Digital and Societal Transformation ideas-expertise-proces

(original post on www.fietsknooppunt.brussels)    I was visiting the trade faire Bike Brussels on 23rd of September. The number of electric powered vehicles on wheels (one wheel, two wheels, cargo,…) were really impressive in the offering and it was possible to really try out all of them. Regarding the bike routes t he exhibit of the province of Vlaams Brabant made clear what the power is of the fietsknoopnetwork system: - A clear map of the possibilities; - A clear and standard signage; - A clear suggestion of routes with separate leaflet (here leaflet of geuzeroute - visiting beer heritage !) The contrast with the Brussels regional offering was striking and a sign that the Brussels policy makers have not yet embraced recreational bike as a priority: - two different exhibit booths, one from Brussel mobiliteit with the Bike for Brussels logo; and the other from Visit. Brussels with the be bike be Brussels log...

I attended this years edition of Smart City Wallonia in Marche, with conferences, a start-up zone, demos etc. Here my highlights:: In general it seems to me that the first Smart Region call of Digital Wallonia earlier this year has not only created financed projects, but also has made the Smart city landscape more readable in terms of actors: Agence du Numérique, as inspirer and ‘mentor’ Most intercommunale like BEP and IDELUX taking a pro-active role in their communes, other less present The Union des villes et des communes taking a more active role than in the past The Governmental declaration of last week has furthermore confirmed the Smart city actions for the next years, which is a positive factor for everyone to work more in depth. The technology has matured and technology deployment with a ‘positive’ business case for cities in terms of mobility, inner-city atraction, energy are to say available ‘of the shelf’ from established as well as from start-up pla...

It is the mid of mobility week.  I came back from a visit in Bordeaux and of course I cannot stop looking at the city and the Smart parts of it like  new modes of transport, humanity, etc. Here is a selection of pictures and a small explanation related to the mobility aspects Skate zen near the cathedral - hour limitations It seems that skate boarding in the city center is now regulated.  Skating is now only allowed 18 hours per week, on Wednesday and Saturday from 11- 20H  in this zone at least in front of the cathedral The name is Skate ZEN.  Zen for the visitors?  And interestingly for a French town, it is also written in English. Bluecub at charging station (cité du vin) Bluecub is an initiative of the Bolloré group, and has a fleet of 200 electric cars that can be used in Bordeaux and Arcachon area.  The cars, once parked at the station are charged. Bluecub - rental of electric cars Next is the CITIZ cooperative...

I was invited to participate in the facilitation of two workshops about indicators for transition.   Organised by the French foundation 'fondation des transitions ’ in bordeaux end of August. The event focused  on finding a way to track progress in sustainability, as there are a lot of 'trackers' and to avoid glossy annual reports blabla for example. For the main take-aways of check the article on TOKVIL.Be blog related to public innovation My own thoughts related to indicators were a little sceptic in the field of indicators on sustainable development.   The Sustainable Development goals of the UN   (SDG) have a set of indicators;   I am quite fond of these SDGs , as they show show a direction to take, just like a compass.   What appears to me more and more is that every organisations has its own and unique ADN, due to its experience, memberships, leadership;  therefore ‘one size fits all ‘will not work also related to indicators;...

TOKVIL meetup 3 - public innovation with a twist (crosspost original article on tokvil.Be) TOKVIL public sector innovation meetup was hosted this 13/9 at the building of the Flemish administration in Brussels.  It was embedded into the first festival of ‘creative bureaucracy’. What were the highlights of this TOKVIL meetup? Aline Muylaert, Citizenlab co-founder , provided us with an interesting back-office ‘view’ of the online citizen participation tool used by Youth for climate’ during the spring. Main findings: - it is important to clearly think about the process of participation and than stick to it ; this creates transparency and also makes that the outcome of the participation gets more credibility - the question remains who happens next when main findings are assembles of a participatory project, what will the initiators do with all this info - in terms of data metrics, an online platform can provide amazing in...