Mayors of Major Cities Call on Entrepreneurs for Collaboration. Here’s What They Need!

Quality management based on sustainable strategies, accountability, transparency, citizen participation, as well as reducing harmful gas emissions, energy efficiency, waste management, smart mobility, and digitalization are key factors for ensuring sustainable progress. This is precisely what the leaders of Croatian cities are discussing in a practical debate at the Lider Smart Cities 2020 conference, presenting new projects and examples of city management and innovations aimed at improving the quality of life for their residents.

Of course, one of the current situations at the forefront is the earthquake in Zagreb, which has inevitably shaken investments and plans.

– We have separated the projects we had to, such as the cable car and a few others that were cheaper to complete than to stop. The municipal service has been clearing the earthquake debris. We have implemented a whole range of measures for citizens and entrepreneurs, such as reducing utility fees. We will have significant consequences, but we will pull through even though the influx of funds has decreased due to the corona – said Mirka Jozić, head of the City Office for Economy, Energy, and Environmental Protection of the City of Zagreb.

Additionally, Jozić highlighted that Zagreb has over 400 thousand tons of sludge from wastewater treatment plants and that the question is how to utilize it.

– We need to have our own facility for sludge utilization. Sludge is not addressed in national strategies, but we need to resolve it. We decided to do something that is not in the Croatian Innovation Partnership – we are ordering the construction of a facility. There is a company that has a patented facility that can do this. The City of Zagreb would finance the construction, the entrepreneur would build it, and in the end, we would get a facility for 22 to 25 million euros, which would be several times cheaper, and the private innovator would gain references and become competitive – said Jozić, adding that all of this is in the documentation preparation phase. 

From the existing smart solutions, Jozić singled out the energy renovation of Pavilion 12 at the Velesajam, where ZICER is located, the reconstruction of public lighting, and emphasized that all projects being carried out are smart projects and that there is plenty of work for the construction sector.

The Mayor of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel, noted that Rijeka has signed a contract for the Competence Center for Smart Cities worth 150 million kuna, of which 90 million kuna comes from European funds.

– We will have significant consequences in budget reductions due to the coronavirus pandemic, but our fortune is that a large part of smart city projects is financed from EU funds. The idea is to encourage innovation in smart technologies through this project and through this collaboration with 20 partners – industry, private companies, public companies, and the academic community – over a period of three years, 36 concrete results that can be applied in cities should emerge. Rijeka will be a test city for organizing traffic quality in the city, data expansion, and efficient energy management – said Obersnel, adding that these 36 products should also find their way to the market.

Moreover, Obersnel proudly stated that Rijeka, as a mentor city, was in the company of Amsterdam and Barcelona to help with the digitalization of cities in the European project Intelligent City Challenge.

In Karlovac, they focused on the most important areas for citizens and entrepreneurs.

– When the situation with the coronavirus arose, we quickly jumped into that system and distributed support online. That was a signal for us that we need to accelerate all processes. We started with a pilot project measuring air quality and issues of parking and noise, as well as measuring the amount of waste in underground containers. We already know in which direction companies need to develop – said the Mayor of Karlovac, Damir Mandić.

In two to three months, it will be known how much money has been saved through digitalization, and, as Mandić says, there are plenty of smart solutions on the market today, and cities can be partners and help each other.

– Our motivation is to look at the entire city system. Not just the city administration but also companies. This shows that with a little money, it is possible to come up with certain solutions. In the time ahead, we will implement some solutions into the entire system. We have quite a few entrepreneurial incubators within large companies, and it will be a bit easier for us because they also offer some of their solutions – concluded Mandić.

The Mayor of Pula, Boris Miletić, emphasized that they have introduced many electronic services to increase speed and efficiency and save citizens time and money.

– We intend to fully digitalize the administration. There are many areas that can be improved, and public administration can be more efficient. All of this has contributed to us being at the very top of Croatia, and the effect of smart cities will be greater because we are centralized – said Miletić.

The City of Zaprešić is starting to develop a smart city strategy in the next five years, announced Mayor Željko Turk, mentioning the introduction of underground waste containers and smart benches. 

– Smart governance, smart tourism, innovative economy, and involving young people in all of this are the most important segments for the development of a smart city – emphasized Turk.

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