Newsletter January 2012

In this newsletter:

• Save the date – Vienna – June 4 to 6 -The 2012 Major Cities of Europe annual conference
   
• Vienna a city of tradition and innovation is waiting for you!
   
• Two Workshops by Major Cities of Europe about Social media in Bremen and Cloud Computing in Hamburg
   
• Intelligent Tools for Policy Design – The FUPOL project
   
• New EU 2012 Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Program (CIP)
   

Save the date: 4 to 6 June 2012 – Major Cities of Europe annual conference at the Vienna Town Hall - Registrations are now open

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: “ICT - Driving the City of tomorrow?” is the overarching theme of the conference. As usual we will host high level speakers and participants from across Europe. The conference languages will be English and German with simultaneous translation.
 

Large, medium and small cities are facing the same challenges: budgets are tighter and tighter, citizens press for more direct participation in the decisions and for better services and more jobs, local companies strive to resist to the economic downturn.
 

The need for radical transformation of Local Government is one key factor to respond to these challenges. How much can ICT help driving the city of tomorrow? We will provide answers to that question during the conference.
 

The advent of Open Government, Open Data, Social networks, Apps, Cloud Computing, Smart Cities are some of the topics that we will share during the conference with exchange of experiences through presentations, roundtables, one to one discussions and workshops run by CIOs from large and medium European cities with participation from across Europe.
 

These are the key topics that we have selected:
 

• “Cities in the Open”: Transparency, participation and economic development
• “Cities in the Cloud”: Collaboration and shared services
• "Cities in Practice": Progress with smart cities
• "Cities in the Future": How will the future promises of ICT and the Internet impact on cities?
   

Two evening events provide the participants with international networking opportunities in a relaxed atmosphere.

                D            inner on Monday at the "Heuriger Fuhrgassl Huber"                                           Gala Dinner on Tuesday at the "Palais Ferstel Wien"

We have carefully selected suitable hotels in the immediate vicinity of the conference venue. Please make your hotel reservation as soon as possible to get special rates.
 

More information about the program, the logistics and the registration is available at http://www.majorcities.eu/conferences/2012-vienna. Contact: MCE2012@wien.gv.at
 

Vienna a city of tradition and leading innovation is waiting for you!

Vienna is a perfect mix of what you would like to find in a city. It’s the city of history, of art, music and culture and of excellent food. It’s the city of modern lifestyle. It’s among the top ranked most livable cities in the world. It’s a hot spot for digital technologies and innovation.

Watch this video and come visit Vienna at our annual conference:
http://www.majorcities.eu/conferences/2012-vienna/video
 

Two Workshops by Major Cities of Europe about Social media in Bremen and Cloud Computing in Hamburg

We have organized 2 different workshops for our members that will give participants the opportunity to share experiences and plans around two hot topics. Each workshop will focus a specific priority for cities: one workshop will be about Social media and Apps , the other about Cloud Computing and virtualization.
 

We run our workshops informally. Our goal is to facilitate discussions among the participants in order to gain a more in depth view about the selected specific topic. Each participant presents his/her own experience and plans. Questions and a live – and often lively – debate follow.
 

The workshop about Social Media and Apps will take place in Bremen on 21^st March 2012. To register please send a mail to Jörg Wiegand  at Joerg.Wiegand@bit.bremerhaven.de.
 

The workshop about Cloud Computing and Virtualization will take place in Hamburg. The final date will be selected from 2 alternative choices depending on the participants preferences, either 17/4/2012 or 8/5/2012. If you wish to participate please select your preferred date or both at http://www.doodle.com/n9wxrebq4qh4dfrh .
 

Further logistic information about each workshop will be communicated later.

Intelligent Tools for Policy Design – The FUPOL project

FUPOL aims to deliver a completely new approach to traditional politics. Major innovations like multichannel social computing and crowd sourcing will change the way politicians communicate with citizens and enterprises and take decisions. The system will be able to automatically collect, analyze and interpret opinions expressed on a large scale from the Internet. This will enable governments to gain a better understanding of the needs of citizens. Likewise the software will have the capabilities to simulate the effects of policies and laws and to assist governments in the whole policy design process.
 

Therefore the project proposes a comprehensive new governance model to support the policy design and implementation lifecycle. The innovations are driven by the demand of citizens and political decision makers to support the policy domains in urban regions with appropriate ICT technologies. It will target domains such as sustainable development, land use, urban planning, urban segregation and migration. The scientific approach is based on complexity science. It aims at reducing the complexity through a comprehensive policy spiral design lifecycle approach deemed appropriate for complex societal problems.
 

The outcomes of the project, designed in line with the EU FP7 ICT work program, include a new governance model to engage all stakeholders in the whole policy design lifecycle, a policy knowledge database,  a cloud computing based comprehensive ICT Framework, multilingual training, piloting in Europe and China, large scale dissemination and a sustainable exploitation strategy.
 

The FUPOL consortium consists of 17 partners from 9 countries and comprises innovative multinational companies, leading research institutes, high-level political organizations as well as strong pilot partners. Among them BIT Bremerhaven, member and secretary of Major Cities of Europe, is leading the dissemination task, while the cities of Prato and Zagreb, members of Major Cities, are two of the pilot sites. Major Cities of Europe, itself is supporting the project. Members of Major Cities of Europe are welcome to become part of the advisory board of FUPOL. If interested please write to giorgio.prister@majorcities.eu. For more information refer to www.fupol.eu.

New EU 2012 Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)

A new 2012 CIP programme will be officially announced on February 1, 2012. The final proposals submission date will be May 15, 2012. A draft document is already available at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp/index_en.htm

The topics addressed by the program are:

• ICT for "smart" cities
• Digital content, open data and creativity
• ICT for health, ageing well and inclusion
• Innovative government and public services
• Trusted eServices and other action