{"id":15805,"date":"2019-02-03T21:46:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T19:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/?p=15805"},"modified":"2019-02-04T10:18:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T08:18:32","slug":"sofia-enters-the-final-stage-of-the-digital-cities-challenge-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/sofia-enters-the-final-stage-of-the-digital-cities-challenge-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Sofia Enters the Final Stage of the Digital Cities Challenge Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15798 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1079\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019.png 1079w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-300x137.png 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-768x351.png 768w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-1024x468.png 1024w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-600x274.png 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-260x119.png 260w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-50x23.png 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Algeciras-DCC-Seminar-2019-150x69.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1079px) 100vw, 1079px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last Academy Seminar of the Digital Cities Challenge project took place on January 29-30 in Algeciras, Spain. Sofia along with forty other European cities participating in the initiative by the European Commission got together to share their strategies and key actions towards digital transformation to be implemented in the next few years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia worked on the development of its implementation roadmap and the fine-tuning of its digitalization strategy. We are grateful for all the suggestions and ideas we received as a part of the peer-review sessions during the seminar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15802 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"356\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain.jpeg 4032w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-300x184.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-768x471.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-1024x628.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-600x368.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-238x146.jpeg 238w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-50x31.jpeg 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DigitalCitiesChallenge-Seminar-Spain-122x75.jpeg 122w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/>We would like to thank Angelina Todorova, Head of the FMFIB Advisory Platform, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fmfib.bg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fund of Funds<\/a>, Bulgaria, for her\u00a0participation in the seminar.<b>\u00a0<\/b>Mrs.\u00a0Todorova\u00a0presented on \u2018Leveraging European Funds to Support Urban Development and SMEs\u2019 as a part of the overview of funding opportunities for digital projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia Investment Agency, on behalf of the city of Sofia, continues its participation in the Digital Cities Project and in the next few months the Agency will be finalizing the strategy report and discussing the options for the creation of governance\/steering bodies. We will begin the implementation of one pilot activity before the final conference in Brussels in June.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mission of the digital transformation strategy of Sofia is to define a series of actions that will strengthen the ICT business ecosystem in Sofia and will enable it to:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(a) develop innovative solutions for the digital transformation of the city;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(b) create new markets for digital products and services at local, national or global level, and to facilitate the access to these markets; and<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(c) support the system of innovation for the development of new digital services and solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15793 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"637\" height=\"379\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph.png 915w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-300x178.png 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-768x457.png 768w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-600x357.png 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-246x146.png 246w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-50x30.png 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-126x75.png 126w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The roll-out of this strategy will be accompanied by the implementation of various activities that were identified during the interviews and workshops with local stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The list includes a total of 14 activities to be implemented in the short, medium and long term. Examples of key activities to be implemented as part of the strategy include: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Distributed platform of urban data, <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Integrated tariffs and common charging model across mobile services,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dashboard for real-time utilities consumption, <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital and physical space for Sofia\u2019s startups, <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Promotion of Sofia as a risk investment destination, and <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online platform for services in schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The creation of a governance structure has been suggested to ensure the implementation of the strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15795 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1017\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2.png 1017w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-768x490.png 768w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-600x383.png 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-229x146.png 229w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-50x32.png 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/graph-2-118x75.png 118w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final step of the initiative is going to include identification of Key Performance Indicators, development of Monitoring and Evaluation procedures and responsibilities for the next four years of strategy implementation and monitoring of the city performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The end of the Digital Cities Challenge and the beginning of its successor the &#8216;Intelligent Cities Challenge\u2019 will be celebrated during a high level conference in June. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We would like to express our gratitude\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to the hosting city Algeciras and to<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the growing network of stakeholders and EU cities that keep\u00a0supporting us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last Academy Seminar of the Digital Cities Challenge project took place on January 29-30 in Algeciras, Spain. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}