Organised in Brussels on January 21^nd, 2016, the 3^rd edition of the Connected Smart Cities Conference is developed to support the Open & Agile Smart Cities initiative (OASC) and to stimulate debate and share perspectives on smart city needs, with a focus on economic, social and technical development.

Linked to the results of the previous edition (January 2015, Brussels) the theme of this year is “Empowering the change makers in cities”. 

Who should join this event?

1. OASC city representatives and partners.
2. City networks representatives.
3. City representatives, researchers, NGOs and companies, interested in avoiding vendor lock-in, fostering open data and services, and promoting interoperability, portability and city collaboration.
4. Smart city project representatives of pursuing synergies with other European and global initiatives.
5. Policy and project officers from the European Commission, cities, regions and National Governments contributing to the City Innovation Chapter.
6. SMEs, companies and digital entrepreneurs working in urban innovation.
7. Change makers in cities.

The conference is free of charge, includes lunch, coffee and networking, but registration is compulsory and space is limited. You can register here and also take a look at the preliminary agenda of the conference: http://bit.ly/1OWeagl

About OASC:

Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) is a global initiative based in Brussels, Belgium, with 75 cities from 15 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, who have all committed to implementing the three simple OASC mechanisms. Announced at the Connected Smart Cities Conference in January 2015 and first launched in March 2015 at CeBIT, OASC is strongly contributing to the creation of a global smart city market based on the needs of cities. Such a market must accommodate very different sizes of cities in diverse circumstances in order to be a catalyst of the digital transition of cities and societies, with local jobs and sustainable growth. Based on systematic experimentation, pre-commercial procurement and innovative operations, cities and companies co-create innovative and portable solutions in a competitive market, diminishing vendor lock-in, and improving the services offered by cities, while enabling widespread community participation in service development through community engagement.

The Connected Smart Cities Conference is produced by the Connected Smart Cities Network and the OASC secretariat and Task Force, in collaboration with: European Network of Living Labs, FIWARE, OrganiCity, SELECT for Cities, the European Commission and Committee of the Regions (more partners to be announced). 

The event is back-to-back with the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum (January 19-20) and the EIP-SCC Action Cluster on Urban Platforms (January 20) – a great week for all those interesting in and acting in the domain of smart cities!