Place: Vienna Town Hall
Participants: 290
Program Highlights: “ICT – Driving the City of tomorrow”

From the Program:

Cities in the Open – Web 2.0. Open Data, Participation, Social Networks
Social Networks
Mobile Government
Cities in the Cloud
Managing and Implementing ICT Innovation
Cities in Practice

The Major Cities of Europe annual conference 2012 took place in Vienna between June 4th and 6th. 290 participants and 30 speakers from European Cities got together to discuss current developments and challenges of ICT in cities and public authorities. Mr. Reinhard Posch took the podium to speak about the current e-government initiative. The credo of his promising progress: “Austria goes Europe”. Norbert Weidinger went on to reinforce the constantly growing significance of ICT for the city of Vienna. Cities today are faced with numerous challenges: budget restrictions, growing importance of direct participation of citizens, higher number and quality of services, new jobs, economic growth and better environmental protection. The city of Vienna offered several possibilities to approach these challenges.
A number of smarter cities and open government data projects where introduced in an international context. Speakers from Europe and the United States outlined real-life examples, introducing a lot of initiatives, applications and strategies.
Currently European cities are pushing innovations in the areas of Web 2.0, open data, social network apps and mobile services. Boarders are opening up and a new generation of citizens are calling for a rethink: cities need to develop new ways of communicating with their citizens and letting them participate in the decision-making process.
Mrs. Frauenberger used this opportunity introduce the new initiative “Wiener Charta”: a future-oriented project enabling civic participation in a unique way. The main goal is to develop common rules and principles, ensuring a good community and co-existence.
A significant change will concern the role of the CIO: cloud computing, shard services and smarter cities call for strong strategic and innovative competences as well as a reorientation of the entire IT. The future professional and economical requirements demanded of a CIO and the entire staff where outlined in inspiring keynote speeches.
Two evening events offered excellent networking opportunities for the participants of the conference. 30 years of Major Cities of Europe was duly celebrated at the wine tavern Fuhrgassl-Huber in Neustift am Walde. The gala evening event at Palais Ferstel was also enjoyed by everyone. The Rococo Ensemble played tunes by W. A. Mozart. They were supported by two singers, making for a great show.
All in all the overall goals of the conference could be met: a good integration of all participating CIOs and IT managers from across Europe as well as high quality presentations and round table discussions. The participants return home with a considerable number of practical approaches and are prepared to take on future challenges.

The Vienna Conference 2012 (German Language with English subtitles)