 European people's birth group in the European Committee of the Regions. It is a pleasure for me to moderate today's event on such an important topic of resilient cities and regions. The role of digitalization with two panels, the first one being devoted to cities and regions in the digital age and the second one exploring the topic of tackling the digital divide for Europe's recovery. We have an exciting lineup of speakers, but first of all let me mention our main guest for today, Maria Gabrielle, European Commissioner for Innovation Research, Culture, Education and Youth. And of course I've heard her speak at the EPP Women's Congress many times where I can assure you she has heard in very high esteem. Madam Commissioner, I warmly welcome you to our event and I thank you for accepting our invitation this morning. Dear participants, I'm also looking forward to hearing your questions and inputs from your end and we hope to have a lovely and lively and dynamic debate with our guest speakers. Finally, we are proud to have with us our most distinguished EPP representatives from all the different levels of government, European, national, regional and local. Before starting our debate please allow me to share with you some housekeeping rules. Interpretation is available this morning in English, French, Polish and German. We will be communicating on social media and we invite you to join us to spread the word online via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For Twitter at EPP underscore car, for Facebook forward slash EPP group car and for Instagram at EPP underscore car. Don't forget also to tag at EPP underscore car or use the hashtags EPP local dialogue, digitalization and EPP EU regions week. I remind you that the event will be recorded and streamed on social media. I welcome each one of you again and I kindly ask that all speakers should stick to the allocated time slot so as to give the opportunity to ensure a smooth running of our event. To avoid background noise during the meeting your microphone will be muted by default. Three important features that you can access with the buttons at the bottom of your screen. Participants window to view all other attendees. The interpretation window to allow you to choose the language of your choice and the chat window of course to ask questions to panelists and share comments with other attendees. To ask a panelist a question, please virtually raise your hand and wait for me to give you the floor. When given the floor turn on your mic and your camera by pressing on mute and start video. Turn off your mic and not speaking please. Alternatively you can type your questions in the chat window and write the name of the panelist you wish to hear from. Let us know, let us now start the event by watching together a video we prepared for you. This video is intended to better frame today's topics. Let's watch it together. The pandemic has shown us the importance of the digital transition. From health services to education and sales, all sectors have been transformed over the past months. While EU policies seek to enable the digital transition, various challenges still exist across villages, cities and regions. Access to affordable and high quality broadband networks and services particularly in remote and rural areas is still work in progress. At the same time the almost 24.5 million European small and medium-sized enterprises employing two out of every three workers in the EU are still lagging behind in terms of digital transition. Cities and regions are committed to do their part to support the switch to modern functional digital and green infrastructure in their communities. Regional and local leaders are at work to facilitate partnerships between the public, private, educational and non-profit sectors to implement programs focusing on advanced digital skills and cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber security and high performance computing. European policies and programs need to reflect challenges on the ground by engaging local and regional authorities. The level of governance closest to the people and the level responsible for implementing 70% of EU legislation to address such challenges facilitate the digital transition and open new horizons. Today's EPP local dialogue is an opportunity to discuss the status of the digital transition and the role digitalization can play to ensure economic recovery through resilient cities and regions. Well there you have it. We now start with the first panel devoted to cities and regions in the digital age, delivering on education and the innovation to shape the future of European communities. Dear guests, let me introduce our first speaker, a warm welcome to our president, Olga Geblevich, president of the EPP group in the European Committee of the Regents and president of West Pomeranian region and host of this EPP local dialogue. Dear Olga, we just heard in the video that the pandemic has shown the urgency for all layers of governance including regional and local administrations to accelerate their digitalization process to respond to the greater citizens needs and rapidly adapt to this new context. EU