In October, 6000 participants from all over Europe will come together in Brussels for the annual European Week of Regions and Cities. From 7-10 October 2019, more than 100 workshops and sessions provide a playground for decision-makers from cities and regions to meet and share knowledge.
At this key event for European Regional Policy, OASC is co-organising four official EU Regions Week sessions and workshops together with city and network partners.
Be quick and make sure to register now for free for one of the four workshops with focus on smart cities and communities that OASC is co-organising:
Scaling Digital Urban Solutions
When: Thursday, 10 October 2019, 11:30 to 13:00
Description:
Cities and communities in the 21st century are facing common challenges ranging from air pollution to waste management and urban mobility. Data-driven and IoT-enabled urban services can be a solution to these common challenges, but a major challenge is the scale-up of locally developed services to replicate successful solutions with similar challenges in other cities and communities.
This session co-organised by ENoLL and OASC, brings together cities and experts who are reducing these market barriers through the SynchroniCity project. In an open and collaborative environment, participants will hear best practices from frontrunner cities and will discuss:
- the benefits of an active innovation ecosystem for cities & communities
- how to stimulate such an ecosystem
- why city networking in the digital transformation is crucial
- the role open standards for digital interoperability and procurement of digital services.
- how to move towards a digital single market for cities and communities.
Click here to register for this interactive workshop
Digital Innovation in Urban Environments
When: Tuesday, 8 October 2019, 16:30 to 19:00
Description:
This workshop will explore how cities can transform into platforms of innovation by utilising digital solutions. The workshop will showcase the effects of technological transformation in European cities, propose policy priorities and pave the way for the future strategies. The workshop is aimed at contributing to the discussions of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2019, based on key insights from the ESPON Programme, the Urban Partnership on Digital Transition, the Open & Agile Smart Cities network and the European Commission.
Click here to register for this session.
Boosting the Upscale of Digital Solutions
When: Wednesday, 9 October 2019, 11:30 to 13:00
Description:
Regions and cities have a key role to play in providing answers to our major societal challenges, in areas such as mobility, energy, social inclusion, etc. Digital solutions play a growing role in the answers to provide. On all levels of public authorities, from local to European, significant levels of funding are allocated to the development, testing and implementation of digital solutions.
The overall objective of the workshop is to dive into the contributions delivered by both the Umbria (IT) and Brainport Eindhoven (NL) regions, and connect them to the efforts currently being elaborated between European cities and regions, Member States and the European Commission to ensure local successes can be of benefit of all European citizens, while further stimulating the digital economy. Umbria and Brainport Eindhoven will build a bridge from the present practices to the future, in order to support the digital transition process.
In particular the Umbria Region will speak about DigiPASS, financed by ERDF. DigiPASS are open public areas, with free access where citizens find experts able to help people and businesses in the use of digital services. Brainport Eindhoven will explain how it is committed, in collaboration with European networks such as EUROCITIES, ENoLL and OASC, to reach a new level of EU-wide innovation and collaboration and prepare the ground – also on a technical level through interoperable urban platforms promoting open standards, open APIs, and shared data models – for a citizen-driven and city-led digital societal transformation. During the workshop the consortium will inform the audience on the initiative, share the progress of the activities developed and invite to join thereby enlarging ownership.
Click here to register for this session.
Societal Challenges in Smart Cities: Towards a More Ethical Smart City
When: Thursday, 10 October, 09:15 – 10:45
Description:
While the narrative of digital technologies to enable smart cities and communities has initially be a positive one, in recent years concerns have been voiced: With everything and everyone being connected for the sake of efficiency, where does this leave the citizens, what about their digital footprint and the big data to which they contribute in their everyday life? What is their role in the creation of smart cities & communities? How can cities reassure citizens? How can cities make sure that more ethics is embedded in the digital value chain of smart cities, from digital equipment production to day-to-day digital services consumption? Will digital apps save democracy or kill it?
Four European cities – Tallinn, Lille Metropole, Espoo and Brussels Capital Region – will share their experiences in digitalising their public services for a better living experience for their citizens.
- Lille Metropole, world design capital 2020, will present the connected social centres it supported through a large programme aiming at developing third places and giving easier access to digital services for all.
- Tallinn, European capital of e-administration will demonstrate how open cooperation can help the cities to innovate.
- Espoo will showcase how its citizens are involved in designing the most sustainable city in Europe
- Brussels Capital Region will present some of its smart cities and digital inclusion projects.
The European Commission, DG Connect, will give its vision of a smarter living regarding these societal challenges.
Click here to register for this session.