#Smart City Academy
Requests

The Association of Public Administrators in Romania (AAPRO) was founded in 2010, as a follow-up of a pilot project called“Public Administrator – a success factor for an efficient management at local level” carry out by the Central Unit for the Public Administration Reform (a structure within the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs).

AAPRO is commited to form a national, relevant, elite and professional Body of City Managers, who must have a clear image on the background of this career and become responsible for their professional conduct and self-improvement.

The initiative to introduce the Public Administrator position at each local level in Romania targets an higher lever of professionalism at counties, municipalities, cities and communes staff.

The romanian equivalent of the city manager can be hired upon the Mayor’s proposal or the one of the local council (wich must give the final aproval anyway), after a transparent selection process.

His main responsibilities are to coordinate some of the public administration affairs and services (on an agreed agenda) and to do other specific tasks delegated by the Mayor / President of County Council, all of these concluded in a management contract, based on clear management objectives and performance criteria.

The City Manager is one common thing among the efficient and successful local governments
all over the world. Adopting him in the romanian administration was a step from public adminsitration to public management, focusing on delivery good qaulity services for the citizens.

The Public Administrator, as we call it here, is not another birocrat, but a strategist, a visonary, balancing day-to-day (organizational) problem solving with planning and shaping the future, acording to the adopted local strategy and the community aspirations.

At the local level, the elected body and the technical staff, coordinated by the Mayor or the President of County Council and the Public Administrator, must first find aut and understand what people want, need and hope, then come up with a strategy, an action plan, seek for solutions, means and resources, involve the local actors such as bussines community and civil society, and communicate at any moment what has been done so far, and what is is comming.

In this picture, the Public Administrator has a leading role, he is an communicator, technology facilitator, and can be, if the Mayor delegates him, even budget chief authorizing officer.

Since 2013, the Association of City Managers in Romania, is a member of ICMA (International City / County Management Association), the most important and strong association internationally in terms of management in local public administration.

In 2019, the Association of City Managers in Romania hosted the most important event, the International Regional Conference ICMA, an event attended by over 220 representatives from 15 countries around the world.

Currently, in Romania activate more than 450 Public Administrators (the number varies from month to monyh), as follows :
- out of 41 counties, 26 ocupied positions and 7 vacancies
- out of 103 municipies, 40 ocupied positions and 37 vacancies
- out of 216 cities, 54 ocupied positions and 65 vacancies
- out of 2850 communes, 340 ocupied positions and 350 vacancies

Those above figures makes 459 vacancies in total, with the observation that, in many cases, we are talking about small comunes with scarce budgets.

The Romanian City Managers Association (AAPRO) conducted a survey among its members that identified the needs for training, building local capacities on climate protection, urban regeneration, structural changes and energy policies, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

Establishing appropriate training structures for the now and future City Managers is essential for supporting the development of the cities and climate strategies (it aims to encourage cities and municipalities to take concrete actions for climate protection in Romania), urban regeneration and structural changes, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

This project focuses on the competences that the city managers must have in order to achieve a multiplication effect through their contribution.
The nationwide implementation of a systematic local energy management using the City Managers can thus make an important step to tapp existing saving potentials in different regions and to establish a sustainable portfolio management.

We hope that, with your support, that the outcomes of this important project, can be forwarded on an extended scale to the local institutions (schools, hospitals, etc) and communities, as good practices, improving the energy efficiency status and reducing the energy poverty, urban regeneration and structural changes, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

The pilot group will be composed of 50 to 80 city managers upon their self enrollment and applying few clear selection parameters : level of municipality, experience, english language, etc.
The target group will be afterward authorized to further train other city managers and employees of the local municipalities. This core team is expected to disseminate the information and to act as an experts group in our Association.

As Romania has (at this moment) a deficit of at least 250 city managers, the learning and workshops center will be powerful tool, a public management academy and a testing facility for the ones applying for this position.

I'm an MBA student in South Africa, in the last State Of Nation address President Ramaphosa announced development of smart city. Now I want to do treastise on the subject the topic that is on my mind is "smart city impact on citizens" I stand to be correct if I'm bit outside. Its what I think at the moment, I need articles and websites.
Thanks

I am a second year climate study master student actively looking for internship opportunities in the field of climate adaptation and governance in creating resilient cities. I specialise in climate, society and economics. I have a background in climate governance and international environmental policy & politics.
If someone could help with some leads, would be nice

Hello. I'm Phoebe and I'm an architecture student from Greece. I'm doing my thesis on "The contribution of architects in smart cities" and I want to contact with architects working on Smart City projects.

