A smart city combines new information and communication technologies, planning, public resources and popular participation for the implementation and management of services that bring benefits to the population in different sectors: education, health, economy, public security, sanitation, transport, environment, among others. This has been a topic of global discussion, in which Brazil participates. There are Brazilian municipalities implementing different initiatives within this concept, in addition to incentive programs promoted by the Federal Government.
Given its importance and impact, a smart city project does not develop overnight, as it is necessary to add more intelligence to all urban planning and, in most cases, to transform the public machine that is in operation, in addition to guiding and engaging residents.
On this subject, the ABES Portal interviewed Mayor Rogério Cardoso Franco (PSD), who commands Cotia, a city located in Greater São Paulo, who spoke about the municipality's plans to add more intelligence to public management.
Franco took over the prefecture of Cotia in January 2017 and aims to meet the needs of citizens with agility, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness, through innovation, modernization and reduction of bureaucracy in public services, promoting economic and social development. “It is difficult to break with a management model that has been in operation for many decades. It is necessary to change the culture, both of the employees and the population. We started at the beginning of this term with the implementation of the biometric electronic point, which is still being assimilated by the civil service”, he explained.
To handle this task, Cotia relies on the Municipal Secretariat for Strategic Management and Innovation (SMGEI), directed by Raphael Camargo. The secretary has in his team the experience of Fabiano Alves dos Passos, IT and Innovation coordinator.
Broadband: the foundation of the transformation
Cotia is one of the few municipalities that make up the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo with a fiber optic network that covers about 300km², that is, almost the entire municipal territory. This coverage provided the interconnection of all City Hall units, facilitated data integration, streamlined the workflow and promoted a reduction in telephone expenses, among other advantages.
The city has 15 free internet access points and, for 2017, it is planned to install 15 more locations with free wi-fi, expanding digital inclusion and doubling the number of points available. In January of this year, the city registered more than one million accesses to the network, a number that continues to grow.
The provision of mobile broadband to the population is one of the essential points for Sustainable Development, according to the UN (United Nations). In this way, the infrastructure implemented for fast internet in Cotia will be the basis for offering more modern services and a smarter city.
Health, education and public safety in focus
The mayor highlights that his administration is focused on carrying out all the modernization planning during 2017, identifying partnerships with the private sector and other institutions, reserving resources and conducting the bidding processes. “The public machine has its own characteristics and rules, which slow down the process. In 2018, we will start implementing the model. We count on the participation of all our secretariats and on the work of researching references in innovative solutions, carried out by the Municipal Secretariat for Strategic Management and Innovation”, highlighted Franco.
In the health area, a pilot project to modernize the control of drug dispensing is already underway at the Assa Basic Health Unit, in which the system is interconnected with the UPA (Emergency Care Unit) and will help with inventory control. of medicines and reduction of losses. Other projects under study are the installation of a barcode reader for medicines using RFID and the implementation of electronic medical records and a system for scheduling online appointments, either via the internet, via an application or through totems at the UBS.
In terms of public security, the mayor notes that it is necessary to align the population's demand with what the city can offer in order to use available resources more efficiently. One technology that is being considered is the installation of security towers with monitoring carried out by 360 degree cameras, already in operation in Curitiba (PR). The tower makes it possible to monitor the movement of cars, people and events day and night, whose images are sent to the security center. Other topics on the agenda are the replacement of public lighting with LED lamps and the installation of security cameras in busy streets, which must involve the private sector.
Another scheduled activity is the “Patrulha Maria da Penha”, based on the registration of women victims of domestic violence, a work carried out in conjunction with the Women's Police Station, which will have an application that will allow the registered person to call the police when they realize any threat and have priority care.
For education, a partnership contract is being negotiated with Instituto Tellus, a non-profit organization, to create a space for creativity, skills development and promotion of training courses for the workforce, focused on young people from 14 to 17 years old, with topics such as 3D printing, robotics and modeling. “Our idea is also to form partnerships with companies in the region, so that they use these centers as training and education centers for their employees”, explained the mayor.
Franco emphasizes that one of the challenges of this modernization is the fact that Cotia has three regions with different profiles, which demand specific efforts for each socio-economic reality: the neighborhood of Granja Viana, as residents of the AB classes; the central region, more populous, where the CD classes are; and the district of Caucaia do Alto, with farms, produce and more rural characteristics.
In addition to their own budget, the mayor informed that different ministries have budget funds that municipalities can request for modernization projects. “For this reason, we are committed to creating consistent projects to make efficient and transparent use of public funds, both municipal and those that we are going to plead with the Federal Government”, concluded Franco.
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