On October 13-14, 2021, the 13th edition of Smart City Forum took place. During the two days of the congress, almost 400 participants listened to substantive speeches and debates focused on smart cities in Poland and worldwide.
The Forum was officially opened by Maciej Bluj, Chairman of the Smart City Forum Program Council. Then, the participants listened to the speech of Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, and Jacek Sutryk, Mayor of Wrocław. “This edition is unique, of course. Together, we will consider how cities and regions are to cope with these difficult times of crisis caused by a pandemic. It is a necessity to adapt our cities and ourselves to this new reality. I think that today every local government official asks himself such questions – how much influence does technology have on the shape of our local communities; especially in times of pandemic crisis ” – said Jacek Sutryk, Mayor of Wrocław. During the inaugural panel, it was also announced that the next edition of Smart City Forum, scheduled for the beginning of 2022, will be held in Wrocław.
As part of the City Council Summit, a debate was held with the participation of the mayors of Polish cities: Konrad Fijołek, Mayor of the City of Rzeszów, Piotr Grzybowski, Deputy Mayor of Częstochowa, Piotr Masłowski, Deputy Mayor of Rybnik, Jakub Mazur, Deputy Mayor of Wrocław and Roman Szełemeaj, Mayor of Wałbrzych. The discussion was moderated by Maciej Bluj, Chairman of the Program Council.
The changes and the process of adapting cities to the new reality, one and a half years after the pandemic began, were discussed. Strategic challenges for Polish and European cities in the coming years were also commented on, as well as a new approach in the context of the Cohesion Policy and the New Deal.
In subsequent panels, the speakers focused on issues related to Human Smart City – solutions and technologies to improve the functioning of city residents, the role of digital payments in improving the payment ecosystem in various areas of functioning of citizens in the city, Smart City platforms and tools for cities. There were also threads related to management, analytics and the use of digital data.
On the second day of the event, the discussion began with an analysis of Smart Village in terms of technology, investment, economic and societal. The speakers discussed the methods of implementing technologies in small municipalities, the process of acquiring investors, education of local communities and the problems of small towns. In subsequent panels, issues related to Smart-Lighting, the future of urban transport infrastructure in Poland and worldwide were presented, as well as ecology in cities: striving for zero emissions, Circular Economy, waste management, the idea of Green Cities and air quality.
The speakers of the XIII Smart City Forum were, among others:
Maciej Jeziorski, Public Sector Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Signify Poland
Paweł Biarda, Member of the Management Board for Commercial Affairs, CCO, NEXERA
Andrzej Basiak, CEO, mPay
Szymon Ciupa, Smart City and GIS Expert, www.smartcity-expert.eu
Emilian Bera, Mayor of the City of Jawor
Piotr Grzybowski, Deputy Mayor of the City of Częstochowa
Piotr Grzymowicz, Mayor of the City of Olsztyn
Adam Lewandowski, Mayor of Śrem
Michał Łakomski, Director of the Digitization and Cybersecurity Office, Poznań City Hall
Jerzy Łużniak, Mayor of the City of Jelenia Góra
Jakub Mazur, Deputy Mayor of Wrocław
Beata Moskal-Słaniewska, Mayor of the City of Świdnica
Sabina Nowosielska, Mayor of the City of Kędzierzyn-Koźle
Michał Olszewski, Deputy Mayor of the Capital City Warsaw
The full list of speakers is available at https://en.smartcityforum.pl/speakers/
Partners of the XIII Smart City Forum:
Strategic Partners of the Smart City Forum: Demoboost, Limitless Technologies, Polish Development Fund, PFR Portal PPK, SAS Institute, Visa
Partners of the Smart City Forum: ADT Group , Atos, Intel, Emitel, Fiserv Polska S.A., Green Genius, Inpost, Lenovo, mPay, Nexera, Signify, System EG, Treesat, WMB.Expert, Xylem, Abak, Profescapital
Main Media Patronage: Comparic
Strategic Media Patronage: Smart City Expert
The congress is carried out as part of the activities of MMC Polska, which organizes prestigious congresses, conferences, workshops and business training dedicated to managerial staff and company boards. More at www.mmcpolska.pl.
