V th Cities on the Internet Conference Zakopane Poland

1
V th Cities on the Internet ConferenceZakopane -
Poland

• Javier Ossandon
• President of ELANET (CEMR)
• ossandon_at_elanet.org
• June 20, 2001

2
Aims of this speech

• strategic input on Local governments role in the
  Information Society
• information on ELANET its enlargement policy
• mainstream projects
• EISCO 2002 (Cagliari, Italy)

3
The scenario

• The Information Society is now an opportunity for
  European Cities and Towns
• Internet tools and the web are the main
  instruments
• Local governments are present on the web but
  their strategies are not always clear
• Political support and understanding at the local
  level is insufficient

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Why IS is a unique opportunity

• As decentralisation becomes a reality,
  networking becomes a must
• Reform of P.A. and reengineering of L.G.
  require intensive use of ICT
• New and more efficient services to citizens can
  be provided
• Local democracy is at stake
• International cooperation European cohesion can
  be strongly developed

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What are we striving for ?

• A common framework
• Clear rules and regulations (transparency)
• Some common standards
• Become a system
• Enhance networking at all levels
• Support real innovation (mainstream projects)
• Enthusiasm and support

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How should we think?

• Think global, act local
• or
• Think local, act global

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What priorities for Local governments?

• Interpret basic needs of citizens, SMEs and
  community organisations and improve their digital
  culture and use of ICT
• Contribute to the implementation of pilot
  projects in the local/regional area
• promote clusters for innovation through
  public-private partnerships and knowledge
  management policies
• portal for administrative services
• Support training of civil servants and extensive
  
• use of ICT

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How ?

• We need local/regional strategies with a
  bottom-up approach but coordinated with national
  and European initiatives
• We need good reliable partners from the private
  sector and research world
• We need accurate information on best practices
  and financial opportunities
• We need people that understands technologies and
  can assess opportunities properly

9
Where is the European Union heading ?

• Support networks of excellence at European level
• Large Integrated projects
• Link European applied research to needs in the
  territories (ERA approach)
• Clustering (e-government e-learning and
  e-business)
• Incorporate candidate countries in al IS
  programmes
• e-Europe plus

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ELANET(http//www.elanet.org)

• The European Local Authorities Telematic Network
  Initiative was born in March 96 in Rome. Since
  late 97 operates under the umbrella of CEMR
  (European Association of Local and Regional
  governments)
• It is a double folded network with a strong
  institutional appeal IS providers and IS users
• 15 EU Associations Norway and Poland and 8 IS
  daughter companies participate.

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ELANET activities

• Discussion on EU and Local gov. policies on IS
• monitoring of IS actions promoted or managed by
  Local governments and development of the IS at
  local level
• mainstream transnational projects launched by its
  members
• Support actively enlargement (DREAMS)
• EISCO Conference and workshops in countries
• Support to EU projects of Local/regional gov.
• Technical cooperation with EU Commission

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Mainstream projects

• I.S.L.A. (Information Society in Local Areas)
  http//www.isla.org
• NET for nets (European Municipal Telematic
  Counter prototype) http//www.netfornets.org
• ELADIS (European digital sites on land and
  property management)
• EUSlanD (European knowledge-management system in
  Local Authorities Networking Domains)

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Mainstream projects

• KEELAN (Key Elements for Electronic Local
  Authorities Netwroking)
• PRELUDE (Promotion of IS for Digital Economies
  European wide)
• EDEN, E-MINDER, MEDIS and newcomers
  (dissemination and evaluation of project progress)

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EISCO 2001 Cagliari (Italy)April 19-21 2002

• Supported by the EU Commission (ISPO)
• 25 30 countries expected
• Agenda E-government and Local Authorities
  Portals
• Best practices
• ICT solutions for Local governments from sponsors
• Discussion of EC work-programmes
• Partnership matching