Eindhoven 28/03/2019

On the occasion of the spring meeting of the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum, European members of the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights have welcomed the new joined cities and launched the "100 cities in 100 days" campaign. Aik van Eemeren, from the Innovation team of the Technology Office of the City of Amsterdam, has explained to the attending cities "three reasons for joining to the Coalition; together we can create standards as in the case of artificial intelligence, we can learn from each other and we can collaborate in public policies".
Joan Batlle, Digital Transformation Director and International Relations at Technology and Innovation Office of Barcelona City Council, has interviewed the representatives of three of the new joined cities:

• “We don’t want just to buy technology randomly, but use our procurement to improve the lives of our citizens” - Petra Dzurovcinova - Chief Innovation Officer, Bratislava.
• “The city of Zaragoza has just approved a new strategic roadmap for the next 20 years, "H20+". The objective 4 of this new strategy includes the transition towards an innovative and intelligent society based on knowledge and culture. In turn, goal 6 of H20+ aims to achieve new participatory governance that, through networks and alliances, projects the city and its surroundings. Both objectives are fully aligned with those included in the City Coalition, which seems a logical step to move forward.” – Daniel Sarasa, Urban Innovation Planner, Zaragoza.
• “This initiative very much aligns with the policy we have in Helsinki. We have a digital plan with interesting tracks on A.I. and ethics. It is very valuable to share knowledge what you have done together.”  - Tanja Lathi, Helsinki.