The Innovative Sofia team presented key aspects of the analysis of Sofia’s maturity in the field of “E-government and citizen participation” during the 2nd ICC City Lab – a four-day online conference connecting 135 cities in the European Commission’s 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge project.

The format of the event also included the so-called Peer Review sessions, during which the cities had to participate in several thematic partnership meetings where each team had to present the results achieved during the first phase of the initiative and to receive feedback and ideas from the project managers of the other participating cities in the partner group during the discussion. Sofia was included in the ‘Capitals with an economic hub role’ and ‘Citizen participation and digitisation of public administration’ sessions, together with Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, and Thessaloniki.

Ana Georgieva and Iskra Yovkova from Innovative Sofia presented the priority solutions and the ways for their optimal implementation, which we outlined during the two discussion seminars with local stakeholders on the topic of E-government and citizen participation. We received positive feedback from the other cities and great interest in Sofia’s experience in the preparation of the Digital Transformation Strategy of Sofia, the establishment and activities of the Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development Department of Sofia Municipality, the unit’s urban policies and projects of highest priority, stakeholders involvement from the business, academia and the non-governmental sector in the activities of Innovative Sofia and many other topics related to Sofia’s digital and innovative development.

The next step in the project is the preparation of a report analyzing the maturity of Sofia in the field of “E-government and citizen participation” based on the conclusions and proposals received during the working groups with representatives and members of local associations, cluster organizations, and experts in Sofia, as well as representatives of Sofia Municipality.

The preparation of the analysis is part of the EC’s project methodology, and our team must complete this stage of the participation in the 100 ICC project by presenting the results achieved so far by the end of February. After submitting the report to the ICC project organisers from the European Commission, we will be able to present the key findings and conclusions of the analysis to our local stakeholder network.

The analysis of the local environment and the priority decisions discussed during the two seminars with local stakeholders will be part of the development of a strategy (action plan) for the implementation of these solutions within the ICC project. This action plan will be followed until the end of Sofia’s participation in the European Commission’s programme over the next 15 months and will be the most important document developed by Sofia under the project, as it will set the activities and results that the city will have to achieve within the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge.

Expect more information about the prepared document within days.