Athens Digital Roadmap

2018

message from the mayor

message from the chief digital officer

executive summary

our beliefs

where we are now

2018 digital roadmap

access: internet for all

e-government: services for all

education: digital skills for all

engagement: information for all

innovation: ideas for all

conclusion

contents

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message from the mayorThe Municipality of Athens understands that the digital transformation of the city will only be successful if it is centered upon the needs of its residents. To this end, we joined forces with all city agencies, private sector leaders and universities, to better understand the needs of Athenians and develop the 2018 Athens Digital Roadmap. Our shared goal is to strengthen the Municipality of Athens and empower Athenians by expanding access to Internet across all neighborhoods, attracting new investment, and creating jobs.

This roadmap is for Athenians. The Municipality of Athens commits to delivering simple digital solutions that are centred upon your needs and to greater transparency.

We will do it.

George Kaminis

We are at the start of a new era. It is a time

characterized by constant change and

technological innovation, as well as new

demands and promises. Today, cities are

being called upon to leverage these op-

portunities, modernize their administra-

tions, and respond to challenges in new

ways. The Athens Digital Roadmap is our

response to that call.

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message from thechief digital officerThe Athens Digital Roadmap is innovative

for many reasons. The most important

reason is that it offers a shift in focus

from technology to making the daily lives

of Athenians easier. We are changing the

smart city agenda by introducing a public

focus on digital skills for all residents. Our

goal is to create a culture of openness,

not just in terms of software but in the

entire scope of how public resources are

managed.

We have developed a comprehensive plan that is ambitious yet realistic, outward looking and based on cooperation. It is a plan that tackles day-to-day challenges and incorporates visionary goals.

This plan was made possible by the co-operation between many Municipality of Athens agencies and programs. They are all stakeholders in the Athens Digital Roadmap and the formation of synergies that are vital to its success: the Secretary General’s Office, the Deputy Mayors, the DAEM IT Company, OPANDA, the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency, Technopolis and Innovathens, the Resilience Office, the Municipal Nursery, synAthina, the two Municipal Education Committees, Open Schools, Athens Culture Net, the Noiazome, the Athens Center for Coordination of Migrant and Refugee Issues, Designed for Better Learning, and its Maker Space, and the Athens Digital Lab.

We also want to say thank you to Bloomberg Associates for their valuable contribution and guidance and to the Athens Partnership, which carries out targeted partnerships between the Municipality of Athens and the private sector.

Konstantinos Champidis

The Athens Municipality has joined forces with a wide array of stakeholders to develop a unified plan for the digital transformation of the city: the Athens Digital Roadmap.

This document provides a set of priorities, goals and standards to improve digital city services and create a culture of innovation throughout the city. This roadmap is for Athenians. The Municipality of Athens commits to delivering simple digital solutions that are centered upon your needs.

The purpose of the Athens Digital Roadmap is to:

executive summary

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In 2016, the Municipality hosted ‘Engage’ to improve the municipality’s use of social media and explore new opportunities to connect with residents.

Commit to actions that will be implemented in 2018 to provide residents with better services and more efficient and direct communication with the Athens Municipality

Invite government institutions to deepen collaboration for a digital Athens

Share our plan with the business community and create new opportunities for investment

Enhance transparency and encourage active engagement

Form new best practice standards for the municipality

Reduce bureaucracy by providing new options for municipal digital services

The goals set by the Athens Municipality are to attract more investment, create more jobs, and support the city with know-how and best practices so that everyone will benefit from the use of digital technology in all our neighborhoods. A competitive, smart city ensures a better quality of life for its residents and visitors, fast services for residents, more efficient public administration and transparency in decision making.

The digital transformation of Athens is based upon our beliefs:

#AthensForAllNo one can be left behind in the digital transformation of the city. Internet

access #ForAll, digital skills #ForAll, and digital services #ForAll.

#OpenAthensThe municipality must be transparent through #Open infrastructure, #Open schools for more digital skills, and #Open wireless networks.

#AthensOfTheFutureThe municipality must embrace the future and welcome the Gigabit Society to bring opportunity and prosperity to Athenians.

