English 
Română 
65% of civil servants worldwide believe that the pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of smart projects for the sustainable development of cities. (1)
It is a "teaching" applicable also at local level, where, through the Regional Operational Program (ROP), the Romanian public authorities can access in the programming period 2021-2027 dedicated funds for the development of cities and smart communities. Priority axis 2 – "A region with smart localities" supports the digital transformation of the administrative apparatus, regional economies and areas of public interest, and the support is consistent. For example, for region Northwest alone the financial envelope of Priority 2 is about 44.6 million euro.
The European support is useful and especially necessary given that Romania is constantly on the last places in the EU rankings in terms of digitization of the central and local public administration. We are below the European average in terms of the use of ITC technologies in public administration, organisational changes and the development of new skills of officials in the administrative apparatus (2) and occupy the last position in terms of the development of 'Digital public services' (3).
Fortunately, there are concrete results that support the hope that the situation is beginning to recover in Romania as well – the "Smart Governance" projects carried out at local level have registered this year the biggest leap.
However, ROP 2021-2027 is not the only financing solution for the accelerated digitization of public administrations in Romania. If you want to find out what other sources are available and you can access, we invite you to participate in the VII-th edition of the expo-conference Smart Cities of Romania 2021, which will take place on November 2 in the online environment.
The digitalisation of public administration and services are just two of the priorities of a smart city. Areas such as energy efficiency, smart metering, capitalization of renewable energies, smart building, mobility services, smart GIS and open platforms are topics of interest for most cities in Romania that aspire to the "Smart" status.
A point of attraction will also be the presentation of Micro Mapper on the subject "Open (up) GIS databases - RENNS - Romania Green and Digital 2022", the company announcing the availability of donation of the entire national GIS database (developed in Romania by Micro Mapper) to the central and local public authorities.
All these current topics will be addressed during the event organized by Association Smart Cities of Romania Cluster.
Invited speakers:
- Ramona Chiriac, Head of the European Commission’s Representation in Bucharest;
- Marin Tole, State Secretary at Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDLPA);
- Laszlo Borbely, State Counselor, Coordinator of the Department for Sustainable Development (SGG - DDD);
- Octavian Oprea, President of Authority for the Digitisation of Romania (ADR);
- Dana Voicu, Personal adviser of State Secretary Ionel Scriosteanu, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI)
- Adrian Curaj, Director General UEFISCDI;
- Marian Florea, President of Association of City Managers from Romania (AAPRO)
- Horia Petran, Senior Researcher INCD URBAN-INCERC
- Cristian Vasiliu, Director General of Romanian Association for Workplace and Facility Management (ROFMA);
- Stelian Arion, President of Smart Cities of Romania Cluster (SCoR Cluster);
- Calin Vilt, Counselor The Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council (CNR-CME);
- Mihai Niculescu, Director General of Intelligent Transport Systems Romania (ITS Romania)
We thank our SPONSORS:
- HONEYWELL
- Catalin Dragoi, Services and Digitalization Leader CEE
- Aristotel Agapie, Sales Director, Automation for building efficiency (Romania, Bulgaria and Rep. Moldova)
- GLOBEMA
- Cosmin Albu, Business Development Director
- INTEGRISOFT Solutions
- Tiberiu Lukacs, Sales Director
- MICRO MAPPER
- József Kuszálik, Founder and CEO
- RADCOM
The full list of speakers and the agenda of the event are available here, and for registration you can access this link.
1. Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World
2. Digital Public Administration factsheet 2020
3. Digital Economy and Society Index 2020