SOFIA HOSTS DIGITAL TRANSITION PARNERSHIP MEETINHG

On 7 and 8 June, Sofia Municipality (Sofia Development Association) hosted a working meeting of the Digital Transition Partnership. Sofia coordinates this partnership together with Estonia and the Finish City of Oulu.

The initiative is part of the Urban Agenda for the EU, implemented through an innovative method of broad partnerships between representatives of member states, city authorities, the European Commission, the managing authorities of operational programs, the European Investment Bank, experts, non-governmental organizations and representatives of the private sector.

Its main objective is to improve existing policies in the fields of legislation, education and European funding policies and to increase their effectiveness by introducing new measures.
The Urban Agenda for the EU will create new forms of interaction, focusing on urban issues and challenges with a European dimension.
Thematic partnerships are the main mechanism for implementing the Urban Agenda. Within these partnerships, the European Commission, member states and European cities will work together to strengthen the urban dimension of European policies.

The partnerships will work on 12 priority themes, defined in the Urban Agenda for the EU.

Sofia had applied and was selected, together with Estonia and Oulu, Finland, as coordinator of the Digital Transition Partnership.

The objective of the Digital Transition Partnership is to improve public services for citizens and to create new business opportunities.

The main panel discussions in Sofia are:
• E-government;
• New skills and learning of the future;
• Standardization of databases and compatibility;
• Urban planning;
• Health and social care of the future;
• New business models, accelerating urban growth;
• 5G and other key base technologies.

Elen Gerdjikov, Chairman of Sofia Municipal Council and Chairman of the Managing Board of Sofia Development Association, gave the start of the international meeting: 
“We talked about smart cities, now we are talking about a smart society. Cities have the responsibility to play a decisive role in creating a smart society, not only by using and implementing technological solutions and related new services, but also as strong partners and intermediaries of the digital transition.”

More than 40 representatives of local and national authorities from European cities and countries gathered in Sofia to develop an action plan and policy change recommendations to assist and support the process of digital transition in Europe.

Inspiring speech by Plamen Roussev (founder of Webit) to the participants in the Digital Transition Partnership:
“If we talk about the future, we must think about empowering young people because they believe they can change the world.” Plamen Rusev highlighted the enormous potential in Sofia, Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, potential in the field of digital innovations and technologies. “It is not accidental that Sofia is one of the coordinators of the Digital Transition Partnership, because our city has already won recognition as SOFIA - DIGITAL CAPITAL.”

The Coalition of Positive Messengers gather in Perugia, Italy

Partners from 8 organizations from 7 European countries gather in Perugia, Italy in search for narratives to counter online hate speech. The meeting starts on 6 June with Piedibus: "walk-based learning" in the evening, when local stakeholders working in the area of integration will join the Coalition and will present the local context. The meeting will continue until 8 June with discussions on the country reports mapping the national contexts, planning interactive trainings and public HotLine campaign. The meeting is host by one the partners Forma.Azione.

The project is co-financed by Rights, Equality, Citizenship/Justice Programme of the European Union.

Sofia Innovation Advisory Group

Sofia Municipality established a Local Innovation Advisory Group to assist the city in developing more efficient policies for youth entrepreneurship and innovation. The Advisory Group was founded in the framework of the New Generation Skills project, INTERREG Danube Transnational Program, co-funded by the EU funds.

Sofia Municipality and Sofia Development Association are project partners, together with 10 other partners from 6 other countries. The Advisory Group includes diverse experts from the areas of social entrepreneurship (Yuriy Valkovski, Reach for Change Director), incubators and investment funds (Milen Hristov, Founder Institute), education, science and technology (Vasil Karaivanov, Sofia Tech Park Board of Directors Chairperson; Mariana Hamanova, Cleantech; Ivo Ivanov, 134 Secondacy School), Sofia municipal councilors Mihaela Ivanova and Botyo Botev, co-authors of Sofia Youth Strategy. The Advisory Group will stregthen the ability of Sofia to upgrade cooperation between administration, companies, educations, the youth and business support organizations and NGOs to nurture and retain young talent. The first meeting of the group took place on June 1st, 2017.

Further project activities include creating a dynamic learning program for entrepreneurial skills, coaching and mentoring provided through an Innovation Lab, youth policy development through peer learning.

More about the project here: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/newgenerationskills

An international conference "Culture for Social Inclusion, Social Innovation and Intercultural Dialogue" was held on May 19, 2017

An international conference of the Committee on Social policy, Education, Employment Research and Culture with the European Committee of the Regions (CR) was held in Sofia on May 19, 2017, in cooperation with Sofia Municipality. Over 40 local and regional politicians from the member states came to learn from the cultural policy and good practices of Sofia and to discuss the role of culture as a driver of social inclusion, social innovations and intercultural dialogue. Sofia applied and was selected to host the event upon the initiative of Malina Edreva, member of CR and Sofia municipal council.

The president of CR Markku Markkula and Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova outlined that the Bulgarian capital is among the first cities to establish innovative and bold models like the Fund for Innovations in Culture supporting creativity and culture in the city through public-private partnership, the Cultural management Academy, municipal hackathons and others. The European Year of Cultural Heritage, the European Urban Agenda in which Sofia is active in 3 out of 12 themes and coordinates the digital transition partnership, the new EU legislation regarding copy right were identified as factors facilitating the role of culture as a motor for inclusive growth.

Sofia deputy mayor Todor Chobanov, chief architect Zdravko Zdravkov, the MEP Eva Maidel, mayors and councilors from Sofia and Bulgaria, cultural operators, university professors, representatives of European embassies and cultural institutes also took part in the conference.

Sofia presented diverse good practices. The international participants were greatly impressed by the Roma social and educational center in Fakulteta, the supported by the municipality activities of Maria’s World Foundationa and Multi-Culti, the Volunteer Day held jointly by the business community and the Sofia Culture Directorate.

Sofia hosts a European conference on the role of culture for social inclusion

Over 40 local and regional politicians from EU member states will meet in Sofia on Friday 19 May to discuss the role of culture as a driver for social inclusion, social innovation and intercultural dialogue in Europe's cities and regions. The event is organised by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), the assembly of EU's local and regional representatives.

The seminar will be opened by the President of the European Committee of the Regions Markku Markkula, Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and CoR member Malina Edreva, who is the chair of the Committee on Education and Culture in the Sofia Municipal Council. Representatives of the European Commission will present the ongoing preparations for the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, which coincides with the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU.

"Sofia has become a city of cultural and creative industries. We have invested in cultural infrastructure and the city has benefitted from the creation of new museums. We have had the first long-term municipal strategy for culture, even before the state, and it was made together with the artists and the people who are involved in cultural activities", Mayor Fandakova said.

Local and regional leaders from other EU countries will learn from Sofia’s experience in the field of management of cultural processes, funding culture via innovative public-private partnerships and regenerating spaces for cultural production. Member of European Parliament Eva (Paunova) Maydell will participate in a debate on the potential of culture in digital society and the role of technologies for cultural and social inclusion, with particular focus on creating employment opportunities. It is estimated that cultural and creative sectors provide over 80 000 jobs in Bulgaria.

Culture can be a key factor to the social inclusion of migrants, Roma community and people with disabilities. The Sofia city administration is addressing the challenges faced by the Roma via an innovative model which includes professional orientation and entrepreneurship training for young people. Much of the work at grassroots level is done by civil society organisations such as MultiKulti Collective, which is helping migrants to integrate in the Bulgarian society and educating local people through immersion in the customs, food and traditions of others. This and other similar cases will be presented to the participants.

The seminar is organised by the CoR's commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) in partnership with the city of Sofia.