#AthensTogetherNo one can succeed alone. The municipality has formed partnerships with companies and institutions that share our vision. #Together we opened the Lela Karagiannis residence, #Together we are taking classes through the open schools initiative, and #Together we are expanding access to internet for our students.

our beliefs

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where we are nowThe Athens Municipality has already made significant progress towards the digital transformation of the city.

2018 Athens Digital RoadmapThrough the Athens Digital Roadmap, the municipality is implementing actions that provide better and more efficient services to Athens residents, while reducing operational costs. The priorities for the next 12 months are:

In 2013, the Mayor of Athens launched a new budget management system, adopted open software, and the E-Service Center became a reality.

Since May 2014, Innovathens has provided skills training to more than 150,000 beneficiaries including digital services and e-applications training.

Since 2015, municipal childcare centres have enrolled more than 6,000 children through their online system, ensuring reliability and transparency in the selection process.

In 2016, the Athens Municipality launched the Athens Digital Council, an advisory body composed of Greece’s leading technology companies and universities. They provide guidance to the Municipality of Athens for nothing in return.

In 2017, the Mayor of Athens appointed the city’s first ever Chief Digital Officer, who is tasked with spearheading the Municipality’s digital initiatives.

Access E-Government EngagementEducation Innovation

Most of the projects outlined in the Athens Digital Roadmap will be implemented by the municipality’s IT company, DAEM S.A., and through the individual efforts of municipal institutions and programs.

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access:internet for allExpanding and improving Athens’ Internet infrastructure is a basic prerequisite for its digital growth. The gigabit society is a challenge for cities around the world, and is a goal of the European Commission under the single digital market and framework plan. Fast Internet access is a priority for the Athens Municipality in order to become more efficient and effective in delivering service to residents. To achieve this vision, we have set three goals:

1. One municipality, one networkAthens Municipality services must improve its Internet speed to meet their current and future needs, and to reduce telecommunications costs. Over 50% of city employees will have gigabit internet access.

2. Expanding Internet accessAthens Municipality must expand Internet access for residents in public buildings (including schools) and open public spaces.

For the first time in Greece at the local government level, we are introducing a long-term fibre optic lease model, thus creating an intranet model between the most important municipal buildings. This way, municipal agencies will enjoy adequate Internet access. Usually, the municipalities in Greece either buy access services at much higher prices or invest in proprietary networks with a large initial investment cost. The Athens Municipality will change this model. Through the new methodology, we will achieve faster results, reduce costs and be more sustainable while still implementing fibre-optics inside municipal buildings, so that higher speeds are available in each office to enhance processing and enhancing of service to residents.

Through the relevant School Committees, all the schools operating in the City of Athens will reduce their land line costs by 60%, translating to over 250,000 Euros per year in savings. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the relevant body, the Greek School Network, we are taking the next steps to invest this money in improving Internet infrastructure for schools. Our vision is to provide fibre-optic access in every school.

3. Stimulating investment in AthensAthens Municipality must enhance wired and wireless broadband services to encourage investment in Athens. Our aim is for 30% of Athens residents to have Internet access of at least 50Mbps.

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REDUCTION INLAND LINE COSTS

OF ATHENS RESIDENTS TO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS OF AT LEAST 50MBPS

OF THE CITY EMPLOYEES WILL HAVE GIGABITINTERNET ACCESS

IN SAVINGSTHIS YEAR

More direct access

We will create new public WiFi hotspots throughout the city of Athens, with free access for residents and visitors to the city. Down-town points of interest with high traffic will be selected, as well as various neighborhoods of Athens. The pilot implementation of an extensive wireless open network at the Serafeio complex, as well as at the Technopolis arts and technology campus, allows us to plan for its full deployment at additional points of interest. Through our strategic agreement with the Greek Research and Technology Network (EDET), we have developed wireless networks that are accessible to the international academic community.

Our partnership with EDET enables us to provide innovative services, such as the Diavlos live streaming platform, and to broadcast live events to the public from Innovathens and other areas of the municipality in 2018.

Developing broadband services is of high importance to the Athens Municipality and we are mapping the next phases for the construction and generation of new networks. Specifically, according to the decision of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission, telecommunications and network providers OTE, Vodafone and Wind will continue to upgrade equipment (on a neighborhood level) over the next two years. In collaboration with the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, this information is aggregated on an online map which will allow the municipal authority to monitor the developments in the city and will help the residents to have easy access to it.

