In a network-wide election, the OASC member cities have elected Bart Rosseau, OASC Belgium, as Council Coordinator and Laurent Horvath, OASC Switzerland, as the Council of Cities’ representative to the Board of Directors.

In the live vote on Monday, 9 April 2018, Bart Rosseau of OASC Belgium has been elected as Council Coordinator for the period of one year.

Bart is Chief Data Officer at the Belgian City of Ghent and is also chairing the working group on data of the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum. With a background in political sciences, he has been working on data and smart city technology in the public administration for over 20 years and brings this knowledge now actively to OASC. Ghent has been a member of OASC since the early beginning and has served as OASC Belgium’s network coordinator ever since.

Bart Rosseau said:

”I’m looking forward to share the results of the projects fostered within the OASC network, and use those results to define the tools and strategies needed to use emerging technologies as a policy tool for cities all over the world, while allowing the public and private sector to establish the synergies needed to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.”

As Council Coordinator, Bart manages the Council of Cities. While the Council of Cities includes all member cities, this means in particular engaging the network coordinators. The network coordinators have been nominated by the member cities in each regional and national network to represent them.

Bart Rosseau will be supported by the Vice Council Coordinator Olaf-Gerd Gemein of OASC Germany, who came out second in the election. Olaf-Gerd is, amongst others, founder of Smart City Lab and member of the Board of Directors of the FIWARE foundation, where he also chairs the Smart Cities committee.

Council Representative at the Board of Directors

At the same time, the Council of Cities elected Laurent Horvath, OASC Switzerland, as the Council’s representative to the OASC Board of Directors.

Laurent is the Smart City Manager of Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland. He is also piloting the strategy and the implementation of the Smart State Geneva and has been advising IoT startups and SMEs for more than seven years. Laurent is based in Geneva, where many international organisations such as the United Nations, including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the World Economic Forum are based. Internationally connected, Laurent will bring experience from the demand (city) and supply (developers) side of urban services to OASC.

Laurent Horvath said:

“By sharing real experience and helping each other, OASC is a fantastic tool for smart cities. We are 117 cities from all over the world. It is important to strengthen cooperation nationally and internationally. By working on meaningful projects, that will involve as many OASC member cities as possible, we will reinforce our network and stimulate ideas. I look forward to joining the Board of Directors to represent the cities, to collaborating with so many talented people and to bring in my enthusiasm to engage the network.”

As Council of Cities representative to the Board of Directors, Laurent represents the voice of the member cities in strategic decisions. He will be supported by the deputy BoD representative Alexandre Chaffotte, OASC France. Alexandre is Innovation Manager of the City of Saint-Quentin, located in the North of France.

Martin Brynskov, Chair of the Open & Agile Smart Cities network said:

“The election represents the next stage in the OASC maturation and in becoming a more permanent voice for cities in the technology landscape. The large turnout demonstrates the strong commitment of OASC cities and members around the world. I’m confident that the elected representatives together with the directors and the secretariat will build a strong foundation in this first year after the incorporation of OASC.”

First OASC Election – A Milestone

The election was the first election among OASC member cities after the incorporation of OASC as a non-profit organisation in late December 2017.

In total, seven candidates were nominated  for the Council Coordinator position and 12 candidates for the Council Board of Directors position. The nomination period was open to all 117 member cities between 2 February and 16 March 2018.

The first round of election took place from 20 March to 30 March to allow the networks sufficient time to evaluate all candidates. Each network had one vote, which was casted by the network coordinator on behalf of the national network.

The second and third round was then held in a live online voting on Monday, 9 April.

None of the positions are remunerated.