Twenty one of Europe’s capital cities are to participate in a new initiative to accelerate development and delivery of “high impact” digital services.
The two-year scheme, by Bloomberg Philanthropies, will see cities receive technical help, access to city leaders, and training from “innovation experts” about how to use digital technologies to help with improvement of critical services for residents.
Most major European capitals are involved, with 21 out of 44 capital cities featuring. The full list is below; it features Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Prague, Stockholm, and Warsaw, among others.
Arguably, the most notable absences are Paris, Lisbon, and Moscow, plus also Bern, Oslo, and Vienna.
Each city will start the process by running the rule over their own digital vision, governance, technology systems, and infrastructure for the use of data. They will seek to address issues around housing, mobility, health, education and jobs.
Cities will also have access to a specialized programme from Harvard Business School to strengthen their digital skills–- to enable city leaders to build “high-performing teams” and collaborate with data across departments.
Following the two year programme, they will have acquired the skills and contacts to tackle additional challenges, reckons Bloomberg Philanthropies. The group will share their findings with other cities.
“European capital cities are already among the world’s leaders when it comes to digitizing government services to deliver better results for residents. Through this new offering, we hope to see these cities take their work to the next level by putting people at the heart of digital transformation, driving 21st Century ways of working across their organizations, and sharing lessons with other cities around the world,” said Andrea Coleman of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“Digital transformation needs to engage staff from across the city – technologists, programme managers, and executives” said David Eaves, faculty co-chair of the Harvard programme. “City leaders able to motivate change and mobilize others, who are skilled at negotiating and experimenting will best position their cities to use technology to solve problems.”
The participating cities are:
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Athens, Greece
- Berlin, Germany
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Brussels, Belgium
- Budapest, Hungary
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Dublin, Ireland
- Helsinki, Finland
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- London, UK
- Madrid, Spain
- Nicosia, Cyprus
- Prague, Czechia
- Riga, Latvia
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Vilnius, Lithuania
- Warsaw, Poland