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Improving and expanding internet infrastructure is a key priority of the roadmap. Popular downtown neighborhoods will enjoy free public WiFi hotspots.

e-government:services for allImproving access to municipal services is a basic obligation of the municipal government to its residents. Athens will expand online services to reduce the burden on residents to travel and loose time in person. The city aims to accomplish a digital transformation of municipal services and benefits as well as providing open data to the public and implementing a data-centered approach to public service. We wish to increase the number of people who access municipal services online, to reduce bureaucracy, to allow digital payments for even more security and faster service.

Electronic payments are now part of the digital transformation

of Athens. In July 2017, we started to introduce online

payments, including for parking fines. In the first six months

of operation, already 20% of payments are now made

electronically. Our goal is to increase this to 60% in the next

12 months.

The Athens Municipality is evolving our information systems. Our goals are: to modernize internal municipal information systems, to integrate digital services provided to residents, and to improve the digital interactions of the municipality with Athenians to serve them better and faster.

The City of Athens is the first municipality in the country to formally use a municipal digital signature. The City now accepts, uses and issues digitally signed documents. This project was completed internally by the Municipality and training has been provided to municipal agencies and program partners on its use. As an example: more than 80% of the City Council’s proposals are now digitally signed and the transfer is entirely electronic. Our goal is to reach 100% within the first quarter of 2018, eliminating many paper documents and with them wasted resources, time and energy.

We are creating real and user-friendly e-government services, working in combination with the authentication of online user identification through Taxisnet, the electronic system of the Greek tax authority.

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OF CITY COUNCIL PROPOSALS DIGITALLY SIGNED

There are two critical projects for the internal restructuring of the municipality and these will lead the municipal information infrastructure to a new era.

1. Establish Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in critical areas of municipal operations, such as financial management, procurements and warehouses, as well as human resources. Athens will be the first city to adopt the ERP philosophy in resource management. Implementation procedures have already begun and funding has been secured for this multi-year project. This is a software platform that will lead to better and more efficient services.

2. Collect and map all the city’s geospatial information. Using open-source software (QGIS), we are recording all the n d information on Athens. Details on city streets, squares, land uses, networks and urban green spaces will all be available to everyone as open data. This will improve efficiency and access by the City and act as a building block for future applicants.

Intelligent Operations Centre: All information and data concerning the city will be collected in real time in appropriate systems for analysis and processing. Information pulled from more than 80 locations across the city related to temperature and weather conditions, traffic, and any extraordinary events, will be processed in a uniform way and will provide current snapshots of the city.

“Noiazomai” (“I Care”): Noiazomai is a web-based platform that aggregates the databases from a range of city services including the Reception and Solidarity Centre (KYADA), friendship clubs for seniors, municipal clinics, departments of equality and non-discrimination, among others. Since Noiazomai was first piloted in September 2017, more than 70,000 beneficiaries have used the platform to access 20 different municipal services. Noiazomai was established with an exclusive donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and coordination by the Athens Partnership.

Online athletic services management platform: Launched in September 2017 for the new Serafeio swimming pool, the online management platform has since expanded to include four other municipal swimming pools. In the first six months of 2018, the platform will be further rolled out to include the municipality’s 14 gyms enabling people to register for athletic services online instead of signing up in-person. In late 2018, the online athletic services management platform will start to issue electronic cards that contain the necessary subscription information for sports and cultural activities. There are more than 15,000 registered sports participants in Athens.

Online registration to city tours: The Municipality offers free guided tours of the city in spring and autumn that are enjoyed by more than 5,000 people on an annual basis. Registration for city tours is now available online, providing an alternative to registering over the phone or in-person.

Online parking: The pilot smartphone application for purchasing parking time online has started. The users of the controlled parking system can now track the location of their car reliably and purchase parking time online. Our goal for 2018 is to have 3,000 users every day.

Open software: Code that is developed with public funds must be open and accessible for all. We have made a start with synAthina and the digital signature and are making the systems available on the internet.

