How to improve public services in local communities? This is a question that troubles many leaders of local and regional self-government units, and it is precisely answers to such questions that Mastercard and Algebra, the organizers of the Uplift Academy+, provide. This is an education primarily focused on areas of digital transformation and literacy, green transition, and data management that can enhance public services in local communities.
Gea Kariž, Mastercard’s director for Croatia, and Leo Mršić, vice-dean for science and research at Algebra, presented this educational program at the 15th meeting of mayors and entrepreneurs in Poreč.
– The Uplift Academy has already passed 100 users in the past three years, so we decided to upgrade it and design a new platform aimed at public officials – said Kariž at the Lider conference.
– Our idea was not to learn how local self-government units operate but to allow people to play with technology and learn a range of solutions they can use in their work – added Mršić.
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Some units have already adopted certain new technologies in their operations, and what significantly helps citizens in their daily lives today is KEKS Pay. The Erste Bank application is used by 400 thousand users, and about one to one and a half million transactions pass through it daily.
The product manager of KEKS Pay at Erste Bank Boris Blažević demonstrated at the conference in Poreč how payment in the application looks, which aims, he claims, to allow users to pay all their bills with a single swipe without fees. Today, this application is used by 50 bill issuers, and it is truly a fast and flexible system intended for all citizens.
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Regulatory changes were the trigger for the digital transformation of public administration, which initially needed to transfer all communication to digital channels. This was a process that first needed to replace the mentality of yellow shirts, reminded Hrvoje Sagrak from InfoDom, which has been a leading provider of flexible digital platforms for the public and private sectors for over two decades.
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– Digital transformation increases the efficiency and transparency of all those involved in the public administration process. Technological challenges still exist, for example, there are limitations of electronic signatures, which do not allow for the quick signing of a larger number of documents, which we hope the state will improve as soon as possible. At InfoDom, we advocate a holistic approach that will incorporate a comprehensive digital platform – said Sagrak. He cited examples of their services, such as e-submission, a means of communication with citizens, then SPIN, a service for digitizing procurement processes that will particularly come to the fore next year with the digitization of the Electronic Public Procurement System, and Performa 365, a platform for training and educating employees.
And how the collaboration between entrepreneurs and cities flows in practice was told at the panel titled ‘Digital services of smart cities‘ by the mayor of Novska Marija Kušmiš, the owner and director of Prehnit Vlatko Roland, and the director of Pro Alarm Robert Pažitka.
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That video surveillance makes Croatia cleaner was confirmed by Pažitka, who said that with the help of their system, today with just one click you can see who is littering in the wrong places, but also who is committing offenses in public places. He also boasted about projects in Velebit and Biokovo where they record signals when people pass by, making it easier to control who is moving on unsafe paths.
Roland spoke about digital transformation in spatial planning and property management, stating that the process of digital transformation is inevitable.
– The idea of the digital transformation process is for data to be ‘single point of truth’ so that you have relevant data and accurate databases. We correct that data and look at what the real state is in the space. In other words, we are bringing order to the space – explained Roland, adding that Prehnit has the knowledge, software, and equipment that help local and regional self-government units complete their databases and have a quality system for managing the city.
And when talking about the digital transition of the city, one cannot fail to mention Novska, which has long been known for its wood and metallurgy industries and agriculture, and is now the center of the Croatian video game industry.
When in 2016 the Ministry of Economy announced a competition for the construction of business incubators, Novska, according to the mayor, concluded in communication with the Cluster of Video Game Producers that gaming companies lack 300 people annually to realize their ideas.
– We received funds through European funds for the renovation of buildings in the city center and opened our incubator there. We aimed to create a workforce for the gaming sector, and we also prepared retraining and education programs that 260 people went through. Today we have 80 startups – said Kušmiš, who received thunderous applause when she presented the fact that one of their startups has grown from one employee to as many as 10, which makes her extremely happy.
The Okitoki and Kokolingo projects are examples of smart solutions used by citizens through cities and local government units, which not only encourage societal development but also provide opportunities for entrepreneurship development.
Tatjana Novak launched Okitoki, an application that has two sets of functionalities, the first is communication between parents and kindergartens, and the second is the digitization of business in preschool education institutions.
– This is a segment of services that is at a very low level of digitization, which is why we invest in employees and their knowledge of technologies. That is why there was resistance among users, but they soon realize that these solutions benefit them. Our application is now used by about 10 thousand individual users in various cities, from Valpovo, Samobor, Sveta Nedelja, to Makarska, Dubrovnik, Split, says Novak, adding that they have already started exporting solutions to Serbia and are negotiating with Slovenia.
Matko Šutalo, the mayor of Valpovo, revealed that parents are satisfied with this application, and somewhat so are educators after initial resistance to the novelties.
Miroslav Vrankić, the founder of E-glas, explained how Kokolingo works, the first digital speech therapy workbook launched during COVID. The service can be used by parents individually, but also in collaboration with cities and local government units, which thereby raise the quality of speech therapy services.
