The mission of the group is to promote a voluntary exchange of ideas, strategies, visions and experiences between members to encourage innovation and improve the performance of local governments by using leading edge information and communication technology (ICT).
Members cover 17 countries and about 40 cities from Scandinavia, Western Eastern and Southern parts of Europe together with some non-European cities, such as Tel Aviv and Boston and other organisations and academia.
Global and national companies specialising in ICT technologies and solutions and developing innovation in cities support the initiatives of the association by sharing their experiences of deploying projects in each country and across the world.
Partnerships are established with The Public Technology Institute from US and with VITAKO, the German association of ICT providers of local governments. Some universities are partnering with Major Cities of Europe thereby bringing the results of their research activities, for example Autonomous University of Barcelona and CTG – the Center for Technology in Government (Albany University – USA).
The annual conference provides the occasion for distinguished speakers from across Europe to present the latest ICT innovations in their cities and to share successes and challenges. In addition, informal exchanges, networking and discussions take place during the conference. In 2010 the conference was hosted by the city of Berlin, in 2011 by the city of Prato. The programs and handouts were published.
The 2012 conference in Vienna was attended by about 300 participants from all over Europe, US and Korea. Key topics of the 2012 conference
Cities in the Open - Web 2.0, Open Data, E-participation
Social Networks
Mobile Government
Cities in the Cloud
Managing and Implementing ICT Innovation
Cities in Practice
The programs, handouts and videos were published.
"ICT – fostering cities' prosperity" was the overarching theme of the conference, it was attended by about 180 participants. The need for radical transformation of cities is a key factor in responding to these challenges faced by the public sector. How can ICT help cities maintain their lead in providing services and in engaging with their citizens? How can the CIO evolve a management approach to be a leader in driving the city forward? Actual implementation experiences and key ideas will be presented during the conference to answer these questions. Key topics of the 2013 conference:
Managing the ICT Center of today and tomorrow: how the job of the CIO is evolving
Geographic information systems as a driver of city location-based services and as a unifying technology
The City Protocol initiative: building together the cities of the 21st Century
ICT revolution: new instruments for government services
Big Data Management: extracting intelligence for new city initiatives
Open Government, Open Data: experiences, solutions, rate of return, E-participation, social networks
Outsourcing in cities: practical experiences and implementation of Cloud computing
The programs and handouts were published.
The 2014 conference in Zurich was attended by about 250 participants from 22 countries and 84 cities, the motto was: "Cities managing complexity in the digital world - prepared for the upcoming challenges?". Key topics of the 2014 conference:
ICT, Politics and Citizens
Cloud computing, shared services: Lessons learnt
ICT and the pressure of Public finances
Cyber Security
The programs and handouts were published.
The 2015 conference in Hamburg was attended by 204 participants. The motto 2015 was: "Living, learning, leading in the connected city". Key topics of the 2015 conference:
Rethinking e-government
Governance of Smart Cites
Openness, Transparency and the role of Social Media
The School 2020
The future workplace
The city 2020
The program and handouts were published.
In 2016 the conference in the city of Florence was attended by about 400 delegates from all over Europe, the motto 2016 was: "City Renaissance in the Digital Age". Key topics of the 2016 conference:
Citizens participation
Government in the Cloud
Internet of Things
E-government & Digital transformation
Safety & Security
Smart Education
eHealth / e-Care
Tomorrow Is Only a Day Away
The program and handouts were published.
In 2017 the conference will be hosted by the city of Zagreb from June 12 to 14. The motto 2017 is: "The Digital Future - Cities Facing the Reality". Key topics of the 2017 conference will be:
E-government initiatives – has the transformation of public services happened?
The great vanishing act – public administration and the impact of emerging technologies
Boosting the digital economy - the role of local public services
Local democracy in a social media world
Role of technology in assisting with the resilience
Embedding and facilitating innovation in public services
Member cities run workshops, usually lasting one day, to share and discuss experiences focusing on a specific topic of interest. The results of the workshops are published on the association's website.
Topics for workshops included:
IT security for cities
Big Data management
ICT revolution vs. new instruments for Government services
Geographic information system (GIS) as driver of city location based services
IT and politics
Managing and implementing ICT – new ICT roles
The City Protocol Society
Open Data
Open Source Software
The association makes it possible to take advantage of the experience of its members and of the value of the network of innovative cities to participate successfully in selected EU programs, such as FUPOL. Vitako and Major Cities of Europe organised the European Local Government Conference on ICT and the Local Government transformation in Europe in which the Smart Cities Project was presented.
The newsletter gives access to news about the association, about events and new emerging topics and technologies to support innovation.