Citizen-centric services by Digital Innovation Hubs: innovative public services in cross-border regions

Cristina Cosma, Programme Manager, Interoperability Unit, DG Informatics, European Commission

Putting citizens first and involving them through co-creation in designing digital public services is a key opportunity for improving public service availability, quality and efficiency in cities and regions. Join us at the European Week of Regions and Cities on 8 October 2019 to discuss the ways to better shape citizen-centric services.

Regions, local governments, cities and rural areas are all becoming more digital, smarter and connected. Digital connections and interoperability across borders are particularly important: they allow the creation of better services, reduce administrative burdens and foster innovation. Nonetheless, we can see that creating citizen-centric public services to serve over 150 million people living in cross-border regions remains a challenge.

Digital Innovation Hubs have started as a priority under the current EU budget to help digitise industry and increase the adoption of digital technologies and innovation by SMEs. They have already brought concrete results in this area and in the next EU budget, they will also be able to support public services in their digital transformation. However, there is still a lot more to do, and for that, we want to have your say. 

This is why we will hold a participative session on “Citizen-centric services by Digital Innovation Hubs: innovative public services in cross-border regions” on 8 October 2019. This session is organised in the context of the 17th edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities by partners from the European Commission (DG REGIO cross-border, DG DIGIT interoperability, DG CNECT e-Government), regions and the European Association of Development Agencies. It has several goals such as:

• helping generate ideas on how to set up innovative public services in cross-border regions;
• discussing the ways Digital Innovation Hubs can be further developed to improve the lives of Europeans; and
• highlighting the obstacles when trying to set up interoperable cross-border public services (are they legal, technical, organisational, financial or related to the lack of skills?).

What’s in it for you?

We have designed a participatory lab where we would like to engage with practitioners involved in Digital Innovation Hubs, creators of public services in cross-border regions such as public administrations or SMEs, and digital innovators interested in citizen-centred services. 

We will present several successful projects developed with the support of Digital Innovation Hubs. Based on the presentations, we will address questions to participants who will then work in small groups to provide their answers, comments and insights.

This will be your opportunity to discuss about inspiring projects and exchange best practices on interoperable, citizen-centric digital public services from Digital Innovation Hubs and beyond. We would also like to know about the obstacles you face today when trying to set up seamless cross-border digital projects. 

The European Commission will take into account the outcomes of this session when discussing the priorities for the next EU budget.

So, don’t wait and register for our session by clicking on “Add session” at the bottom of the page. 

See you all in October!