The head of Altice Portugal, Alexandre Fonseca, has been in the Algarve, spreading the munificence of the international telecoms company.
Fonseca said that, among other initiatives, Altice Portugal will sign a collaboration agreement with Faro's University to "promote the capture and retention of talent in the region, as well as the development of academic projects of public interest or business that boost the regional economy."
In Olhao, another protocol will be signed "in the context of innovation, technological development and promotion of private investment in the county and region".
Olhão, traditionally a centre of fishing and fish processing, is not nearly modern enough for the mayor who signed the deal with Altice to create a Technological Centre so the Council can boast of having truly entered the digital world.
The objective is to create an incubator for research and development of technological products, similar to the centres in Viseu and Funchal.
The Olhao hub, probably located in the village of Pechão, a five minutes drive from the city, will act as a platform from which companies and private developers will be able to work on new applications or technologies that fit the Altice group's development strategy.
The partnership between the Olhão Council and Altice Labs aims to create the technology-based incubator and involves local ratepayers stumping up for the facilities and Altice providing the kit and know-how.
The Mayor of Olhão, António Pina, adopting a visionary pose, commented that the moment was "historic, as Olhão started as place of fishermen and the canning industry, later it has become a tourist area and now has the ambition of being at the forefront of new technologies.”
In this strategy of "turning the page to the world of tomorrow,” the mayor wants “to build a modern municipality linked to new technologies, encouraging families and the educational community to unite so that children have easy access to the digital world and new technologies, an essential tool for young people to prepare for the changes that are a reality today."
Alexandre Fonseca stressed that the company’s strategy is to create "equality of services for all" adding that Altice Labs de Viseu has 700 engineers who create technological solutions and export these ideas to 35 countries, "and that is what we also want to do in Olhão, to put the municipality and the Algarve in the forefront of economic and technological development.”
Altice was busy over in Alcoutim too, where the local mayor signed a collaboration for “the implementation of initiatives that respond to the needs and challenges of the municipality, especially in the area of health.”
The local mayor, Osvaldo Gonçalves signed a deal with João Ventura Sousa from Altice which owns MEO whcih will be providing equipment.
Alcoutim Council said it has identified a need to monitor residents in geographically isolated areas.
MEO has various products that can help, including its SmartAL remote digital support system and the Medigraf medicine and diagnostic system.
These systems allow, via internet access, remote contact and monitoring of defined residents and medical consultations in their homes.
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