20th, 21st and 27th, 28th of October 2020 | VIII AQUASIS Forum
AQUASIS has been carrying out, since 2013 and uninterruptedly, a Forum for Sharing Experiences and Dissemination of Good Practices, which became a place where the Managing Entities have the opportunity to share and publicize their success stories in implementation of Information Systems to support its operational activities, in addition to debating current issues in the sector with the presence of distinguished national and foreign personalities.
These Forums have been held in person at the large LNEC Auditorium in Lisbon. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 it was not possible to organize the event, neither in the usual way nor in the usual times, having opted for its realization in digital form, through the organization of a series of webinars.
Thus, on October 20 and 21, 2020, AQUASIS organized the VIII Forum for Sharing Experiences and Disseminating Good Practices, on the topic People and Alignment with the IT Strategy – Value Generation. On October 27th and 28th, 5 workshops were held dedicated to specific solutions for the water sector.
The Forum had a very high number of registered entries: 513 registered, representing 17 Companies, 52 Managing Entities and 5 Universities/Institutions.
The event took place over 2 mornings and was divided into sessions. On the 20th of October there were 2 sessions (sessions 1 and 2), and on the 21st there were 2 other sessions (sessions 3 and 4).
In the first session, the guest speakers addressed, from different points of view, the theme of this Forum - People and Alignment with the IT Strategy / Value Creation, highlighting the role of people in the digital transformation of organizations, networking between carbon servers (people) and silica, collective intelligence and the growing lack of qualified resources, more accentuated in the interior areas, reflecting on the reason for the lack of attractiveness of the sector for young people, right from the start. training, as well as the existence of an active seniority index. In short, in this opening session, people were the focus of the debate.
In the second session of this Forum, guest speakers addressed issues related to technology, where Christoph De Preter introduced us to the top 5 geospatial trends and their coordination with operations, called Geo-Ops, and Bostjan Gabrijekic introduced us to technology support operations in the new normality, not neglecting a vision of how people will develop their roles as technicians in the future.
The theme of communication between people was approached by Hugo Sousa, emphasizing how clear communication becomes important in connecting and understanding people and organizations.
In the third session of this Forum, speakers Luís Nicolau and Sérgio Trindade transmitted their perspectives, applied to the companies they represent, on the topic of telework, considered a positive factor in the relationship between IT and People, sharing the way in which the necessary approach was addressed. reinforcement of employees' digital skills, as a result of a greater commitment to the digital tools made available.
Within the scope of the availability of systems and the information they house, Nuno Soares brought up the theme of augmented reality, as part of the strategic approach for the dissemination of information in the company, in this case for the provision of data on water and sanitation infrastructure field intervention teams, emphasizing the virtues and difficulties of such an undertaking.
In the fourth session of this Forum, the guest speakers, representing some of the most relevant institutions in the water sector in Portugal, addressed topics of great interest and topicality, namely José Sardinha brought us the theme of energy neutrality through the ZERO Program, of the group AdP, Helena Azevedo brought us the balance of PO SEUR financing in the Urban Water Cycle (CUA), focusing on the status of PO SEUR support and alerts to beneficiaries, and finally Paulo Faroleiro brought us a reflection on people and alignment with IT, theme of the Forum, in the context of a Regulatory Entity.
The Event Program had the participation of excellent national and international moderators and speakers, to whom AQUASIS extends a special thanks for their availability, dedication, contributions and sharing of experiences!
Once again, we thank all the participants, hoping that in 2021 we can meet in person at the IX AQUASIS Forum.
The event was sponsored by the following entities: AGS, Hexagon, IBM, Actemium, Tecnilab, Siemens, InfoPortugal, ERI Engenharia and TerraGes.