Regional funding policies that drives smart city strategies and pilot projects

The low level of digitalisation within the public administration is a challenge for the citizens in our Region. People usually expect to have access to basic digital infrastructure which is fundamental to improve their quality of life. Access to open, usable data and digital public services is a decisive factor in this sense.
The new Regional Program had created the opportunity for the public administration in larger cities to fund Smart City Initiatives. The role of the intervention logic is to steer digitalisation for the benefit of citizens, companies and research organisation. Eligible proposals are requested to cover one of the SMART components and to be implemented in the form of pilot projects and later to be replicated and adapted to local specificities.
The Smart City Strategy of Timișoara is a good example of a framework that is targeting the policy instrument while engageing all types of actors within the codesign and consultation activities.
Under the Motto “Innovation made accessible to everyone!“ the strategic process managed to mobilise the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, four international experts as peer reviewers, generated a local DESI evaluation and a portfolio of both strategic projects to be implemented by the local administration and open actions to be proposed by the local entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.