This is the “Digital Book” of the Municipality of Athens – All services electronically until the end of the year

Him “Road map” for the complete transition of Athens to the digital age presented today at the Innovathens site in Technopolis, the Mayor of Athens Costas Bakogiannis and the CEO of the computer company of the Municipality (DAEM SA) Dimitris Stamatisin the presence of the Minister of State and Digital Government Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

At a time of rapid and significant social, technological and economic developments, the municipal authority, focusing on the Athenians themselves, has drawn up a comprehensive digital strategy plan for 2030. It is a comprehensive “Digital Book” that includes network of interventions, which serve the needs of citizenscontribute drastically to the green transition of the city, to tackling climate change, as well as to ensuring its technological superiority.

This long-term digital strategy, which was developed after systematic effort and work for several months, aims to further development of the technological infrastructures, the information systems and the applications of the Municipality of Athensso that on the one hand the residents and the workers of the city to substantially improve their daily life, on the other hand Athens to upgrade its environmental performance and to ensure its sustainability.

Through the implementation of this dual transformation, emphasis is placed on resilience, security, effective resource management and intelligent city governance, in order to deal effectively with crises such as pandemics, weather phenomena, similar to those faced by the city in recent years.

The project “touches” key areas of city life, such as digital infrastructure at the neighborhood level, mobility, cleanliness, citizen service, strengthening and upgrading of technological infrastructure and more efficient management of resources.

The goals of the Digital Strategy of the Municipality of Athens

The horizontal goals that have been set are the upgrading of technological infrastructures, the utilization of Modern Digital Technologies (Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, the integration of infrastructures and services, the utilization of human capital with the involvement of citizens and finally, the protection of human rights). and Compliance with the Privacy and Privacy Framework.

At the same time, the toolkit of the digital strategy of the Municipality includes, among others, the following thematic objectives:

• Intelligent governance: Evidence-based governance. Citizen Participation, Open Procedures – Transparency – Accountability.
• Smart and sustainable transportation: Smart Parking, Bicycle Transportation, Electricity Support, Transportation as a Service.
• Resource Management: Energy and Water Resources Management, Waste Management, Sensor Networks.
• Security and Durability: Climate Crisis Management, Provision of Social Solidarity Services.
• Open Innovation: Living Labs, Co-Creation Processes, Citizens’ Proposals, Areas of Innovation and Collaboration.
• Cultural Resource Management and Promotion: Virtual and Personalized Tours, Access to Monuments and Cultural Sites

The first digital steps of the Municipality of Athens

To date, the Municipality of Athens has already made leaps for the full digitization of its services, creating more than 140 online services on the e-services platform for the easy, fast and efficient service of the residents and professionals of the capital. With these 140 services, 70% of the procedures for which the citizen visits the Municipality of Athens have been digitized, while the digitization of all procedures will be completed by the end of this year.

In addition, the electronic appointment platform of the Municipality, through which the interested parties can schedule their appointment with any Address of the Municipality they wish. Indicatively, it is reported through these two systems that more than 600,000 interested parties have been served with absolute success to date.

In the context of intelligent governance, the Municipal Authority has already launched special electronic platforms for recording and monitoring the daily requests of citizens and school units belonging to the Municipality, to record and manage thousands abandoned vehicles in the cityas well as two integrated information systems kindergarten management and electronic document handling.

At the same time, regarding the thematic goal “Smart and sustainable transport” the Municipality of Athens has already created a modern intelligent deterrent parking system with 830 smart sensors installed in passages and ramps for the disabled, a pioneering mobile parking time market application with more than 120,000 users (My Athens Pass), as well as the first electric vehicle recharging network.

Especially for safety and durability, two modern platforms are already operating. One concerns the management and processing of “Athensaid” citizens’ requests that developed during the pandemic and the second the recording and recording of the actions (cleaning, disinfection, green actions) that take place in the city.

