Serendipity reposted this
Research Lead at GATE Institute | Professor at Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
🌟 It was a pleasure to attend the Increasing Digitalisation Awareness and Readiness of Bulgarian Communities event in Sofia was a pleasure, hosted by the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB). The event is part of the European Commission’s initiative to boost Digitalisation Awareness & Readiness across the EU. As highlighted by Ignacio Garcia Vega, the event brought together inspiring discussions about the digitalisation strategies in Bulgaria. I was honoured to showcase the Urban Digital Twin of Sofia City, a transformative project that leverages advanced technologies to model, analyse, simulate, and visualise urban development. Additionally, I presented the groundbreaking initiatives in European data spaces driven by the GATE Institute in Bulgaria, underlining their potential to revolutionise data sharing and innovation across cities and borders. Together with Ivan Goychev, Deputy mayor of digitalisation of Sofia Municipality, we discuss the challenges the municipality faces, the lessons learned, and future directions for more sustainable urban development. Ignacio Garcia Vega, Chief of Innovation in Serendipity, explained the benefits and strengths of the #LORDIMAS tool in assessing digital maturity for regions and cities as well as the Online Procurement Helpdesk. I was inspired by the Urban Digital Twin of Burgas City, presented by Vesna Baltina, Deputy mayor of Burgas Municipality and excited to know about the huge support of the Fund FLAG (Фонд ФЛАГ) to the municipalities, highlighted by Iva Petkova, Director department at Fund FLAG and Fund for sustainable urban development JSC. Last but not least, the event received great support from Gabriela Ruseva, Project Coordinator at Eurocities, Eli Kaneva, Expert in the Ministry of Transport and Communication, and Svetlogor Kirov, Policy Officer at the European Commission, pushing Bulgarian municipalities to be more active in digitalisation, following the successful practices of European cities. Huge thanks to Yana Docheva for fostering such meaningful dialogue and collaboration. Let’s continue this journey towards a brighter, more connected future! 🚀 #digitaltransformation #urbandigitaltwins #dataspaces #datainteroperability #datasharing #sustainablecities