region, the region of West Pomerania, is considered as a leader in innovation for areas such as renewable energy and transports. Can you explain how digitalization impacts on such policies and how do you see a future where digitalization will play an even greater role in driving the choices of political leaders and how EU region makes use of the financial resources made available in the MFF to become even more resilient? Olga, you have the floor for five minutes. Do we have oligarch? It appears that there is a slight glitch. Obviously, this is very important this morning that we hear from all the leaders. I think now we have almost there. Yes, we are connecting. Okay, thanks once again, dear Deidre, dear Commission Gabriel, dear guests and speakers. It is my great pleasure to give you a warm personal welcome also on behalf of all members of the European People's Party in the Committee of Regions. Debating on the issue of digitalization is never enough, especially in the times where we're living through. This is the reason why I strongly wanted to organize a local dialogue on such a topic. In fact, digitalization is a matter that concerns all of us. Making digitalization work for everyone means making citizens life easier, supporting small and medium businesses by simplifying rules and reducing administrative burdens, allowing access to the benefits of the solid digital single market based on free and fair competition and last but not least, empowering citizens' ownership of the democratic rights in the freedoms. The digital transformation of society began well before the occurrence of the pandemic. It is at least a three decades long story. Still, one of the side effects of the pandemic is much amplified awareness among people, among business sector, among public administration on the fast-growing importance for digital connectivity, technologies and services. In one word on the digital transition, in its recently published report, The State of Digital Transformation at Regional Level, the COR has identified a huge number of factors influencing the digital transition at subnational level. Some of them are extremely stimulating. Let me briefly share them with you. First of all, we can see a widespread divide between rural and urban areas in terms of coverage of digital infrastructures. This can slow down competitive advantage that may be generated by digital transformation. There are also differences across European regions in terms of users' digital skills. I'm certain that Commissioner Gabriel will take this issue in a few minutes, so I don't want to go much into details. Secondly, the digitalization of interaction between public authorities and business is still inefficient. This is not happening in all member states, but it still represents a serious threat on the path toward achieving a fair and cohesive digital single market. This is a crucial point for regional and local leaders. Public authorities have the duty to create synergies, to unlock the potential of a swift transformation process of the public and private sectors. As the leader myself of regional government, I can ensure you that an efficient public administration with sufficient managerial vision to invest on digital service can propel a mighty power effect on whole society. Third and last point, strategies for competitiveness, innovation, and growth should be coupled with this for digital transition. Regional authorities should identify providers and beneficiaries for digital services in order to create a truly integrated digital innovation ecosystem. Such an ecosystem must become a living lab where all actors from business actors to education and research institutions and public administration can work hand in hand. Our colleague, Marko, we certainly mentioned all of this in the second panel of local dialogue. Dear Deira, answering to your question on the projects undergoing in my region of West Pomorino region in Poland, yes, of course we have amazing projects of all of this aim to creating a better living standards for our people and often coupled with the two big transitions of our ties, digital and the green one. I am absolutely convinced that the more connected and digital society will also help us deliver on the EU green deal goals. But our projects go beyond that and finally involve many sectors including, for instance, health and public services. Actually, I'm very proud to say that we are one of the pioneers in Poland and the national levels as regard to investments on the digital transition in, for example, health sector. And I would like to make a couple of remarks on that. The West Pomorinian eHealth, it is an ongoing project in my region, worth something like 10 million of euro, co-finance but by EU. And that's the subject of a project is create a regional eHealth platform providing services for patients which can ultimately be used in all medical entities located in my region. It doesn't matter if it is public or private, hospital or facility, regardless on their legal or ownership status, all will be able to use the project results in particular as services and the collection and sharing of electronic medical data at regional level. So