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people register online for free city tours

>5.000

Issuance of electronicsports participantion card

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municipal services

BENEFICIARIES

“Noi

azomai” (“

I Care”)

Smartphone mobile app

for online parking

education:digital skills for all“Smart” cities are not smart at all unless they empower their residents with the skills needed for the future. As part of the city’s digital transformation, the Athens Municipality is prioritizing education initiatives and digital skills training. These programs will be available to residents regardless of age, gender, education, income or nationality.The education initiatives will focus on the following fields:

• Digital education on advanced technologies (robotics, 3D printing)

• Training in basic digital skills and media literacy

• Familiarization with processing skills (Do-it-yourself / Do-it-together)

Innovathens, the iconic Innovation Hub in Technopolis, is not only the main meeting place for young entrepreneurs and innovators, but also a significant digital education centre. More than 40 cycles of IT seminars are carried out every year. In three years, Innovathens programs have benefitted more than 100,000 participants. Innovathens will carry on its activities in 2018, increasing its educational programmes, many of which are provided through live streaming via the “Diavlos” platform, from the Greek Research and Technology Network. Innovathens built its own Fab Lab for advanced manufacturing based at the Technopolis campus.

Open Schools is in its third year of operations, with an exclusive donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and coordination by the Athens Partnership. Through the Open Schools program, 25 public school buildings have been transformed into meeting places and recreation centers where local community members are invited to take part in free recreational, cultural, and educational programming for all ages. Programs are offered after school and during weekends, better utilizing public space. They have now expanded the range of digital education programs, adding more courses and partners. Open Schools intends to train over 2,000 people in Information Technology programs this year.

In collaboration with Microsoft, we are launching a new educational and innovation program providing computer skills, coding. 3D printing and advanced manufacturing at Lela Karagiannis residence, in the area of Kypseli. Educational activities and seminars are planned for 4,000 people for the next year.

Maker Space, a do-it-yourself workshop hosted at the Serafeio community centre, has opened its doors to visitors of all ages, offering them the opportunity to participate in the advanced manufacturing process of everyday and specialty projects. It will be open to all schools operating within the city of Athens for educational visits and activities, with the aim to promote the substantial role of applied digital technologies and practices in learning. The Maker Space is part of the educational transformation program of the Municipality called Designed for Better Learning (http://athens-dfbl.gr), which operates with an exclusive donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and under the planning and coordination of the AthensPartnership.

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INNOVATHENS

years ofoperation

organizations

activities groups

STARTING IN

OPEN SCHOOLS

MAKER SPACE

Open to City of Athens schools for educational visitsand activities

LELA KARAGIANNI CENTER

participants

seminarmodules

places for scheduled seminars over the next year

engagement: information for allOne of the greatest challenges for Athens is to better inform its residents and visitors about life in the city: activities organized by municipal or other entities, major sports events, activities for special categories of beneficiaries (e.g. children, seniors), cultural events and more. Easy access to information and creating new online content is also important because of the large number of visitors to Athens every year. This means the modernisation and new layout of the City’s online presence are absolutely essential. We are setting the following goals:

• One municipality, better and more comprehensive information for residents and visitors

• More content about Athens targeting tourism and culture

• Using our digital channels and campaigns to promote the “Athens” brand (digital marketing)

We are gathering large amounts of information, which will be made open data, to share the City’s offerings and activities in a quick and simple way. In the first half of 2018, we will unveil the City’s new website. The new approach will be based on information collected from all municipal entities and programs and stored in a single accessible location. Online visitors will find information about everything with minimal effort.

In terms of promoting Athens, we are upgrading the content of the official digital city guide, thisisathens.org. For the first time, the City of Athens, through its Athens Development and Destination Management Agency, joined forces with the private sector to mutually present Athens as a modern, year-round cultural destination. The Athens Tourism Partnership was created in partnership with Aegean Airlines and the Athens International Airport and one of its key objectives is digital promotion. Over the next three years, the Athens Tourism Partnership plans to roll out a series of digital initiatives based on data and research in order to promote the city to targeted audiences and cities. This is My Athens was developed to connect active volunteers who want to showcase their Athens with the steadily rising number of visitors.

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In partnership with the private sector the City of Athens is making use of digital tools to promote Athens as a modern, city break destination.

We are about to complete the new online presence of the City of Athens Culture, Sports and Youth Organisation (www.opanda.gr). The new website is in pilot operation and the content will be refreshed soon. The complex character of the OPANDA and its large variety of activities is now illustrated in the best possible way, meaning website visitors can quickly find the information they need. During the pilot operation traffic has increased by 15% and we aim to double visits within the next 12 months.

