Towards the information society

Over 20 cities' delegations and experts took part in the joint meeting of UBC Commission on Information Society and the Steering Committee of the Project "Challenge of eCitizen-Promoting eGovernment Actions in European Cities". The meeting was successfully organized by the city of Tartu, Estonia, on 30 March -1 April 2006.

Many different internet and mobile-based services for citizens, business and local officials have been launched in the Baltic Sea cities. The participants presented their experience and best practices connected with the information society. Additionally, new ideas for future projects were proposed.

The discussion during the plenary session concerned the topics presented by the invited experts:

• e-governance and digital development. World trends. (Mr Ivar Tallo, Director, E-Governance Academy, Tallinn) - document management system as the basis of the electronic services: paperless city government in Tartu (Mr Kalev Pullonen, Chief Specialist of IT Development, Tartu City Government)
  
  
• Internet voting in Estonia (Mrs Epp Maaten, Councillor of the Elections Department, Chancellery of the Riigikogu, Tallinn)
  
  
• development of mobile phone based services for citizens in Tartu (Mr. Rain Rannu, Partner, Marketing and Business Development, Mobi Solutions Ltd, Tartu).