Annual report 2014
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. Continue reading
Services to citizens
Over the past 25 years technology has profoundly changed the relationship between administrations and citizens. Citizens not only expect public services to be online, they also expect them to work efficiently and transparently, with increasing ease of use, personalisation, speed and reliability. So the smart city uses digital tools for the benefit of citizens, especially in terms of e-government and information. Continue reading
Education
Today's schools need to integrate new IT tools into their teaching methods while also preparing the citizens of tomorrow for the digital challenge. To start with, the BRIC has provided schools with equipment. The BRIC is now responding to growing bandwidth needs by giving schools a high-speed internet connection. That is one of the main priorities of Smartcity.brussels. Continue reading
Sharing
The projects mentioned in this chapter are examples of platform and service sharing. For many years the BRIC has encouraged as many parties as possible to get involved in shared IT projects rather than starting them individually. This helps save public funds while creating effective service solutions. Continue reading
A smart region
The smart city concept is becoming increasingly widespread. In the Brussels-Capital Region too. The government acknowledged the importance of the concept a number of times in its Government Accord. In its white paper the BRIC set out the path to smart region status. Experts, political representatives and economic players also debated a smart strategy at the Brussels Smart City Summit on 3 June 2015. Continue reading
Focus on our IT teams
For a quarter of a century, teams of computer specialists have worked in house for various public authorities in Brussels. The aim has been to ensure the coherence of IT tools to support the work of the local and regional administrations. This chapter highlights some of the striking IT developments at these institutions in 2014 to do just that. Continue reading