we hope that it will be right now after, I think that in next year without any problems we will can smoothly exchange data between all our medical facilities in our region to improve the quality of health care system in my region. And I have to add that it is not first the project we implemented on such a topic, the first one cross-border health care realized by my region and region of Brandenburg for Pomorin. We exactly did the same between some of our hospitals, we create some kind of network of cooperation with the German hospitals to allow the quick exchange of data, what for? To consult, to consult medical services because as you surely know on the both side we still have some kind of shortage just in our medical staff. And second project I would like to mention it is construction of a regional infrastructure of spatial information for West Pomorinian region. It is worth something about 13 million of euro of course co-financed by you as well. And this project is to creation of the ICT system with the aims to develop and modernize intra-administrative A-Service to be provided to our citizens as well to the public administration units. Special planning is still a huge challenge in construction and performance of regional and local development you surely know. And innovative and digital approach to spatial planning I'm sure that will allow us to improve our possibilities in governing our region and growing together. And on the other hand it improves to better access to data for all our citizens as well. So we have two I would say quite interesting very innovative the projects realized in my region if you are more specifically interested in those projects. And wish to know more I would like to provide all the details and information from my team in Brussels and Poland. So dear guests I conclude in here because it's now time to listen to Commissioner Gabriel please do not hesitate here raise your hands in the question and as answers session later when you have question or any comments of any items I mentioned in my intervention thank you once again I'm very delighted that we organize this local dialogue thanks. Thank you very much Agir that's certainly very innovative and you're showing the way to all of us. Let us now move to our next speaker and it is a very great pleasure for me to introduce to you Maria Gabrielle European Commissioner for Innovative Research, Culture, Education and Youth. It is for us a true privilege to address Miss Gabrielle not only is she a passionate advocate of European policies a long-standing friend of the core and she's first of all a woman whose reputation and intellectual company is outstanding and above all committed to serve our communities with pragmatism and responsiveness. We cannot dear Commissioner Gabrielle the floor is yours now. Merci, merci beaucoup je vais m'exprimer en français puisque la possibilité m'est donnée tout d'abord monsieur le président du groupe au comité des régions cher membre c'est un véritable plaisir pour moi de participer dans cet échange je voudrais féliciter du groupe pour l'organisation d'un débat sur un sujet aussi crucial aujourd'hui je voudrais commencer en rappelant que 75% des européens vivent dans les villes et le chiffre devrait passer à plus de 83% en 2050 il est donc primordial que nos stratégies en faveur des villes et des régions prennent en compte cette dynamique c'est pour cela quand on adresse la question de l'éducation et de l'innovation je voudrais d'abord prendre une minute pour dire qu'à la première chose c'est que nous devons tirer les leçons de la pandémie pendant un an et demi quand on parle éducation et innovation dans nos régions nous avons vu qu'elles sont nos forces et qu'elles sont nos faiblesses les faiblesses nous les connaissons il nous faut des équipements il nous faut de la connectivité il nous faut de l'accès à des services nos forces c'est justement le rôle des régions parce que sur place ce sont les principaux moteurs à ce que l'éducation et l'innovation soient accessible à tous et ce qu'on puisse construire de véritables écosystèmes la plus grande leçon pour moi de cette pandémie c'est que nous avons tous vu à quel point le rôle de l'éducation de l'innovation et de la recherche sont crucial mais ce rôle n'est pas une fin en soi ce qu'il nous faudra en premier et là je voudrais remercier le groupe ppe au comité des régions parce que cela fait des années qu'on claim d'avoir de véritables synergies le deuxième point c'est que si on veut réussir l'éducation à l'innovation accessible à tous pour chacune de nos régions il est vrai qu'il est grand temps de transformer les mots synergies entre en quelque chose d'opérationnel sur le terrain en quelque chose de pragmatique et quelque chose qui apporte de bénéfice à nos citoyens et quand je parle de synergies je les examine sur deux plans d'abord des synergies internes il nous faudra bâtir des synergies entre les différents programmes de l'Union européenne en ce qui me concerne c'est une priorité d'avoir de véritables synergies entre le programme horizon Europe le programme Erasmus plus et les fonds de cohésion et le fonds de développement et ici encore une fois le défi