Annual report 2014

News & more

A few words from General Management

2014 was an election year in the Brussels-Capital Region. A new minister was assigned the portfolio for not only regional informatics but also digital transition. Those of us who have advocated the consolidation of resources and informatics projects cannot be anything but delighted. That is because you cannot have a regional strategy for Brussels without a dedicated development strategy for informatics. Like so many cities and regions, the Brussels-Capital Region cannot ignore the advance of the smart city, which entails so many benefits for the administrations and all inhabitants.

To earn its place among the thriving, sustainable metroplises, the Region must invest in innovation and creativity. This is the goal set in our white paper, which proposes concrete paths, firmly rooted in the actual situation in Brussels, to deploy a smart strategy.

There is a lot more to being a smart city than setting up WiFi hotspots and putting forms online. You also have to integrate digital solutions at the heart of the administration to offer efficient, innovative services to citizens.

A whole set of tools and projects worked on by the BRIC already form pieces in the smart city puzzle: including the one-stop shop, the 3D map, the information portals, the computerisation of procedures, the sharing of CCTV images and the broadband network.

Developing digital dimension is a good start for an administration on the way to becoming a smart city. But if you truly want to take account of the needs of citizens, there is no better course to follow than to ask them what they think. With this in mind, we have launched the smartcity.brussels portal, which gathers together the initiatives that have already been taken as well as welcoming all new ideas proposed by Brussels inhabitants. We will have the opportunity to discuss this together at a mass event scheduled for the autumn 2015.

Service to citizens must be the main concern of public administrations. They cannot look inward. In a world like ours, in which the younger generations have grown up with internet, open, transparent government is an absolute necessity.


Robert Herzeele Deputy Director-General Hervé Feuillien Director-General