliver on their promise.

The discussion at DATA CoLAB also helped crystallise the pilot action that the CoP has been working towards. Participants agreed to develop a face-to-face workshop focused on data-driven urban governance and risk management. The conversation covered possible formats, expected outputs and the range of stakeholders — public, private, academic and civic — that such a workshop should involve.

A cultural visit to Viana do Castelo rounded off the programme before the final wrap-up session and farewell dinner brought the mission to a close. The overriding sense at the end was of a group that had moved from exchange to commitment — with clearer next steps, a more defined joint ambition, and a shared recognition that transparency and generosity among partners, especially when experience levels differ, are what make this kind of cooperation genuinely productive.

About the IURC LAC Advanced Cooperation Missions

IURC Latin America and the Caribbean, part of the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, connects cities and regions from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to co-create sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven solutions. Through peer-to-peer exchange and partnerships, the programme contributes to improving citizens’ quality of life while strengthening global cooperation.

Advanced Cooperation Missions are on-site technical visits that build on the IURC programme’s collaborative and knowledge-sharing approach. They provide cities and regions with the opportunity to further develop the themes explored during the online meetings of the Communities of Practice, refine their cooperation action plans and gain first-hand experience of best practices implemented by the hosting city or region.