Major Cities of Europe IT Users Group

The Major Cities of Europe IT Users Group is an independent association of chief information officers, IT managers and department heads of cities. The group was founded in 1982 as a result of an initiative by the Greater London Council. Since then it has focused on innovation in cities, driven by information and communications technology.

City innovation and ICT
The mission of the group is to promote a voluntary exchange of ideas, strategies, visions and experiences between members to encourage innovation and improve the performance of local governments by using leading edge information and communication technology (ICT).

Members
Members cover 17 countries and about 40 cities from Scandinavia, Western Eastern and Southern parts of Europe together with some non-European cities, such as Tel Aviv and Boston and other organisations and academia.

Sponsors
Global and national companies specialising in ICT technologies and solutions and developing innovation in cities support the initiatives of the association by sharing their experiences of deploying projects in each country and across the world.

Collaboration with other organisations and academia
Partnerships are established with The Public Technology Institute from US and with VITAKO, the German association of ICT providers of local governments. Some universities are partnering with Major Cities of Europe thereby bringing the results of their research activities, for example Autonomous University of Barcelona and CTG – the Center for Technology in Government (Albany University – USA).

Annual conference
The annual conference provides the occasion for distinguished speakers from across Europe to present the latest ICT innovations in their cities and to share successes and challenges. In addition, informal exchanges, networking and discussions take place during the conference. In 2010 the conference was hosted by the city of Berlin, in 2011 by the city of Prato. The programs and handouts were published.



2012 conference in Vienna
The 2012 conference in Vienna was attended by about 300 participants from all over Europe, US and Korea. Key topics of the 2012 conference The programs, handouts and videos were published.
 * Cities in the Open – Web 2.0, Open Data, E-participation
 * Social Networks
 * Mobile Government
 * Cities in the Cloud
 * Managing and Implementing ICT Innovation
 * Cities in Practice



2013 conference in Ljubljana
"ICT – fostering cities' prosperity" was the overarching theme of the conference, it was attended by about 180 participants. The need for radical transformation of cities is a key factor in responding to these challenges faced by the public sector. How can ICT help cities maintain their lead in providing services and in engaging with their citizens? How can the CIO evolve a management approach to be a leader in driving the city forward? Actual implementation experiences and key ideas will be presented during the conference to answer these questions. Key topics of the 2013 conference: The programs and handouts were published.
 * Managing the ICT Center of today and tomorrow: how the job of the CIO is evolving
 * Geographic information systems as a driver of city location-based services and as a unifying technology
 * The City Protocol initiative: building together the cities of the 21st Century
 * ICT revolution: new instruments for government services
 * Big Data Management: extracting intelligence for new city initiatives
 * Open Government, Open Data: experiences, solutions, rate of return, E-participation, social networks
 * Outsourcing in cities: practical experiences and implementation of Cloud computing



2014 conference in Zurich
The 2014 conference in Zürich was attended by about 250 participants from 22 countries and 84 cities, the motto was: "Cities managing complexity in the digital world – prepared for the upcoming challenges?". Key topics of the 2014 conference: The programs and handouts were published.
 * ICT, Politics and Citizens
 * Cloud computing, shared services: Lessons learnt
 * ICT and the pressure of Public finances
 * Cyber Security



2015 conference in Hamburg
The 2015 conference in Hamburg was attended by 204 participants. The motto 2015 was: "Living, learning, leading in the connected city". Key topics of the 2015 conference: The program and handouts were published.
 * Rethinking e-government
 * Governance of Smart Cites
 * Openness, Transparency and the role of Social Media
 * The School 2020
 * The future workplace
 * The city 2020



2016 conference in Florence
In 2016 the conference in the city of Florence was attended by about 400 delegates from all over Europe, the motto 2016 was: "City Renaissance in the Digital Age". Key topics of the 2016 conference: The program and handouts were published.
 * Citizens participation
 * Government in the Cloud
 * Internet of Things
 * E-government & Digital transformation
 * Safety & Security
 * Smart Education
 * eHealth / e-Care
 * Tomorrow Is Only a Day Away



2017 conference in Zagreb
In 2017 the conference will be hosted by the city of Zagreb from 12 to 14 June. The motto 2017 is: "The Digital Future – Cities Facing the Reality". Key topics of the 2017 conference will be:


 * E-government initiatives – has the transformation of public services happened?
 * The great vanishing act – public administration and the impact of emerging technologies
 * Boosting the digital economy – the role of local public services
 * Local democracy in a social media world
 * Role of technology in assisting with the resilience
 * Embedding and facilitating innovation in public services

Workshops
Member cities run workshops, usually lasting one day, to share and discuss experiences focusing on a specific topic of interest. The results of the workshops are published on the association's website.

Topics for workshops included:
 * IT security for cities
 * Big Data management
 * ICT revolution vs. new instruments for Government services
 * Geographic information system (GIS) as driver of city location based services
 * IT and politics
 * Managing and implementing ICT – new ICT roles
 * The City Protocol Society
 * Open Data
 * Open Source Software

Participation in EU programs
The association makes it possible to take advantage of the experience of its members and of the value of the network of innovative cities to participate successfully in selected EU programs, such as FUPOL. Vitako and Major Cities of Europe organised the European Local Government Conference on ICT and the Local Government transformation in Europe in which the Smart Cities Project was presented.

Newsletter
The newsletter gives access to news about the association, about events and new emerging topics and technologies to support innovation.