My name is Alicja Kepka and I am a 3rd-year student of Media & Information programme at the University of Amsterdam. I am currently working on my thesis which focuses on the development of smart cities. I'm looking for people working on interesting projects, companies, or organizations that might help me with my project.

The main goal of my research is to take a closer look at the discourse around smart cities in the Netherlands and explore the role of citizens in the decision-making and implementation processes. I am especially interested in investigating how companies and organizations involve citizens and how they deal with more vulnerable groups in the society (for example, computer illiterate or older generations) when thinking about smart city technologies.

Would you be interested in giving a short interview to answer a few questions about your organization, the development of smart cities, and the involvement of citizens?
The interview could take place in person, over the phone, or through the internet. It shouldn’t last longer than 1 hour. It would be also recorded and transcribed at the later stage. Your valuable input would be later used in the final publication, with all relevant acknowledgments.

Please don't hesitate to contact me via alicja.kepka@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Best,
Alicja Kepka

Beste connecties

Mijn naam is Maulo Lumleod, een vierdejaarsstudent bedrijfskunde aan de Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Samen met mijn teamgenoten Rutger van den Hoek & Janneke Methorst, zijn wij op zoek naar een organisatie die graag een professioneel bedrijfskundig onderzoek wil laten uitvoeren.

We hebben vanuit de Hogeschool een aantal sectoren meegekregen zoals Health, FinTech, Smart Cities & Mobility.

De opdracht voor het onderzoek mag volledig door jullie organisatie worden bepaald. Zo zorgen we ervoor dat we een onderzoek uitvoeren wat voor de organisatie relevant en nuttig zal zijn. Het onderzoek zal volledig worden begeleid door twee onderzoeksdocenten die vanuit de Hogeschool zijn aangesteld. Zij zullen de controle en begeleiding uitvoeren op het onderzoek. Meer informatie over het project kunt u vinden op: https://lnkd.in/dnaGpiT.

Het project zal gedurende de periode september tot december worden uitgevoerd. Het zal voor de organisatie geheel kosteloos zijn om het onderzoek door ons te laten uitvoeren. Wel vragen wij om tijd en medewerking om de nodige informatie te kunnen verzamelen.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Maulo Lumleod

Dear sir or madam,
I am currently writing my thesis for the Gemeente Amsterdam (CTO office) to research how the local government can support SMEs to export their solutions for urban challenges to China. It would be highly appreciated if you could help me out by filling the following survey:
https://hva.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6gpBnWkAWK5rpl3

You are:
- A company who is interested in exporting to China
- A company who is currently trying to enter China
- A company who is successfully established in China

Again, thank you so much in advance!

My name is Adrian Tavaszi , I am founder of the citizen initiative for democratic smart city in Heidelberg, Germany (https://www.hd-demokratisch-digital.de/). We are looking for policies and guidelines to establish a democratic process of digital transformation. I would like to get in contact with a team member or expert from Amsterdam with some insight into the the basic opearting principles of Amsterdam smart city, the process of establishing the platform and what makes it democratic!
(adriantavaszi@gmail.com)
Thanks
Adrian

KPN is working hard for our future 5G network which will offer all new possibilities like massive machine communications and an ultra reliable, low latency as explained in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ySHLAe7Dw&feature=youtu.be

We’re looking for new applications benefiting from the new possibilities. Do you want to earn a spot in our 5g showcase in Amsterdam and access to our 5g field labs? Then, sign up for our challenge on June 13th.
https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/tickets-kpns-5g-challenge-43702752108

Hello Everyone,
my name is Jennifer Kammerer and I'm writing my bachelor thesis about smart cities at the moment. I really like the strategies of the smart city amsterdam and would like to interview the smart city team for some more questions and opinions. The Topic of my thesis is: Wie smart sollten Bürogebäude sein? Immobilienwrtschaftliche Analyse von Smart City Konzepten auf die Entwicklung von Büroimmobilien. (How smart should an office building be? A analysis of smart city concepts on the development of office buildings from a real estate business point of view). I would really appreciate if I get the chance to get an interview. I would like so send the questions written and you can answer them also as a team or in the community. You can of course also use the interview material from the thesis!
I would be very thankful for a feedback! Dank u wel!

Hello everybody! My name is Pieter and I'm writing a bachelor thesis about finding 'the best' or 'most suitable' definition for the Smart City concept in Amsterdam. I study Human Geography at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. Smart City is in my opinion a broad, interpretative concept and there is not a single definition suitable for every system. I am very curious about your experience and view on the concept.