c'est de nouveau les régions qui peuvent donner des réponses c'est vous qui savez au mieux comment ces synergies peuvent se traduire en des actions concrètes sur le terrain ce que je voudrais qu'on fasse au niveau européen c'est qu'on facilite le travail des régions la deuxième chose justement des synergies ne sont pas seulement internes entre les différents programmes mais les synergies sont aussi avec les régions et les villes je vois les régions comme de véritables innovation haps ce sont de véritables terroirs de l'expérimentation de projets qui sont inspirants qui apportent de bénéfices et qui permettent à l'Europe de se positionner dans cette nouvelle décennie numérique et cela passe par un processus de co-creation le président vient de parler des questions de gouvernance c'est quelque chose qui à la commission nous tient à coeur également car je dis co-creation cela veut dire ensemble avec les régions et ensemble avec les citoyens de duit le départ de définir les solutions qui sont nécessaires à la région mais ensuite surtout de la mettre en œuvre ensemble avec les citoyens et ensemble avec les régions et j'ai trois exemples le premier exemple c'est notre plan d'action commun avec le comité des régions nous devons bâtir maintenant sur ce plan d'action prévu pour les deux prochaines années pour mettre en avant des initiatives concrètes je donne des initiatives comme avoir des réseaux entre les maires des différentes villes qui travaillent ensemble il y a cinq mois nous avons fait rencontrer pour la première fois les maires des capitaux européennes de la culture avec les capitaux européennes de l'innovation il est vrai qu'aujourd'hui nous avons besoin à ce que les maires des différentes villes puissent travailler ensemble voire des solutions communes et sans censure de leurs bonnes pratiques les deux autres exemples sont l'émission c'est une grande nouveauté du programme horizon europe et le Bauhaus pour l'émission j'aimerais attirer l'attention du groupe sur la mission ville intelligente et neutre pour le climat c'est une mission qui propose d'ici 2030 d'avoir 100 villes européennes climatiquement neutres intelligente et de permettre justement à ces 100 villes d'agir comme des centres d'expérimentation qui inspire et aide toutes les autres villes européennes à être climatiquement neutre d'ici 2050 j'aimerais ici vous encourager à participer dans l'appel à manifestation d'un détail qui sera publié prochainement avant la fin de l'année et qui va justement s'engager ensemble avec les villes dans la poursuite de cet objectif à où l'innovation, les compétences, l'éducation vont de pair avec une co-création avec les citoyens vont de pair avec une prise en considération des spécificités locales et de la spécificité régionale ce qu'on voudrait c'est véritablement ensemble avec les villes de développer le deuxième exemple c'est le Bauhaus européen je pense que ici les régions et les villes ont un rôle crucial à jouer il y a deux semaines nous avons lancé les premiers propositions à appel à des projets nous avons 25 millions d'euros qui sont dédiés à ce que justement nos villes nous disent pour qu'on réussisse le pact ouvert il faut que le domaine de l'éducation de la culture de l'innovation de la recherche travaille ensemble pour qu'on puisse à ce moment permettre de réduire les différences là où cela existe inspirer d'autres et affirmer en véritable leadership européen et ici je voudrais insister sur le fait que nous avons l'accès une action de 2 millions d'euros qui vise à développer des modèles innovants et collaboratifs de gouvernance locale afin de nouer le dialogue avec les citoyens avec les parties prononces et ces travaux vont nous permettre d'identifier les projets emblématiques qui vont englober les trois valeurs fondamentales du Bauhaus un point sur l'innovation c'est mon troisième point après les leçons de la pandémie et les synergies le point sur l'innovation aujourd'hui plus que jamais nous comptons sur les régions pour élaborer un véritable écosystème de l'innovation aujourd'hui nous avons besoin de nos talents et nous avons besoin d'avoir des politiques qui sont adaptées aux besoins locaux et c'est en cela que des instruments sont à disposition des régions je parle du conseil européen de l'innovation ou encore de l'institut européen de l'innovation et de la technologie j'insiste sur l'institut européen de l'innovation et de la technologie sa spécificité c'est que depuis le débat départ on construit un écosystème où l'innovation est ensemble avec l'éducation avec le numérique avec la recherche et c'est pour cela que je lance peut-être un défi pourquoi pas ne pas faire un réseau entre les différents collocation centers où le groupe peut être très actif et de pouvoir identifier ensemble comment on peut s'attaquer à la nécessité d'avoir des gens avec les compétences numériques nécessaires d'avoir une innovation qui promeut les petites moyens entreprises les startups et qui permet à la région de bâtir des capacités afin d'affirmer en leadership le quatrième point c'est sur l'éducation vous savez que nous avons maintenant la décennie numérique et là des ambitions je rappelle 20 millions de spécialistes en