The Smart Cities partners met in Bremerhaven, Germany from the 8th to the 11th of December 2009. In this three day meeting the partners agreed on a huge work programme for 2010: here's an overview.

E-Clic and Smart Cities: same spot, same content, same drive

The Steering Committees of the E-Clic and the Smart Cities (both Interreg North Sea Region Programme IVB projects) were welcomed by the City of Bremerhaven. In the excellent atmosphere of the nearby North Sea and the brand new infrastructure the partners of the two projects had the opportunity to meet each other and to exchange ideas.

The North Sea Region Programme was represented by Mr Carsten Westerholt from the Secretariat, who delivered a much appreciated presentation on the NSR policy.

In a workshop on wireless services the technological insight of the E-Clic partners of I Park and Karlstad University inspired the Smart Cities partners who are working to deliver wireless municipal services. In the workshop on project ideas, the E-Clic and the Smart Cities partners shared ideas for further cooperation. Since the work packages and vision of the two projects are quite similar, this will lead to real cooperation in the near future.

Project initiation document lead to better definitions and outputs

The Smart Cities partners have defined 22 pilots so far, using our new project initiation document (PID). The PID provides a standardised, structured way to report how pilots are designed, delivered, managed and resourced. The PID will bring together the ‘what, why, how and when’ of each pilot in one place. The PID will be the definitive guide to what each pilot will do and how it will do it.

The Smart Cities project needs to ensure the use of common indicators, baselines and outcomes wherever possible - across sub-themes, work-packages and the project as a whole. The template of the PID made by Edinburgh Napier University will be made available to other projects looking for this project management tool.

Smart Cities Project Guide

In 2009 we published an info flyer. Since the project has developed in the past months, a more detailed project guide is needed to give a better view on the Smart Cities project, project partners and details of the transnational and local pilots. This project guide is currently being written by Edinburgh Napier University and the partners and will be finished in February 2010. In the meanwhile, check our brand new video!

Project context maps

Edinburgh Napier University developed policy context maps during 2009, and presented for each of the Smart Cities Partner cities this context:

- Layers of government: European, national, state/regional/county, municipal
- Programmes, initiatives and projects
- Strategy & key drivers for change
- Legislation
- Government strategies, political programmes and plans
- Inter-institutional agreements
- Applications and services

These maps will become available for further use during the start of 2010.

Transnational work on service delivery

The work on customer services continues in the Smart Cities project. The transnational work on contact centres will lead to a transferable model for service delivery, to be tested out in the Kortrijk region, Karlstad and other cities in the partnership. This practices and the underlying theory will be gathered during 2010 and will lead to a practical and inspiring booklet that can be used by other EU partners.

The work on the EU service list continues: the different service lists from across the NSR are being translated in the coming weeks, services will be matched and an online presentation tool will make this information available in the first half of 2010.

Further on, there will be transnational work on process improvement leading to better and more efficient government services. The practices and theory should also lead to an inspiring booklet.

The Smart Cities partners will also work on contact databases, change management, MyPage and authentication, web portals and digital case handling.

Customer profiling guide

A customer profiling manual based on the Smart Cities model will be developed in 2010, and partners are invited to test it out. These test cases will - together with external cases - be used as examples in the final manual that will be ready end of 2010. The customer profiling model is mainly based on the work Norfolk County Council has been doing the past years and months.

The guide will describe when and how to do customer profiling: defining business cases, getting and using data, reporting issues, mapping the gaps, etc.. This guide should help local governments in better defining customer needs, and thus adapting governmental services.

Pilot domains for wireless services are defined

In a workshop on wireless services in Bremerhaven, these pilot domains for exchanging wireless services have been defined:

• Citizen services: traditional government gone mobile (services, transactions, contact addresses,…)
• Tourism, leisure: visitor information and offers (if possible time, information and interest based)
• Mobile workforce
• Traffic, transport and mobility