Sofia Investment Agency to Present Sofia’s Digital Transformation Strategy in Thessaloniki at the Digital Cities Challenge Academic Seminar
Sofia Investment Agency will present the Digital Transformation Strategy of Sofia at the next Academic Seminar of the Digital Cities Challenge program. The meeting will take place on October 17-18 in Thessaloniki and will be attended by representatives of all 43 participating cities and mentors in the project of the European Commission, which Sofia won a participation in.
The strategy resulted from several seminars at the local level. The discussions we organized were attended by representatives of Sofia’s IT sector, the start-up ecosystem, the utilities sector, the local authorities and academic circles.
The mission of the Digital Transformation Strategy of Sofia is to outline a series of actions to strengthen the IT business ecosystem in the city in order to:
– offer and develop IT solutions for the digital transformation of the city;
– identify and reach areas of application and markets for local digital products and services which can be introduced locally, nationally or globally, as well as to facilitate their demand and supply in these markets;
– support the local innovation environment in a move to help the process of digital transformation.
The Digital Transformation Strategy of Sofia, prepared with our partners at the seminars held, will be presented at the seminar in Thessaloniki in the so called peer review sessions in groups with other participants and mentors under the program. This will allow us to receive feedback regarding the strategy, additional guidelines and examples of good practice for implementing the ideas. The Strategy for Digital Transformation of Sofia document is available for download here.
At the academic seminar in Thessaloniki, as a next step, Sofia and the other cities will have to develop their detailed road maps to implement their strategies; to define the priorities and to draw up a plan for the consistency of the implementation of the particular projects; to define the role of all actors, leading or participating in the processes; to identify the necessary resources and funding opportunities for the implementation of the priority projects.
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Digital Cities Challenge is an initiative of the European Commission for mentoring and supporting European cities to develop and implement policies aimed at smart growth and sustainable development through the introduction of advanced technologies to local businesses and institutions.
The program aims to provide high-level consultancy services to 15 European cities and to support them in building innovative ecosystems through the implementation of modern technologies.
Due to the great interest and requests to participate in the program from 92 cities across Europe, the initiative expanded its reach by increasing the number of admitted cities to 21 alliance cities and 6 mentoring cities that consult and share their good practices with other cities. All participants in Digital Cities Challenge create a network of more than 40 cities, sharing the goals of the initiative.
Sofia was among the first 7 cities approved to participate in the implementation of the project and was given the opportunity to develop its own strategy for digitization. Sofia’s participation in Digital Cities Challenge is headed by Sofia Investment Agency.