ICT d'ici 2030 80% des citoyens européens doivent avoir des compétences numériques de base or aujourd'hui nous sommes à 56% et c'est encore 44% de nos citoyens c'est pour cela je pense que faudra à ce moment avoir une véritable approche holistique nous avons des instruments pour renforcer les compétences numériques de base c'est le plan d'action sur l'éducation numérique c'est l'espace européen de l'éducation je vais donner deux exemples très concrets où nous avons besoin des régions pour les promouvoir concernant les compétences numériques nous avons digital opportunity traineeship nous avons décidé la possibilité de donner ces compétences à 60 000 étudiants et 20 000 apprenaux dans le vocation of education d'ici 2027 un accent ici particulier émis aussi sur les filles nous avons besoin de plus de filles et plus de femmes dans le domaine numérique et ici avec le l'institut européen de l'innovation et de la technologie nous voulons offrir des formations à 40 000 filles évidemment que c'est une base évidemment que ce n'est pas encore la masse critique mais je suis sûre que si les régions ici joignent des forces si on s'unit on peut avoir un impact beaucoup plus grand quand on parle de l'éducation je voudrais souligner en une phrase le rôle des enseignants plus que jamais nos enseignants ont besoin d'avoir accès à des formations je rappelle que plus de 50 % des enseignants européens ont dit pendant la pandémie que c'était leur première expérience c'est pour cela que avec le programme Erasmus plus nous allons créer 25 académies européennes des enseignants afin de donner la possibilité des enseignants de toutes les régions les régions éloignées les régions rurales les régions les régions dans les centres urbaines de pouvoir offrir à leurs enseignants les meilleures formations parce que nous ne le savons jamais les nouvelles technologies vont remplacer les enseignants mais les nouvelles technologies dans les bonnes mains d'un enseignant qui sait quoi faire peut énormément soutenir nos enfants nos talents et la prochaine génération ici j'attire l'attention sur un dernier élément c'est aux régions de nous aider de transformer l'idée du réseau européen de education haps en quelque chose d'opérationnel je le dis avec une petite pensée nous avons tellement de haps digital innovation haps science haps excellence haps maintenant on va avoir des education haps je pense que oui c'est aussi sur les régions qu'on doit se reposer davantage pour remplir de contenu adéquat c'est hap on doit faire quoi dans ce cas on doit avoir un point d'accès pas d'une simple information et des brochures ça doit être un droit où la formation pourrait être offer aux entreprises aux enseignants au service public et ça c'est quelque chose qui me tient à coeur la deuxième la renforcer le lien entre l'université et l'industrie envisager à chaque fois la recherche l'innovation et l'éducation comme un entier et pour cela les villes s'affaire je vais m'arrêter ici je pense que mon message est très clair nous avons un momentum à saisir ce momentum passe par les synergies avec le next generation new and resilience and recovery facility plan nos analyses montrent qu'en termes d'éducation pour la première fois les états membres vont investir 55 milliards d'euros dans l'éducation numérique vont investir 35 milliards d'euros dans la recherche et l'innovation si aujourd'hui on a une chance d'utiliser cet investissement aussi pour faire avancer pour faire changer et pour capitaliser sur les bonnes pratiques c'est grâce aux régions qu'on a plus de chance de le faire et c'est mon message je compte sur vous vous avez notre soutien merci beaucoup thank you commissioner for those very wise words and for setting out your vision and the vision of the european commission especially in the fields of innovation and startups and education of course and it's wonderful to hear about the 25 european academies to assist teachers in their work we look forward to following on from that vision and also thank you for your praise of the european regions and cities it's much appreciated now it's time to move to our third speaker for this panel let me give a warm welcome to mr peter gersack state secretary but also an it solutions expert in the slovenian ministry for digital transformation mr gersack i know that slovenian's digital transformation office was only recently established by the government allow me to say that congratulations that is a clear statement of the importance that your country and your prime minister jasna in particular attaches to the digital transition slovenia is currently holding the presidency of the european council and digital transformation is one of its key priorities can you explain to us what is the mission of your newly established ministry and what are the ideas of the slovenian presidency in terms of progress needed on digital services and markets to set new standards in the use of digital platforms dear state secretary the floor is yours for four minutes thank you thank you very much do you hear me well i can hear you perfectly perfect so dear resident geblevich dear commissioner gabriel your participants of the virtual local dialogue um as a proud