HCCT, in collaboration with IT Logic and Maia City Council, organized the seminar "Data Protection: New Regulations", which took place at the Maia Forum on May 4.

The event aimed to discuss the importance of data security and protection in companies and the changes introduced by the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of April 27, 2016 - highlighting how this legal obligation can be turned into a real competitive advantage.

Dr. Mário Nunes, city Councillor responsible for Territorial Planning, Mobility and Transport, Civil Protection and Municipal Police, Internal Audit, Administrative Efficiency, and Culture, delivered the opening and welcoming session, thus kicking off the seminar.

The first speaker, Jorge Pinto Leite - a professor at ISEP, a native of Maia, and head of the Center for Security and Privacy Studies - addressed the topic of privacy in the context of the imminent entry into force, pointing out existing gaps that may be filled by case law.

Dr. Miguel Peixoto, Director of Business Development at the National Association of Pharmacies, followed him by sharing his experience implementing safety procedures in member pharmacies. His talk was particularly relevant for SMEs, especially those in the region, and generated a very participatory dialog with the audience about the regulation's practical applicability.

The constant interaction between participants and speakers reflected the high level of interest in the topic. In the final debate, the speakers were joined by experts José Nuno Sousa Pinto, a member of the Board of the Portuguese Data Protection Association and a privacy consultant for several technology companies, and Ricardo Oliveira, a member of the Working Group of the Vertical Specialization in Cybersecurity of the IPQ Technical Commission CT163 (Security in Information Systems), of the College of Informatics of the Order of Engineers of the Northern Region, and also a participant in the group responsible for the Computer Engineering Acts.