V4 – Slovakia towards Smart Cities

The Fifth annual conference “Slovakia towards Smart Cities“ was held on Tuesday, the 5th March 2019. This time, the Conference was focused on activities and events in the Visegrad countries (Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary and Poland). The Conference took place in facilities of the SOREA Regia Hotel in Bratislava, and it was organized by the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic together with Smart Cities Klub, with support of following partners: The Deputy Prime Minister´s Office for Investments and Informatization, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak republic, as well as the Slovak Agency for Innovations and Energy.

In parallel with the conference, the State Secretaries from the V4 countries discussed the topic of Smart Cities and joint actions of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary in this area. Mr. Rastislav Chovanec, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy presented results of that meeting afterwards.

Experts from the V4 countries took part in the conference, as well. Mr. David Bárta presented the National Smart Cities concept of the Czech Republic which is intended to be implemented by means of innovations of public services. Mr. Mateusz Jarosiewicz, the Polish representative discussed various possibilities of using Block chain technology in cities. Mr. Samu Szemerey from Hungary contributed with the Hungarian experience with the Smart Cities topic. Mr. Milan Ftáčnik introduced plans and intentions of the Council for Smart Solutions and Innovations, which was established only a few weeks ago. A representative of the European Investment Bank (JASPERS) presented different experience and options in terms of funding possibilities.

The popular section of “The latest innovations in Smart Cities – examples of good practice from Europe” was also a part of the conference. Speakers from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and Great Britain presented their experience and ideas within this conference section. Another section was dedicated to the funding issues of the Smart Cities. Representatives of the Permanent Representation of the European Commission in Slovakia, the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Investment and Informatization, and the Norwegian and Swiss Funds presented different possibilities, where and how to obtain financial supports for Smart cities projects.

More than 150 representatives of cities and municipalities, ministries, private companies and other organizations being active in the field of Smart Cities, attended the Conference this year.