slovenians and europeans we strongly believe that slovenia as a proud member of the eu has many strengths including its robust single market openness to international trade highly skilled workforce and world-class innovation centers um i won't touch so much on the on the europe itself but i would like to refer now to your actually to your question um yes recently in slovenia has been established um it is not ministry yet it is government office for digital transformation but still it sits and it can it will it is coordinating the all the digital transformation which is happening among the ministries among the public institutions and among the among the whole society and and in slovenia uh so that's that's basically our goal since slovenia wants to be a next tech star of europe let's put it that way yeah um our president prime minister has established six months ago the the national digitalization council which is actually advising body to to the government and this council is composed of leading entrepreneurs researchers and educators and it took us less than two months to actually draft 40 measures as a first package of of digital transformation measures which will accelerate it accelerate the digital transformation of government services healthcare education and society at the large scale yeah um just for example two of these measures are are digital voucher for life learning for example for promotion of life life along learning of digital skills so beneficiaries will be primary and high school students uh and retirees um and this will be able to redeem the digital voucher with different providers of trainings and and classes yeah of course you know in a training in in a in a in in in terms of it usage of of digital tools um and particular particular emphasis will be also placed on the use of the online services provided by the public admin we know that in slovenia we have fairly developed public services electronic public services tools but the usage is not enough it's only a few percentage yeah uh and the second one is like um virtual administrative point uh we are aware that not all the citizens will be able to go to digital so we will enable citizens to use administrative and other public administration services via secure audio video links um also they will be able to arrange in compo appointments authentication document exchange digital signing and and payments as well so that's and we have like 40 of this the next package of 40 30 40 it's coming in in the next next month and these are what we think that to our prime role which is actually coordinating the the ecosystem of digital transformation in slovenia uh these are then the accelerators which will plug in to the framework and we will greatly accelerate the digital transformation development so now um regarding as you mentioned uh slovenia is holding currently presidency of the council of the EU uh and we are working on many of digital acts like AI act data governance act digital markets act services act so both mentioned last two so digital services and digital market acts um and of course some of the others are priorities of the slovenian presidency and of course AI act of course so um we find very important to prevent the exposure of citizens uh to increasing risks and harmful consequences online and to coordinate it and make more efficient the control over the large platforms and to rebalance the rights and responsibilities of the users intermediary platforms and public authorities um so therefore um the EU will introduce a series of new and harmonized obligations for digital services as you probably know such as rules for the removal of illegal goods services or or or content online new obligations for very large platforms to prevent abuse of their systems conspiracy measures measures including online advertising new rules to help track down sellers of illegal goods or services and enhance cooperation among public authorities to ensure to ensure effective enforcement across the single market um as well artificial intelligence act uh for slovenia is particularly important um so we would like the slovenian presidency to to uh create a high level of trust uh to the technology um and we should develop and use AI in a way that it is responsible AI focused on common interest and on on on people yeah um so we will emphasize ethical uh technology safety and from the mental rights and values of EU citizens which is i think it's very very important also when we are talking about AI for example yeah um so what we need to do here is to maximize investment in into the research uh in in in EU as a as a as a whole i think not only in slovenia um we know that many that uh brain drain is happening also from european union to other countries outside of the of EU so we need to retain uh our researchers in in AI so we need to create more synergies and networks between several european AI research centers and coordinate their their their efforts um so it is also essential that public sector and public administration are rapidly uh being to introduce uh the AI based AI based products and services into their own sorry to intervene uh mr gersik but could you wind up