Espelia organized a Smart City Conference in the Western Balkans

Last week (Thursday 12 & Friday 13 May), Espelia teams had the honour to organize a conference on Smart Cities in the Western Balkans in Skopje, capital of Northern Macedonia. This conference was held in the framework of the Smart Cities Technical Assistance financed by AFD, the objective of which was to develop four Smart City strategies for four capitals of the region: Tirana, Prishtina, Podgorica and Skopje.

This conference was the opportunity for each of the capitals to present their strategies, as well as some of the emblematic actions they wish to see implemented. This event was also a rich moment of exchange and peer-to-peer learning, between the actors of the region but also with French speakers.

In this respect, we were honoured to welcome Laïla Mélaz, from Plaine Commune, who presented urban and social innovation projects, and Norbert Friant, from Rennes Métropole, who was able to testify about the implementation of data management and governance projects. We were also pleased to welcome Céline Colucci, director of the Interconnectés, the French network for smart cities, to help local authorities continue their exchanges and the momentum they have started.

For Espelia, this event is the result of the work of Blanche Varlet, mission director, Léo Donse, smart city expert and Camille Imbert, regional coordinator of technical assistance.