Paris GovTech Summit
Helsinki needs smaller data silos: Vapaavuori
Published : 14 Nov 2018, 01:58
Updated : 14 Nov 2018, 08:59
Helsinki Mayor Jan Vapaavuori on Monday, 12 September, called on the technology leaders of Finland to break down the data silos.
“Helsinki has opened more data than any other city, apart from New York,” the mayor told the inaugural ceremony of the Paris GovTech Summit 2018 in France. His call came in relation to Helsinki’s aim to establish itself as one of the world’s leading smart cities, said a press release.
The summit, first of its kind, was organised by Public.io, which helps startups solve public problems, with the support of French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and the European Commission.
“In my city today, one of the biggest challenges is that we have too many domestic silos. We need to concentrate on collaboration within the city,” Vapaavuori said in his speech, adding that “the most important building block of a smart city is smart people.”
Around three thousand political leaders, European ministers, mayors of major EU cities, innovators from across the European continent, public officials, companies, and academics took part in the summit. The programme featured a series of panel discussions on topics ranging from the use of artificial intelligence in governance to the future of healthcare.
The event is aimed at imagining “innovative services that make citizens central to public action, where public officials have a wide range of resources and technological information at their fingertips and can use dynamic new methods to improve the quality, efficiency and pertinence of services adapted to individual needs,” says the summit’s official webpage.
Key guests and speakers at the summit included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US Secretary of Health Matt Hancock, European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip, former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
“There has never been a better time to make public services more accessible and approachable by making use of new technological solutions. The GovTech Summit provides a unique opportunity for public officials, intellectuals, innovators and investors to meet each other, exchange viewpoints and discuss the future of public action and democracy,” the GovTech Summit’s webpage quoted President Macron as stating.