Boosting digital public administrations at regional & local level at European Week of Regions and Cities 2018

Almost one hundred people from different countries, regions and cities joined our first workshop ever at the EURegionsWeek. Our presence there was complemented with 4 presentations in the agora covering topics like the implementation of the EIF and its monitoring through NIFO, Sharing and Reuse of IT solutions and Joinup, the repository of open source IT solutions developed under the ISA² Programme. 

As part of the eGov Action plan, the ISA² Programme is contributing to increase interoperability between  public administrations in Europe by implementing the European Interoperability Framework (EIF). To analyse how to boost digital public administrations at local, regional and national level, we held a workshop on 10 October in which we gathered 98 people from different countries and different sectors. 

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This interactive workshop covered EU Cohesion Policy: ESIF Thematic Objective 2 (Enhancing access to, and use and quality of information and communication technologies (ICT) and 11 : Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration), which are directly linked to the interoperability principles enshrined in the European Interoperability Framework: principles 7 (inclusion and accessibility), 10 (Administration Simplification) and 12 (Assessment of Effectiveness and Efficiency).

The main goals of this workshop were: 

1. exploring what are the needs of municipalities and regions at making their public administrations digital;
2. raising awareness about existing programmes and policies which are helping regions and cities in the digitalisation; 
3. producing guidelines and trainings for the digitalisation of public administrations at local and regional level and e-tools for networking and boosting administrative capacity for EU funds management. 

The workshop started with an overview of how the European Commission is promoting interoperability in Europe across borders and across sectors through the ISA² Programme. The head of Interoperability Unit at the Directorate General of Informatics at the European Commission, Natalia Aristimuño Perez highlighted that “in a world in which everything is digital, we need to connect every single citizen so that none is left behind”.

Ann Kerstin Myleus, Deputy Head of Competence Centre for Administrative Capacity-Building and the Solidarity Fund Unit at DG Regional and Urban Policy, stated that to make Europe interoperable and increase administrative capacity and good governance  at all levels we need close cooperation between different programmes and different sectors, including Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS)”. She gave the floor to Konstantinos Dryllerakis, Advisor for the Digitalisation of Public Administrations at the SRSS, who explained how EU Member States can benefit from this programme in the field of digitalisation. 

After this, we had the opportunity to hear two cases of digitalisation of public administrations: Belgium and Spain. Frank Leyman, Chief Information Officer of Belgium explained how the implementation of the EIF and the use of the European Interoperability Reference Architetcure (EIRA) had helped Belgian public administrations in their digitalisation process. In the case of Spain, Miguel Angel Amutio Perez, Deputy Director of Coordination of ICT Units at the Secretary General of Public Administrations from Spain, stated that “strong cooperation needs for higher level of interoperability in Europe, so that public administrations, Businesses and citizens are linked”.

Download slides from the workshop

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