Citadel on the Move Launches City Associate Scheme in Sunny Samos
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Samos, Greece, 29 June 2013 -- Citadel on the Move, an EU-funded Smart City project,[1] today announced the official launch of a new City Associate Scheme that will enable participating cities across Europe to open government data and test and deploy new cross border mobile applications.
Uniting stakeholders from across Europe, [2] the Citadel on the Move project is designed to respond to the global opportunity that the use of Open Data and Mobile App tools present to unleash the innovation potential of citizens to build the type of smart, ‘city’ services they want and need. ‘Citizens know better than anyone the types of services they need but they often don’t have the tools to create them,’ said Geert Mareels, Project Coordinator and Flemish eGovernment Manager at Corve. ‘Citadel on the Move aims to answer this need by creating mobile app templates that will enable anyone with basic IT skills to use open government date to make apps of their own.’
The Citadel on the Move Associate City scheme is designed to provide member cities first hand access to project guidelines and tools on how best to open government data in accessible and useable formats as well as to new mobile application templates that local citizens can use to transform this data into innovative new services. Associate Cities will have the opportunity to trial and provide feedback on new apps created by the project before they are made open to the public. Associates will also receive a Citadel Associate City badge for posting on their website and an invitation to a special interactive Citadel Workshop on Open Innovation to be hosted in Gent, Belgium next December.
Founding members of the Scheme already include Palermo, Italy, Zagreb, Croatia and the Brussels City and Region, Belgium. Following the recent release of its first series of cross border mobile apps, [3] Citadel on the Move is now opening the Associate Scheme to additional European Cities. ‘Citadel wants to help more and more European cities to open their data and unleash the talents of their local innovators.’ Mareels said. ‘In formally launching our City Associate Scheme, the project hopes to advance the cross border integration of Europe by facilitating the creation of ‘smart’ mobile Services that can be shared and used anywhere. [4]
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[1] Citadel on the Move is co-funded by a €1,920,000.00 grant from the European Commission’s Information Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP) for Smart Cities.
[2] Citadel’s consortium is comprised of: 1. CORVE – Flanders Region eGovernment Services, Belgium (Coordinator), 2. IS-Practice, Belgium, 3. The City of Ghent, Belgium, 4 .Issy Media, France, 5. Manchester City Council, UK, 6. DAEM (The City of Athens IT Company), Greece, 7 .Intrasoft International, Belgium, 8. Alfamicro, Portugal, 9. IBBT, Belgium, 10. Items International, France, 11. Aston University, UK, 12. Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, Belgium, 13. V-ICT-OR, Belgium, 14. Athens Technology Centre, Greece
[3] Citadel on the Move has recently created new mobile that enable travellers across Europe to use the same application to locate a parking space whether they are in Manchester, UK or Athens, Greece or to find about special concerts or events whether they are in Ghent, Belgium or Issy-les-Molineaux France
[4] The vision behind Citadel on the Move lies at the heart of the Citadel Statement (December 2010), which aimed to accelerate ‘the uptake of innovative ultrafast Internet based technologies and services in cities based on shared platforms.’ The ‘Citadel Statement’ is a pan-European declaration which was initiated by the Flemish Region in the City of Ghent during Belgian Presidency of the EU and supported by 64 organisations representing more than 200 cities on five continents.