The Network Lunch and the Newcomer Welcome Lunch will be taking place in parallel.
Participants can choose to attend one or arrive directly after the lunch for the Opening Session at 13.45.
Room: Smoking Room
In this session, participants can gain a deeper understanding of Eurocities’ organisational structure and learn about the advantages of being a member. They will learn about the thematic areas of the Digital Forum and the different opportunities that offers for its members. Additionally, this session will provide a space for participants to engage in discussion with Eurocities’ team and voice specific needs and interests of their cities.
Room: Great ballroom
Light lunch to welcome participants before the Opening Session of the Forum. The lunch will include policy updates from Eurocities.
Room: Smoking Room
- Faouzi Achbar, Vice-Mayor of Rotterdam, hosting city and chair of the Digital Forum
- Delphine Jamet, Metropolitan councillor for digital, Bordeaux Metropole
- André Sobczak, Secretary General, Eurocities
Featuring presentation of the Eurocities statement on People-centred digital transformation
Room: Smoking Room
Video by Alexandra van Huffelen, State secretary digitalisation, the Netherlands
- Faouzi Achbar, Vice-Mayor of Rotterdam, hosting city and chair of the Digital Forum
- Delphine Jamet, Metropolitan councillor for digital, Bordeaux Metropole
- Paul Leinster, Councillor, Glasgow
- Josianne Cutajar, MEP
Moderated by Eddy Adams, Director, Urban Expert
In cooperation with the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights
Room: Smoking Room
- Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor for Digitization, Innovation and Economic Development, Sofia
- Pau Solanilla, Commissioner of City Promotion, Barcelona
- Sennay Ghebreab, Out of the box AI
Moderated by Eddy Adams, Director, Urban Expert
SOCIAL EVENT
Venue: City Hall (Coolsingel 40, 3011 AD Rotterdam)
After the first day of meetings and sessions, join fellow participants for an evening of food and networking, hosted by the City of Rotterdam at their very own City Hall. Welcome remarks by:
- Faouzi Achbar, Vice-Mayor of Rotterdam, chair of the Digital Forum
- André Sobczak, Secretary General, Eurocities
The meeting point for morning site visits: Timmerhuis (Halvemaanpassage 1, 3011 AH Rotterdam)
Site visit part I – Digital inclusion in practice
Location: Timmerhuis (Halvemaanpassage 1, 3011 AH Rotterdam)
After a warm welcome coffee, participants will be able to check out a number of short presentations that highlight Rotterdam’s digital inclusivity. Among the topics that will be discussed: Teatime, “Tasting gardens”, Rotterdam inclusive, sustainability pressure cookers, and Engaging 3D models.
Site visit part II – Inclusive AR tour Rotterdam (walking tour)
Location: different locations across the city center
Participants will be then taken on a guided tour from the Timmerhuis to the central library, deep diving into the inner triangle of old Rotterdam. Via Desiderius Erasmus and the oldest building of the city, participants will be engaging in an augmented tour along six spots in the inner city. This is an easy walking tour of about 700 meters. Participants will learn more about what Rotterdam is about and how inclusion and humanism have always been part of the city’s way of thinking.
Site visit part III – Libraries and inclusivity
Location: Rotterdam Central Library (Hoogstraat 110, 3011 PV Rotterdam)
Once back at the central library, the Director and the Program Manager for digital inclusion of Rotterdam will explain about the role that libraries have in The Netherlands and how they stimulate life-long-learning as well as provide for digital inclusivity.
Room: Bibliotheektheater
- Jochem Cooiman, Digital Forum Chair, Rotterdam
- Christophe Colinet and Sophie Woodville, Bordeaux Metropole
Room: Theatre foyer
Rotterdam is host to over 170 nationalities, with an enormous wealth of culture. These cultures can be looked at, but even better, can be tasted. This lunch will include a large menu of cultural and ecological tastes and drinks with ingredients that can be locally found and tastes that are global. There will also be music on the side, spoken word artists, and more.
