Challenge of eCitizen reached its midway

Challenge of eCitizen - Promoting eGovernment Actions in European Cities project has been ongoing since early 2005 and has now reached its midway. The project, bringing together 12 partners from 11 partner cities from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond, has continued its well-established cooperation with concrete activities.

Many of the partner cities are also members of the UBC IS Commission. Such eGovernment and eCitizen related issues as cities' document management systems, smart card solutions, eDemocracy and eParticipation have been addressed with research and studies. Existing smart card applications in the cities of Tampere, Bologna, Vaasa and St. Petersburg were introduced in a thorough study, available on the project website. Partner city Sheffield has shared its long and wide experience on implementing eDemocracy and eParticipation activities by producing a training package for all partners. A collection of best practices and lessons learnt from eDemocracy and eParticipation activities in Sheffield and EU-wide was prepared and published on the project website. In addition, Tartu has published a study on existing mobile services, best practices, methodology and suggestions for future development, "Mobile services in Tartu".

Challenge of eCitizen has offered the partner cities a framework to continue developing and implementing their eGovernment and eCitizen plans and strategies, developing concrete services and applications for different purposes. One of the most exciting activities in the project lately has been starting the preparation of a joint study on European best practices and experiences of eGovernment actions and in related awareness raising strategies. The study, prepared by eGovernance Academy from Tallinn under the guidance of project partner IS FYN/city of Odense, will be of interest to a wide audience also outside the project partners. It will be available on the project website next year.

eCitizen partnership met this year in Tartu, March 2006, and in St. Petersburg 19-20 October 2006.