On Tuesday, 16 May, Living-in.EU hosted an online session on the topic of “Digital Agenda: instruments to accelerate digital Transformation at the local and regional level”.  

Localret Consortium’s presentation on the Digital Agenda of the municipalities of Catalonia led the way for two insightful panel discussions on the role of Digital Agendas and how they can support local authorities in defining digital strategies and plans.  

Local authorities face many challenges in defining digital transformation plans which can be trustful, open, and participatory. The objective of Localret Consortium, a public consortium of more than 40 local authorities, has been to support cities in their digital transformation and make sure that all people can fully develop professionally and personally in a digital world.  

Building on these objectives, the Digital Agenda of the municipalities of Catalonia has been designed upon three key foundations: to be a promoter and facilitator for digital strategies and plans, serve as a basis for local digital agendas, a space for meeting, coordination and prioritisation of the challenges and needs of municipalities. These foundations have permitted the development of a Digital Agenda which is participatory, with the direct involvement of cities; open, with the possibility of being adapted to the local needs and visions; and a living document; constantly adapting to the rapidly changing digital environment.  

As highlighted during the first panel, when designing such kind of guiding instruments, it is fundamental to focus on cities and their needs. Digital strategies need to reflect the necessities of local authorities and be proactive, personalised, and integrated. This would also strengthen trust and enhance collaboration in ensuring and protecting digital local services. 

The importance of promoting open, integrated, and personalized instruments for local authorities in the digital environment was also discussed in the second-panel discussion where the city of Barcelona, Dublin, and Bordeaux Metropole underlined the importance of digital agendas which reflect the needs and challenges of their citizens.

Digital transformation, for instance, is increasingly demanding to provide citizens with digital skills, so as to foster their participation in the digital landscape. This requires local authorities to design and implement digital skills and upskilling programmes, as done by Bordeaux Metropole, or to design smart city educational programmes as in the case of Dublin or to implement that can enhance the capacity and autonomy of citizens, in making meaningful use of digital devices, as piloted by the city of Barcelona.  

The recording of the session is available here, PPT Presentation is available here. For any further information, do not hesitate to contact viviana.demonte@eurocities.eu or Gabriela.Ruseva@eurocities.eu