NOVA-CIDADE-L3-Test: Blockchain Development and Testing Network
SHORT SUMMARY
The NOVA-CIDADE-L3-Test testbed is a Layer 3 blockchain network built on Arbitrum rollup technology, hosted on dedicated on-premise servers at NOVA IMS. It provides a sovereign, EVM-compatible development and deployment environment for smart contract research and decentralized application prototyping, operating both a test network for experimentation and a main network for operational deployments. The testbed is purpose-built to support smart city and traceability applications, with active projects spanning food provenance tracking in Portugal and peer-to-peer energy sharing initiatives. By running on institutional infrastructure, it ensures data sovereignty and low-latency access for research partners. Its Arbitrum rollup architecture provides Ethereum compatibility while delivering significantly reduced transaction costs and higher throughput, making it suitable for high-frequency traceability and IoT-integrated urban applications. This testbed contributes to the CITADELS Framework by offering a live, production-grade blockchain environment for Proof-of-Concept and DeepTech Deployment actions in domains aligned with European Green Deal and smart city priorities.
HOSTING INSTITUTION AND PI INFO
| Name of Host Organization | NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Department or Lab | MagIC (Information Management Research Center) – the NOVA Information Management School research and development center |
| Name of Building | Manuel Vilares Building |
| Physical Address | Campus de Campolide, 1070-312 Lisboa |
| Website Links | https://www.novaims.unl.pt/ |
| Institutional contact name | Cristina Oliveira |
| Institutional contact email | magic@novaims.unl.pt |
APPLICATION CASES
| Application case: | Short description: |
| Food Traceability | Deployment of smart contracts on the NOVA-CIDADE-L3 mainnet to record and verify provenance data across the Portuguese food supply chain. On-chain records provide immutable logs of origin, handling, and transit events, enabling end-to-end traceability from producer to consumer. |
| Peer-to-Peer Energy Sharing | Smart contract infrastructure supporting decentralized energy trading between prosumers in local energy communities. The network enables automated settlement of energy transactions without intermediaries, supporting Portugal’s transition to distributed renewable energy systems. |
| Smart City Data Governance | Deployment of decentralized protocols for managing urban data streams, including transparent logging of sensor data and public service interactions. Supports auditability and citizen trust in municipal data systems. |
| Smart Contract Education and Prototyping | The testnet provides a zero-cost, low-risk environment for MSc and PhD students to develop, deploy, and test Solidity smart contracts as part of coursework and dissertation projects, without requiring real assets or external infrastructure. |
POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDERS
Non-academic stakeholders
Industrial Partners, Startups, Professional Associations, SMEs, Government Bodies, Other (Public agencies and municipalities)
Academic stakeholders
PhD students, MSc students, Researchers, Other (Visiting researchers, Seconded researchers)
Other types of stakeholders
R&I support professionals, R&I infrastructure operators, Innovation intermediaries, Technology transfer actors