An overhaul of the online depiction of Athens for its visitors is in the pipeline. ThisisAthens, the city’s official visitors guide, will be enriched in 2018 with new content and a fresh look, providing new services to the City’s visitors. It will also incorporate the city’s smart city agenda into its narrative and highlight how Athens is a dynamic and open city.

Athens Culture Net (ACN) (www.athensculturenet.com) has become a significant tool to promote the Athens cultural scene and its diverse institutions. Information about all cultural events in the city is gathered on the website, which has operated for one year with significant traffic and is in the midst of adding new content and functionality. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is the founding donor of ACN, through the support of the Athens Partnership.

SynAthina (http://www.synathina.gr/) is an online platform that allows members of the community to engage in problem-solving and reform. Founded in 2013, SynAthina enables individual citizens and groups to develop ideas to improve their city and volunteer. Citizens who submit ideas are then connected to the relevant government representatives, non-governmental organizations, and private businesses that can support their efforts. The SynAthina website aggregates information about activities across the city in a unified and comprehensible format. The new site for the Athens Center for Coordination of Migrant and Refugee Issues will be live on the SynAthina platform in March 2018.

Clear, comprehensive online content about the city of Athens is a priority. Many hackathons and editathons (content creation events) are planned at the Serafeio Community Centre with a focus on areas such as tourism, the archaeological monuments of the city, the city’s heritage and more. The content will be publicly available on platforms including Wikipedia and the city’s website.

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Increase over next 12 months

Traffic to the OPANDA website

innovation:ideas for allThe previous four pillars of the Athens Digital Roadmap lay the foundation to create a culture of innovation in the city: expanded and improved Internet access throughout the city, more e-government services, digital education initiatives, and increased engagement with residents through digital technologies.

In the field of entrepreneurship, the Municipality of Athens has two goals:

• To create more jobs in the digital sector

• To generate innovative and home-grown solutions to the challenges residents face in Athens

The Athens Digital Council was launched by the Mayor of Athens in June 2017 to harness the knowledge of Greece’s leading companies and education institutions. The Council includes leaders representing ten of the largest technology companies actively doing business in Athens, as well as the city’s leading universities. Through the Council, these leaders provide expert guidance to the Municipality for nothing in return. The Athens Partnership, whose role is to build bridges between the Athens Municipality and the private sector, supports this initiative.

The members of the 2018 Athens Digital Council are: Accenture, Athens University of Economics and Business, Google, IBM, Microsoft, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, National Technical University of Athens, Nokia, Oracle, OTE, SAP, Vodafone, and WIND.

The Athens Digital Lab lies at the heart of the Athens Municipality Digital Strategy. The Athens Digital Lab was established to generate innovative solutions to the challenges faced in Athens. An incubator housing start-ups committed to improving life in Athens, this innovative lab is funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, coordinated by the Athens Partnership, and implemented in partnership with COSMOTE and Nokia. Its aim is to encourage innovation in the city, providing real opportunities and funding to young entrepreneurs. In 2017, the Municipality released a call for proposals from which six teams were selected to be housed at the Lab.

Innovathens, the city’s Innovation Hub, supports the Municipality’s efforts to foster entrepreneurship through its business accelerator seminar series that will offer eight major training modules in 2018 including agriculture, the creative and cultural industries, and e-gaming.

The Serafeio complex is the City of Athens’ new center for Sport, Culture and Innovation. It houses initiatives commit-ted to improving life in Athens, including the Athens Digital Lab.

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more investments

more jobs in Athens

contribution to the dissemination of digital technology to every neighborhood

support the city with know-how andgood practices

better quality of life

faster service

more efficient public administration

transparency in decision-making

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conclusionThe 2018 Athens Digital Roadmap

redefines the smart city, shifting the

emphasis from technology to making the

daily lives of Athenians easier.

The goal of undertaking a digital transformation is to make it a dynamic process; to give Athenians the tools they need for higher access to information on governance and data and the skills for higher learning and employment.

The City of Athens has now set its priorities and created the framework of its digital policy. We are committed to meet targets and implement initiatives that focus on our residents.

The 2018 Roadmap is an open document, an invitation to city agencies, the education sector and businesses to work together for our city.

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