Enacting Digital Transformation for European Regions
TIME
Thursday, 9th September 14:00 – 15:15 CEST
About the DT4REGIONS project
The aim of the project Digital Transformation for Regions – DT4REGIONS project is to launch a European Platform for Regions to enable AI and Big Data collective solutions, namely a unique challenge-based innovation platform for the development of tools and services of public interest and to enhance public administration efficiency and effectiveness in user-centric services.
Led by Emilia-Romagna Region, the DT4REGIONS platform project will be based on the real needs of a network of regions supported by technical partners to make the platform a sound and effective environment for the development of the next era of AI and Big Data for the digital transformation of the public administration.
Specific objectives of the project are:
- Raise awareness and knowledge about AI and big data applications for public services within the PA and the regional ecosystem.
- Stimulate peer to peer knowledge sharing among regions.
- Increase and enlarge policy discussions on topics of specific public interest.
- Serve as a hub of a wide variety of data-related topics, such as open data, smart cities, digital skills.
- Foster innovation through practical exercises, including two hackathons, based on the concrete needs of public administrations and citizens.
Within this context, public administrations will be engaged in defining the platform services and will benefit from dedicated capacity building and mutual learning activities to make the best use of the platform itself. Regional innovation ecosystem actors will contribute to the identification of the platform functionalities and contents, as well as of the future of public services developed and delivered using AI and Big Data solutions.
Our approach for unleashing the power of public services
With the aim to provide a new platform for innovating public services, the DT4REGIONS project adopts fully fledged co-design and user-centred techniques. This entails recognizing that the service is part of an ecosystem of existing communities and services, which does not aim to substitute but to rather support it.
The key lies in finding the niche which best serves the specific category of users. Alongside the user involvement lies the prioritization of the design around the needs of users, not the technology. The technologies will always be presented around concrete use cases and problems solved. The DT4REGIONS technological solution will be interoperable to facilitate the sharing of data sets and algorithms, as well as the management of various cross-sectoral data flows and large numbers of stakeholders.

The final goal of DT4REGIONS is to implement an inclusive approach. Partner regions represent a qualified voice with different experience as for digital government and aim at a platform designed to serve and help all EU regions, and especially the ones less advanced and usually at risk of exclusion. In order to achieve this goal, cultivating Communities of Practice is crucial for generating a critical mass of regional governments and officers actively involved with the services in order to generate network economies, where the utility grows with the number of users.
About the Living-in.eu initiative
Living-in.eu is a bottom-up movement which has the ambition to have a positive impact on the quality of life of at least 300 million European citizens by 2025. The living-in.eu platform was launched during the CITYxCITY Festival and creates the conditions to upscale digital solutions based on iconic projects. The initiative is a cooperation of Eurocities, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC), European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and is supported by the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions.
Purpose and main take-aways of the session
The main goal of this session is to present the DT4REGIONS approach for co-creating AI and Big Data innovative public services collectively by developing a unique challenge-based innovation platform for the development of tools and services of public interest.
During the session, the participants will join an interactive debate with the aim to improve digital transformations of European Regions and Cities, in collaboration between DT4REGIONS and the Living-in.eu initiatives.
Participants will:
- Learn more about how to co-design AI and Big Data innovative public services in Europe and beyond.
- Get insights on how to stimulate peer to peer knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices revolving around the generation and improvement of public services.
- Understand how to be part of the digital transformation of regions through AI and Big Data and scale this approach around Europe.
- Exploiting the social impact of AI within the targeted Communities of Practice and in collaboration with the Action Oriented Task Force on the Social Impact of AI (from the European Network of Living Labs).
Agenda
14.00 – 14.05 am Welcome and objectives
Dr. Francesco Raphael Frieri – General Director, Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy
14.05 – 14.20 am Keynote Speech: The Value of Digital Transformations for European Regions
Andrea Halmos – Policy Officer in the ‘Smart Mobility and Living’ Unit of DG CONNECT at European Commission
14.20 – 14:25 am The Living in EU initiative for digital transformation in cities and communities
Wim De Kinderen – Vice-President of the European Network of Living Labs and Programme Director European Affairs at Brainport Eindhoven EU Office
14.25 – 14:30 am The Social Impact of AI for cities and regions
Fernando Vilariño – Chair of the European Network of Living Labs, Leader of the Action Oriented Task Force on Social Impact of AI and Associate Director at Computer Vision Centre
14.30 – 15.10 pm European Regions Unveiling the Social Impact of AI through DT4REGIONS
Open debate to showcase the Digital Agendas of European cities on AI strategies
- Daniel Marco Parraga, Director General for Innovation and Digital Economy at Government of Catalonia
- Hans C. Arents, Senior Advisor Digital Government in the Flanders Digital Agency
- Arnaud Pinier, Chargé de mission Délégation numérique in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region
- Anna Nikina-Ruohonen, Researcher, Entrepeneurship and Business Renewal Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
- Oscar Guadilla Jiménez, Innovation Manager in the Basque Government´s Information Society
14.55 – 15.10 pm Questions and open debate
Session moderated by Francesca Spagnoli – Head of Projects, European Network of Living Labs
15.10 – 15.15 pm Closing of the event
Dr. Francesco Raphael Frieri – General Director, Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy
Speakers
Francesca Spagnoli
Head of Projects, European Network of Living Labs

