After a successful initial stakeholder meeting in November 2019 at the Smart City Expo World Congress, the second stakeholder meeting from Barcelona Provincial Council was held on June 30, 2020. The event, which was originally organised for the March 26, 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation and took place in a virtual format.

This meeting brought together representatives from different municipalities from the province of Barcelona - Vilanova i la Geltrú, Granollers, Sitges, Santa Susanna, Manresa, Manlleu - along with representatives from local research institutions - such as Fundació i2Cat and FabLab Barcelona – with Barcelona Provincial Council representatives from different departments.

The session focused on the exchange of potential good practices and experiences in order to improve digitalisation policies in territories close to metropolitan areas, with a special focus on Barcelona area. Harri Kuusela, Project Manager from the Regional Council of Päijät-Häme, Finland, presented two potential good practices from the Päijät-Häme region: CitiCAP and the Remote Care Unit SEVERI. Following his presentation, local stakeholders exposed different initiatives and projects in a wide variety of areas with digitalisation as the main tool to achieve the projects’ objectives: from innovation agencies and digitalisation hubs; to e-government services; smart tourism projects; or projects regarding noise, meteorological and traffic control sensors to improve the monitoring and management of the related services.

The session ended with a virtual discussion and paved the way for potential collaborations in the future.

                                        We are looking forward for the next stakeholder meetings!