Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh City Council are the Scottish cornerstone of the SmartCities project, an international network of councils and academic partners that will spend the next three years finding ways for cities to think smarter, work smarter and plan smarter by delivering better e-services for citizens and businesses. By the time it has finished, the project will have developed a framework for the future delivery of e-services in Europe.

A range of ideas, including providing wireless information to public transport users, developing better online portals for cities/communities, and integrating wireless services with city networks will be discussed during the three-day conference. The conference takes place between 2-4 March and is hosted by Edinburgh Napier University and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Dave Fitch, SmartCities Project Manager at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “Since the 1980s there have been many attempts to use technology to make cities 'smarter' and more responsive to their citizens. Many of these initiatives were technology led – however the SmartCities project has a user and service led approach that will allow cities to design and deliver e-services that will make a difference to citizens and businesses. The project brings together local government service providers, businesses and Universities to develop both the knowledge and skills that are required to solve problems and use technology to deliver real world solutions and more effective city services. The project will look across Europe to find out what works in e-government and to develop new ways in which this knowledge can be used to deliver better services in cities across the North Sea Region.”

Edinburgh Napier University is the lead academic partner in the SmartCities project, a major European initiative which brings together thirteen government and university partners from six countries to develop and deliver e-services for citizens and businesses across Northern Europe. The project’s €6.7m budget is part funded by the EU’s North Sea Region Programme.

The conference is being attended by a number of council leaders and senior government officials and academics,. Mayors and council officials from cities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway, and heads of e-government and improvement services from the North Sea Region will complete the guest list.