For the promotion and management of the cultural stock, the municipal authority has already taken its first digital step, soon completing the virtual exhibition at the Municipal Gallery, while in the thematic axis “Open Innovation, Co-creation, Cooperation” Athens is already in the “quiver “Athens Digital Lab”, the program “This way I Learn Better” and the Laboratory “Who” (Athens Maker Space).

Finally, it is worth noting that in order to strengthen this thematic goal, the Municipality of Athens, the Athens University of Economics and the National Technical University of Athens recently signed a five-year memorandum of cooperation, aimed at supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in the city.

In his speech, the Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis He congratulated the Mayor of Athens and his team for the plan he drew up and noted that this is an extremely complete project, which concerns not only yesterday’s outstanding issues, but also concerns tomorrow’s challenges. The Minister paid particular attention to compatibility of the digital strategy of the Municipality of Athens with the “Smart Cities” program and stated that the Ministry of Digital Governance will assist in the planning of the Municipality of Athens. As he stressed:

«We saw a plan that is extremely complete, it is the property of the strategy of the Mayor and his team and it does not only concern yesterday’s pending issues, it also concerns tomorrow’s challenges, it concerns the comparison of Athens with all other big cities in Europe. How Athens will be able to resolve its double backlog of past and future at the same time, just as the country is resolving its double backlog. This strategy draws funding from various tools: from the “Smart Cities” tool where 20 million euros out of a total of 420 million euros concern the Municipality of Athens, from the “Antonis Tritsis” program and from the NSRF. Let me emphasize that the capable condition is what we have seen: to integrate funds under one vision, one team, one strategy. This is achieved by the Mayor and his team, because the work is done by large teams».

Referring to digital services of the Municipality of AthensKyriakos Pierrakakis focused on the progress of recent years and stressed that “It is very important because at the end of the day the citizens ask us this: to be served. The state must change the way it serves them because the reality we both agree on is that the state is not designed properly. It has been designed with a focus on itself and its structures and not with a focus on the citizen, and for this reason, if you saw it in today’s presentation, it says, without our understanding, “the citizen in the focus”. This is the common philosophy: to change the way the state works, the way its structures work, to use technology because, as Kostas Bakogiannis said, “technology is not the most important” – it is a means. To use it to change the way and the philosophy of the state and to bring the state closer to the citizen – to make it work for him».

For his part, the Mayor of Athens Costas Bakogiannis, in his speech stressed that the digital transformation is at the “heart” of the business plan of the Municipality of Athens and that the pandemic acted as a catalyst, so that today 70% of the services of the municipality have been digitized. At the same time, he referred to the important infrastructure projects such as the installation of sensors for anti-social parking, but also the upgrade of electric lighting with 43,000 LED lighting from one end of the city to the other. «This primarily means more light and better light, according to studies. It finally means automation, that we no longer expect citizens to report a fault to us. We can see it and respond immediately. It also means a very large economy, which we will reciprocate to the citizens in a reasonable time. This work in itself could be “welcome to the 21st century“, He said characteristically and referred to the Digital Book of Athens:

«Today we are at a crossroads because the Digital Bible of the city of Athens is presented. It is a roadmap for 2030, it is not just another business plan to use the resources of the NSRF and the Recovery Fund“, Underlining and referring to the Minister of State and Digital Governance and the huge contribution of the Ministry, he said:”Mr. Minister, we appreciate very much the resources but also the generosity of the Ministry. But it is something much more: It is an effort that we make “from the bottom up” and that is why we put it in consultation, in order to come up with a complete plan that goes beyond one term, but also a municipal authority. A comprehensive plan that has two key features: First, it puts the citizen himself at the center – because we all agree that technology is not an end in itself – and second, it achieves the famous “double transformation” of both digital and climate, because this We all know that the climate crisis is forcing us to activate all our forces, especially at this time, which with the developments in our region, proves to be a matter of national security and national independence. And our strategy incorporates all the modern technological trends and, of course, the best practices from all over the world. I would like to say a huge thank you to the amazing team of DAEM, to the excellent team of the Municipality of Athens for everything they have achieved, for the over-effort but mainly for the excellent results and for all those who have contributed decisively so that we can reach this point».

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