Francesca Spagnoli
Head of Projects, European Network of Living LabsFrancesca is a Senior Project Manager, a Researcher and a Professor. She is passionate about understanding the impacts of ICT on citizens and the human factor behind technologies, as well as enthusiast about open innovation, end user engagement methodologies and smart cities. She holds a Master Degree in Media and Communications and a PhD in Economics (on Innovation Technology) from the University of Rome La Sapienza (2015), Italy. Francesca has worked as Senior PM and Coordinator of several international projects for governments, research centers and SMEs in different fields). In 2013, Francesca has been appointed as Young Researcher Ambassador from the European Commission. She has been the coordinator of the European Researchers’ Night from 2014 to 2017, organising more than 150 events throughout Italy. In ENoLL she is acting as an external experts on EU funded projects, providing her expertise on end-user engagement, citizen-centred methodologies for co-creation and researching methodologies to enact open innovation in cities.
Francesco Raphael Frieri
General Manager of Resources, Europe, Innovation and Institutions of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government

Francesco Raphael Frieri
General Manager of Resources, Europe, Innovation and Institutions of the Emilia-Romagna Regional GovernmentI am currently General Manager of Resources, Europe, Innovation and Institutions of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government, a role held since March 2016. I am the Chief Digital Officer of the Region. I am responsible for the management of human and financial resources, logistics, real estate, procurement, the organization and coordination of European policies, of their evaluation, of negotiated and international territorial cooperation, of the development of the ICT, of statistics, internal communication and the deployment of policies of institutional reorganization for the Regional Administration. As part of these activities, I support the administrative functions of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government in the Conference of Regions (Rome) and in Brussels, as well as in other institutional venues as necessary. In collaboration with my colleagues, I prepare the activities of control and development of the instrumental companies belonging to the Regional Administration. Over the seven previous years, I served as Director General of the Union of Municipalities of the Lower Romagna Area (near Ravenna, Adriatic Coast, Italy): one of the largest and most articulated associative realities in Italy. The Union of Municipalities achieved major results in terms of integration and cohesion between Municipalities, transferring many of the functions originally carried out by nine Local Government, and at the same time developing a deep- seated process of change management, creating remarkable margins of increased efficiency for more than 100,000 inhabitants, guaranteeing the presence and quality of services for each community of citizens of originating Municipality. While serving as Director General, I also worked as teacher and trainer for various prestigious Italian universities and research centers. I collaborated with other regional administrations, with numerous Local Governments, with the ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) and Legautonomie. I had the chance to take part in think tanks for various ministries for the development of performance models for the public administration and the planning of financial resources. I wrote, with two colleagues, a new book entitled “Digital Transformation & Smart Working in Public Administration”, published by Maggioli Editore in 2021 https://www.frieri.info/td-sw-in-pa I have published numerous articles and essays in specialist reviews and financial newspapers in my areas of specialization; together with two colleagues, I also wrote a manual on the Union of Municipalities, published by Maggioli in 2012. I am a board member of ANDIGEL (National Association of General Public Managers). Over the early years of my professional experience, I specialized in local finance, especially while working as Deputy Mayor with a delegate to the Budget and Citizens’ Participation for the City Council of Modena (Italy). In that role, I took part in numerous conventions and training activities with regard to Local Finance. In the late 2000s, I served as national coordinator for Local Finance for the League of Italian Local Governments. I also have a keen interest in participation in public policy. I have had the chance to compare the framework of classical studies of continental Europe where I originate, with direct experience of the most innovative theories of Consensus Building of Anglo-Saxon origin, and to gain meaningful first-hand experience of the Participatory Budget in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in the early 2000s. I have written, experimented and debated a great deal on these issues. I completed an Executive Master in Business Administration at the Bologna Business School; I graduated in Political Sciences from the University of Bologna, specializing in the economic- administrative field. I wrote my degree dissertation on Public Economics. I live in Modena; I am a great lover of astronomy, symphonic music and classical art. I was born in Urbino (central Italy), which I remain very attached to and where I frequently return.
Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at Computer Vision Centre and Associate Professor at UAB. Co-Founder of the Library Living Lab

Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at Computer Vision Centre and Associate Professor at UAB. Co-Founder of the Library Living Lab
Prof. Fernando Vilariño is Associate Director of the Computer Vision Centre and Associate Professor of the Univ. Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. He is currently lecturing in Robotics and Multimedia Systems. His research has been linked to diverse areas of Computer Vision and Machine Learning, and Robotics. His current research is focused on the development of the link between physical and digital objects. He has led different projects related to citizen science through the implementation of a model for Living Labs in the context of Open Innovation. He has participated in the different workshops and invited talks in the context of ICT and culture. Dr. Vilariño has been awarded with the Spanish Gov. Ramon y Cajal Grant (2010), and Google Academy Award (2014) for his research. As Associate Director for the CVC he has contributed to the technology transfer of Computer Vision technology with setup of a number of start-ups in the field of Machine Learning and Computer Vision. He is co-leading the implementation of the Regional Computer Vision Ecosystem, the regional economic driver of AI. He has developed a model for innovation based on living labs that allows for multi-stake holder user centric approach. Fernando Vilariño is the current Chairman of the European Network of Living Labs.
Daniel Marco
Director General for Innovation and Digital Economy at Government of Catalonia

Daniel Marco
Director General for Innovation and Digital Economy at Government of CataloniaElectronic Engineer from Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Master Business Administration from ESADE Business School. Daniel is currently in charge of the Directorate General for Innovation and Digital Economy of the Government of Catalonia where he has held other responsibilities in the last twelve years, such as director of Smart Catalonia, director of the Catalan Digital Agenda and the Head of Business Digitization and ICT industry promotion. Previously he developed his career in the private sector developing several responsibilities in the field of strategic consulting in the sector of Information Technology and Communications and in research and development.
Arnaud Pinier
Chargé de mission Délégation numérique in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region

Arnaud Pinier
Chargé de mission Délégation numérique in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine RegionArnaud has been a consultant in strategy and management for almost 10 years, mainly in financial sector in France and Morocco. He is the co founder of radiomarais.fm, a participative web radio in Paris. He also co founded happy smala, a moroccan startup studio dedicated to fintech avec collaborative economy which launched the first crowdfunding platform dedicated to North Africa and work on legal framework for Morocco. Since 2019, he works for the Nouvelle Aquitaine on the digital transformation of SME’s, on a laboratory for innovation and education technology and he’s the program manager of the regional roadmap for Sustainable IT.
Hans C. Arents
Senior Advisor digital government, Flanders Digital Agency

Hans C. Arents
Senior Advisor digital government, Flanders Digital AgencyHans C. Arents is senior advisor digital government in the Flanders Digital Agency, the agency tasked with the transformation of the Flemish regional government and local governments into a radically digital, data-driven government. He is responsible for formulating forward-looking e-government policy and encouraging far-reaching innovation in digital public service delivery. He has more than 20 years of experience in the drafting, implementation and evaluation of public policies in the fields of digital transformation and innovation in government. Lately he has been assessing the impact of artificial intelligence and big data analytics on the policy priorities and operational processes of government.
Wim De Kinderen
Senior Professional in EU Affairs

Wim De Kinderen
Senior Professional in EU AffairsWim De Kinderen is representing the City of Eindhoven within the Brussels based ‘Brainport Eindhoven EU Office’. As such he is a senior professional in EU affairs, and has ample experiences in building alliances and managing European networks.
Dr. Anna Nikina-Ruohonen
Researcher, Entrepreneurship and Business Renewal Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland

Dr. Anna Nikina-Ruohonen
Researcher, Entrepreneurship and Business Renewal Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, FinlandDr. Anna Nikina Ruohonen, DBA, Researcher, Entrepreneurship and Business Renewal, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland. Anna specializes in the transformation of work life from various perspectives, including the impact of AI, robotics and new technologies, innovation management and entrepreneurship, evolution of psychological contract, gender roles and women careers. Anna has close to 20 years of professional, industry, entrepreneurial, startup and academic experience in Finland, across Europe and globally. Anna is an internationally published scholar and a Recipient of “Academic Paper Most Relevant to Entrepreneurs Award” presented by United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. A long-term affiliate and invited professor with top international Triple Crown accredited business schools. Her ongoing RDI projects include understanding the role of artificial intelligence, robotics and new technologies on work life, including individual, team dynamics and organizational levels. See e.g. AI-TIE – AI Technology Innovation Ecosystems for Competitiveness of SMEs and AI is here – support, skills and cooperation are the way forward. Anna’s other recent research and development contributions have focused on gender as a factor in financial compensation and career progress, entrepreneurial leadership as a key competence of knowledge workers, circular economy digital marketplace creation, and cross-industry co-development and co-innovation work that enables business renewal.
Oscar Guadilla Jimenez
Innovation Manager in the Basque Government's Information Society

Oscar Guadilla Jimenez
Innovation Manager in the Basque Government's Information SocietyHe works close to the strategy looking for the innovation based on technology. As lead of the technology advisory board hi's mission is to find aplicable new solutions, try them and help projects to use those new technologies in production. All of this managed as a company process (technological surveillance) certified in the ISO9001 context.