My question is: How would you describe the concept of Smart City for the city of Amsterdam? And for initiators (initiatiefnemers) of projects: what is your experience with participating in-, or setting up a smart city project in Amsterdam?

You would help me a lot and maybe we could start a discussion!
Thank you in advance for reading this request and I would like to hear from you.

Kind regards, Pieter Mulder

Startup Weekend is a global initiative where professionals and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch startups.
This year Startup Weekend focuses on Future Cities - finding solutions for urban issues. Teams will present their smart solutions and solve cases provided by governments. In the meantime, governments will have a chance to 'adopt' proposed ideas.
We want to build partnerships with Smart City Amsterdam & receive support for the event.

For my graduation assignment at PostNL I do research into the wishes and needs of the consumer in the field of SmartHome and then mainly focused on the installation of this. It is important for me to know what your wishes and needs are! The survey takes up to 6 minutes. (Please note that the survey is now only available in Dutch. If you are only English-speaking and would like to participate in the study, I am of course willing to translate the survey into English. )

Click on the link to go to the survey: https://hva.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_08swaKTe6orvMvH.

My name is Erik Bibo, co-owner of In2Content. For a webinar we are looking for a Amsterdam based company/store that is already using Big Data. We want to make a short video of that company/store.

I am looking for partners to run a workshop related to "Smart City Planning", initially in the city of Lima-Peru and Mexico City. However if someone is interested in launching the workshop somewhere else I am ready for the challenge.

Our ambition is to do further research on Smart City projects and their ecosystem. Therefore, we are curious about your smart city issues and questions! Are you a company, foundation, government or startup with a challenge in health, mobility, energy or other smart city issues? Are you curious about the possibilities of big data, struggling to scale-up, wondering how to create effective partnerships, trying to make a business case for you smart city project?
Put your research question into the spotlight at our Smart City Academy event on the 16th of january and win a research voucher. This voucher gives you access to a researcher that will explore your issue for a week. We will try to formulate some first answers to your research question and explore further steps for research together with public or private companies.

If you're interested in pitching on this event, or want some further information, please contact smartcityacademy@hva.nl

For more information about the event, click here https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/events/elevate-smart-city-practice-ih01ygsv

I am Zulfikar a master student of Urban Environmental Management in Wageningen University and Research.
Currently, I am conducting a thesis research with the title "The Interaction between Non-Government-based Smart City Projects and Government-based Environmental Management: The Case of Amsterdam". ​Basically, the research aims to investigate three elements, namely the smart city projects initiated by non-governmental parties, environmental management conducted by governmental parties, and their interaction with each other.​

Regarding that, I would like to talk to people who have knowledge about their smart city project and environmental aspects in Amsterdam. I need at least 2 persons from Amsterdam Smart City Platform, knowledge institutions, and/or companies.

The result of this research will benefit the Amsterdam Smart City platform and Amsterdam Municipality to understand about the linkage between smart city projects and environmental management of Amsterdam.

If you are the one, please let me know by contacting me via email zulfikar.dinar@gmail.com
Thank you for your help and attention.

The aim of our research is to record experts' opinion about the importance of each action/project that has been collected and categorised.

Please evaluate the importance of each action regarding its possible contribution to making a city smarter (or more sustainable, consuming fewer resources, with the use of ICT). You may also recommend actions, filling in the appropriate space (other actions) in each category. Please consider that you are giving your expert opinion for a medium-sized city, in a rather early-stage of ICT development.

We would be grateful if you could contribute with some of your knowledge to our research.

Link for the questionnaire for smart cities experts: https://t.co/UfJEnaVOL1

Thank you in advance for your time and help,
Nikolaos Vogiatzis (icsdm15021@aegean.gr)
Dimitrios Kolokotronis (icsdm15028@aegean.gr)

To prepare Business and Management students of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences for a future in Business they have the opportunity to work as a consulting agency, Futureteams, and solve real problems organisations might have. We are looking for organisations in the fields of: Health, Mobility, Tourism, Smart Cities or Financial Services.

If you have an organizational problem, Futureteams can help! They will put in effective work hours and need no training or work space. You can find further information about the project https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/projects/futureteams-can-take-on-new-assignments or here:
https://sites.google.com/enmeer.com/wervenopdrachtgevers/home (in Dutch)

Hi everyone! I am current Business Master student. I am doing my master thesis focusing the ASC as a case study. My main interest is to understand how the ASC is structured in the governance field and how the municipality is involved to create this innovative environment. The thesis is part of an University of Sao Paulo research group. @Esther Somers could you help me to get in contact with someone that would contribute to improve this research development