Major Cities of Europe 2023 conference

Prato, Pecci Centre, from 25 to 27 October 2023

A loom with a view – Weaving the digital future of communities, cities, and regions.

Following the annual conferences in Larissa, Venice, Leipzig, Zagreb, Hamburg and numerous others in various European cities, Major Cities of Europe (www.majorcities.eu) and the Municipality of Prato are pleased to invite to participate to the international conference 2023 to be held in Prato, at the “Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art” (https://centropecci.it/), from 25 to 27 October 2023 with the support of the Tuscany Region and Confservizi Cispel Toscana.

One of the strengths of the Major Cities of Europe conference is that it is not an endless succession of speakers, but rather we try to create opportunities for engagement and debate, with differing perspectives and emphasis. This year, one of our approaches to achieving this is by having sessions with two 10-minute speaker slots followed by a half-hour roundtable discussion. 

We wish to bring to your attention some hot topics that we will discuss during the conference:

HOT TOPICS

• Climate change: what Local Governments are doing to reach the net zero emissions, how citizens are involved, how to measure the effectiveness of the actions, how AI can help
• Human resources and Digital transformation: how to manage the impact of diminishing human resources in Local Government vs. the requirements of increasing number of elderly citizens
• Skills: how to manage the requirement of new skills and new models of leadership in Local Government.
• Regions’ role: how regions can ensure for their territory the support and the creation of common technological infrastructures, cybersecurity organisation , digital skills..
• Cybersecurity threat: ensure that the message is clear;  cybersecurity is not lust a technological task for specialists but a crucial and strategic mission and investment for the top management to avoid major damages and disruptions.     
• Public Utilities: How public utilities and regions can collaborate to guarantee integration of services for citizens
• New technologies: how new technologies, like AI, Digital Twins … can impact the future of Local Government management and the services to citizens.  
• IT centres of the future: How will change the IT centres of Local Governments
• And others…

It’s time to register!

The online registration, the evolving programme, the logistic, accommodation and other useful information are published in this same conference webpage.

Overview of the conference programme

The golden thread: A Loom With a View – Weaving the digital future of communities, cities and regions is the motto that links the themes of the conference. Our goal is to explore and discuss the impact of digitization and climate transition in local public administration as well as the impact of emerging technologies: for the development of public services; for physical and IT security; for policies and projects in managing climate transition; and for the development of the new skills required.

The conference objectives: the conference is not just about the review of best practices but about, sharing, debating, and questioning. The objective is to give each participant the opportunity to enrich their professional background, to develop new ideas and collaborations and to promote exchanges of experiences on the use of modern technologies.

Participants’ profile: The conference is open to those interested in sharing ideas, strategies, projects, and experiences in using technologies for the digital transformation of local public administrations, cities, and regions.
We welcome councillors for digital transition and environmental policies, CIOs, Smart City managers, security managers, environmental project managers, whether they are decision makers or managers responsible for their implementation, or specialists. More than 200 participants from all over Europe are expected to join the event.

The programme: the programme focuses on the importance and role of technologies and includes sessions to discuss current key topics:

• digital transformations driven by the challenges for the digitization of Europe.
• role of technologies in the management of climate change.
• the impact of new emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence,
• data management and visualization, digital twins,
• protection of citizens, infrastructures, and public services: security, cybersecurity, digital identity…
• the evolution of the role of the regions and the related regional digital services.
• the future of the roles and organization of IT centres in support of emerging technologies.
• the new digital skills, the new professional and managerial profiles.

The speakers: the programme includes distinguished speakers from cities, regions, research centres and specialized companies who will address the key priorities.

Conference language: The conference will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Italian.

Contacts: Don´t hesitate to contact us for your questions or requests of information. Our Hotline is at your disposal at mce2023@pin.unifi.it / tel. +39 0574 602 511 / +39 0574602572 / mobile +39 3454077026.

About Major Cities of Europe

Major Cities of Europe is a non-profit association of European Cities and Regions. We are committed to the innovation of the local public administration and citizen services by leveraging modern technologies. Our objective is sharing the international experiences, projects, strategies, and solutions while developing skills and improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of Local Governments. We share experiences in implementing new services that facilitate the life of citizens, in developing the Economy and a Green and Sustainable Society for the wellbeing of the local communities.

Contact us at info@majorcities.eu.