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Conference "Different City - Smart City 2014-2020 National Debate"
An element which sets aside a smart city is mobility, and currently, the Netherlands is the only country in the world where there are more bicycles than people, for the Dutch being as natural a thing as possible to use this transport means to work, Stella Ronner - Grubacic, the Netherlands Ambassador to Romania told Tuesday the conference titled "Different City - Smart City 2014-2020 National Debate".
"We have 16 million inhabitants and 18 million bicycles. Any Dutch prefers this transportation means to go to work or other places in town. Perhaps you, who work in corporations, don't think of this as the best solution of smart mobility, " Grubacic mentioned.
The Netherlands Ambassador pointed out the fact that a trend towards the smart development of the cities has been set in motion, but it is rather slow.
"What we witness in Romania is that municipalities are swiftly catching up. The first time, I saw a Tesla vehicle in Cluj and I talked to the city's mayor on the topic of electrical mobility. I am glad to announce today that the Dutch Government has decided to support a group of ten city halls in Romania so that their mayors visit the Netherlands, visit smart cities in our country, sometime next year. A rather slow SmartCity trend has been set in motion, but one that is heading towards a beneficial future for their cities and inhabitants. Intelligent governance is needed in order to implement a smart city. We are happy to see many private initiatives trying to create smart solutions to the issues we are up against. These solutions need to be adapted to the local circumstances. Smart Cities rely on the private initiative strength. The public and private sectors need to be equal partners for a smart future," the Dutch official stated.
The only SmartCity project involving the central, local authorities and companies in the technology domain that currently exists in Romania is "Alba Iulia Smart City 2018". This national project aims to build the most state-of-the-art, intelligent city in Romania. Moreover, the project already relies on the development of public-private partnerships that will lead to the integration of solutions from various sectors of activity, locally and regionally.
The Netherlands Embassy and international consultants in smart city strategies are present, Tuesday through Wednesday, at the second edition of the 2017 - 2020 national debate "Different City - Smart City", an event organised by the National Foundation of Young Managers and Different Angle Cluster - the first cluster in the Information Technology and Communications domain in Bucharest.