On 23-24th of September 2015 in Warsaw Westin Hotel took place the second edition of Smart City Forum – the Poland’s biggest smart city initiative. The conference gathered 600 participants, including mayors, numerous representatives of the Marshal Offices, local administration, and business.
The conference was officially opened by Mariusz Gaca (Chairman of the Advisory Board; Vice-President of the Management Board Orange Polska), who in his opening remarks stated that now the most important thing is to focus on how to involve inhabitants in smartifying their cities. Among guests of honor present at the event, could be found: Marcin Krupa (Mayor of Katowice), Winn Nielsen (Head of City Data, City of Copenhagen) and Trudy Norris-Grey (Public Sector Director CEE, Microsoft). Also Hanna Zdanowska (Mayor of Łódź), Robert Biedroń Mayor of Słupsk), Tadeusz Truskolaski (Mayor of Białegostok), Arkadiusz Wiśniewski (Mayor of Opole) oraz Tadeusz Krzakowski (Mayor of Legnica) had the floor.
The first day of the Smart City Forum covered the whole idea of smart and sustainable cities, as well as the strategies currently employed in the city management. The speakers debated over the key determinants affecting the implementation of smart solutions, and the benefits of doing so. The first day ended with a panel discussing legal and organizational aspects of smart cities. The panelists included Leszek Hołda (President of the Board, Integrated Solutions), Stanisław Sienko (Deputy Mayor of Rzeszów), Artur Szymczyk (Deputy Mayor of Lublin), Maciej Bluj (Vice Mayor of Wrocław), Jarosław Jóźwiak (Vice Mayor of Warsaw), Paweł Jaguś (President of the Management Board, Qumak) oraz Bartłomiej Ślawski (Country Manager, Vmware).
During the second day, the main focus shifted towards the cooperation of communes, districts, and cities, as well as the current trends in urbanization. Panel discussions addressed the following issues: participatory model of establishing the smart city, efficient communication with citizens, and an innovative payment systems. Ronald Binkofski (General Manager, Microsoft Poland), Paweł Orłowski (Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Infrastructure and Development), Jurand Drop (Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Administration and Digitization), Wojciech Życzyński (Public Sector SMS&P Lead, Microsoft Poland), Adrian Kurowski (Director of Visa Europe in Poland), Jacek Pochłopień (The Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Wprost), Bartosz Bartoszewski (Vice-mayor of Gdynia), Monika Piątkowska (Member of the Board, PMPG Polskie Media) oraz Krzysztof Bruski (President of the Board, Polish Care Centre).
Smart City Forum, an event which focuses around the construction and cooperation of intelligent cities, constitutes a unique platform for dialogue and business cooperation with central and local administration allowing for an exchange of views and experiences in this field, both from Poland as well as from other cities in the world. The second edition of the event hosted top experts in the following areas: telecommunication, IT, transport, and energy. The third edition of the Smart City Forum will take place in February 2016.
Emilia is an experienced editor, gifted wordsmith, a professional translator, but first of all, an avid reader.