Attendees will be able to choose between two different workshops happening in parallel from 13.30 to 15.00
Hosted by the Digital Divide Task Force
Room: Bibliotheektheater
Presenting the tools developed by the Digital Divide Task Force to guide cities in developing initiatives reducing the digital divide.
- Sophie Woodville, Project Manager, Bordeaux Métropole
- Louise Stiernström, Developing Manager International affairs, Gothenburg
- Genta Hajri, Digital Innovation Delivery Lead, London
- Joab de Lang, expert strategist in digital inclusion, Rotterdam
Moderated by Chiara Venturini, Head of Digital Transformation, Eurocities
Hosted by the Working Group Data
Room: Desideriuszaal
Discussing the implications for cities of EU legislation on data, in particular the opportunities of B2G data sharing, with city examples of data-based public services
- Reino Petrona, Chief Data Officer, City of Rotterdam
- Arnis Gulbis, Director, Riga Digital Agency
- Emanuele Geri, Chief Data Officer, City of Florence
- Leonardo Ricci, Digital Services Officer, City of Florence
- Guillermo Obispo, Head of Cybersecurity, Madrid City Council
Moderator: Jasmin Repo, Senior Advisor for Data Policy, City of Helsinki
Attendees will be able to choose between two different workshops happening in parallel from 15.20 to 16.50
An interactive session hosted by the WG Urban Digital Foresight
Room: Desideriuszaal
After a city and an expert presentation setting the scene, participants will discuss city challenges in delivering an eco-responsible digital transition, with particular attention to data centres, artificial intelligence, and devices lifecycle.
- Kevin Köhler, Hamburg
Room: Bibliotheektheater
This session will present examples of city best practices in designing citizen-centric, digital public services that take into account the needs of all categories of users, including vulnerable groups.
- Irena Bakić, Project manager, Espoo
- Sherelle Fairweather Digital Strategy Lead, and Megan Lawless, Senior Digital Strategy Officer, Manchester
- Tanja Sinozic-Martinez, Expert on digital humanism,Vienna
Moderated by Aleksandra Ziętek, Project coordinator, Eurocities
SOCIAL EVENT
Venue: Timmerhuis (Halvemaanpassage 1, 3011 AH Rotterdam, Netherlands)
After a day of engaging discussions, join fellow participants for a moment of cocktails and networking hosted at the Timmerhuis.
Venue: Timmerhuis (Halvemaanpassage 1, 3011 AH Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Right after the Reception, participants will be invited to join a walking dinner at the Timmerhuis hosted by the City of Rotterdam.
Room: Bibliotheektheater
- Haydee Sheombar, Erasmus University
Room: Bibliotheektheater
Session co-hosted by Living-in.EU
Living-in.EU is the movement of local administrations working towards an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable digital transformation. It brings together political leaders as well as technical experts to share knowledge and advanced digital solutions. Among these, Local Digital Twins (LDTs) can help city planners make informed development decisions while fostering citizen engagement in urban planning. This session will present examples of LDTs, stories of city collaboration for the development of digital twins, and the support available for cities at the EU level – including the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC initiative, aiming to enhance LDT development and cross-border collaboration across Europe.
- Ari Saine, BusinessOulu
- Dessislava Petrova-Antonova, Sofia University GATE Institute
- Markus Mohl, Digital Twin Munich
- Stefania Paolazzi and Mauro Bigi, City of Bologna
- Miguel Alvarez Rodriguez, EC DG CNECT
- Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, OASC
Moderated by Chiara Venturini, Head of Digital Transformation and Economic Development, Eurocities
Room: Bibliotheektheater
This wrap-up session will look back on the main outcomes of the event, and how they will inform the work of the Forum for the remainder of the year. We will highlight the key takeaways that cities can bring back home, and how the inspiring discussions from the three days will help us refine our advocacy messages for the incoming European Parliament and Commission.
- Jochem Cooiman, Digital Forum Chair, Rotterdam
- Sophie Woodville, Digital Forum Vice-Chair, Bordeaux Métropole
- Chiara Venturini, Head of Digital Transformation and Economic Development, Eurocities
Room: Theatre foyer