Frontline stakeholders out in force at the Regional Digital Inclusion Fair!
A Regional Digital Inclusion Fair has taken place in the Brussels-Capital Region for the first time, packed with rewarding speeches, constructive meetings and more. We take a look back at this event, which attracted more than 200 digital inclusion stakeholders!
The first Regional Digital Inclusion Fair took place on 19 January in Brussels. This meeting, organised by (the Digital Inclusion Coordination within) the BRIC, allowed the Brussels digital inclusion ecosystem to exchange best practices, share experiences and therefore make progress in the construction of a more inclusive digital society.
After an introduction by Marc Van den Bossche, Deputy Director-General of the BRIC, three round tables set the pace for the morning and allowed a review of the key issues in the ecosystem, namely communication with the stakeholders and target audiences; ethics in the context of support for the public; tools and training platforms.
The various networking moments throughout the day were a great opportunity to meet large numbers of digital inclusion stakeholders! The Belgian Institute for Sustainable IT asbl/vzw, Bibliothèques Sans Frontières Belgique - Bibliotheken Zonder Grenzen België, Circular.brussels, the Cité des métiers, Cf2D, Close the Gap, CodeNPlay, Digitalcity.brussels, Digitrein, Eqla, Falc.be, Febelfin, Interface3, itsmeDigitalID, the Fondation pour l'Inclusion Digitale, Lire et Ecrire Bruxelles, MAKS vzw, Oxfam-Solidarité, Passe Muraille, Solival asbl and WeTechCare were all there to present their services.
In the early afternoon, Quentin Martens presented the Digital Inclusion Barometer on behalf of the King Baudouin Foundation. This was a very relevant introduction ahead of the plenary session, which was composed of Tania Maamary (Digital Inclusion Coordinator in the Brussels-Capital Region), Charline Gorez (Febelfin Spokesperson), Irène Riabicheff (easy.brussels), Mathieu Angelo (Director of CAWaB) and Stefan Platteau (Member of the Board of CABAN and Director of Fobagra). Inclusive recommendations, information sessions on online banking, Train the Trainer sessions, position profile of digital inclusion facilitators, awareness among administrations, etc. - the panellists could describe their respective actions for each of the topics covered. The day ended with a presentation by Erika Cas (Sonecom) on the evolution of DPS attendance and the study on the profile of people visiting DPSs in 2022.
Lastly, Digital Inclusion Coordination used this event to present the Digital Inclusion Directory. Available in French and Dutch, the document lists more than 450 Brussels stakeholders, their contact details and the services they offer. This reference guide also brings together important information on access to equipment, the Internet and training, as well as interviews with key players. This complete mapping will allow professionals to more easily direct citizens, depending on their municipality, to the structures they need in terms of help with social or administrative procedures, for example. In addition to the copies distributed at the fair, 858 paper copies will be sent to 447 partners and the digital version will be distributed to more than 1,350 other stakeholders. The Digital Inclusion Coordination within the BRIC welcomes your feedback and will respond to any request for changes or additions sent to inclusion@cirb.brussels
The success of this fair corroborates the BRIC's position as a regional authority on ICT and an orchestrator of digital services. Many thanks to the partners of the Digital Inclusion Coordination within the BRIC for their active participation in this fair!