because we have yes i just i'm just having one more sentence perfect so both acts i was talking about um we would like to bring um when our presidency is reaching to the end to the to the general approach as as as much as as possible so thank you and back to you thank you very much wonderful about the digital vouchers and of course your policy on the risks of online and how you're counteracting that um i'll go straight to two questions please one from mr emil bak as the commissioner has to leave very rapidly i'd ask the speaker to keep their questions very brief thank you do we have mr emil bak thank you chair thank you the commissioner it's always a great pleasure to have you with us and thank you for being so close to our local and regional authorities all the time and being present in every corner of europe to support us in a large variety of activities like education culture but not last innovations and ecosystems as i said you are a true inspiration to all of us dear commissioner you said once that innovation cannot be dictated from Brussels but of course can be supported from a european fast perspective i would like to tell you that in our city of plush napoca we we launched last week the very first innovation fund for young people between 16 and 26 and is the very first in the country taking your model to do at the local level and having the the european support last but not least dear commissioner i know how strong you are a supporter against digital divide and innovation divide in europe so from that perspective we you have all our all our support i have one final question how about the european education area portal alongside of the digital education hub are they are they going to be timely in place before the end of the year and i would close my short intervention with a congratulation to the secretary of state from those from sylvania mr peter jeresak because your model of a national digital transformation office it's really a model which can be replicated in many parts of europe at the local or regional level myself in in inclusion apoca rumenia i already established a transformation digital office having your model from the national level so thank you for being a true inspiration again very pragmatic and concrete thank you to both of you thank you emil no could we have marco marco please um thank you thank you very i do not hear mr marco mario cabrioli you have stressed heavily the role of cities and the committee of the regions in implementing as you said today the missions especially the smart cities carbon neutral cities and with the help of new bow house with the help of educational hubs era hubs and so on so we here at the committee of the region and especially with our epp led cities and regions we are doing really much for the very systematic process approach how to make this a reality at the local level because the mission starts from the latest scientific knowledge and it needs to integrate all the way to the innovations and the real life practice so is this something that you feel strongly that can be the missions can they be something more from the bottom up not only that we wait for a year or two years but we mobilize and you stress do you stress heavily that we need to mobilize now the cities and regions to work just an example we could take a Helsinki region a spot to work with sofi akabravo klusna apoca have a pioneering cities on this systematic operational model how to make the transition the renewal to happen for the citizens their benefit thank you thank you mr marcula now maybe commissioner mariel would like to wrap up and answer those questions as i know you'll have to leave urgently thank you thank you very much first of all i must say that the mealbook and mr marcula are an inspiration for me and i i i i i'm very grateful to all your efforts because you can we can see that we are if we are advancing on the ground that's exactly because you know the needs and it always you are always asking for concrete and adequate answers so may our bog just my my my great appreciation for what you have done i very much welcome this idea of the innovation front and i must say that we'll be very glad if we exchange a little bit more because you know that actually we are in a in a co-creation process to have a european innovation ecosystem and of course if there is any chances to scale some of good practices and you have a lot that will be a great pleasure for me with my team to support you yes i might say that that's our intention for the digital education hubs to have to have them at the end by the end of the year because the question again it's not to have another structure where there is an information exchange we don't know between whom my my main main concern is to have this place as access to training because these trainings should be adapted to the local needs to the regional needs and we all know that needs for public administrations are not the needs for vocational education and training or are not the needs for reskilling and upskilling in some sectors of our industry so i i count very much on you here really always to raise how important it is to transform the digital education hubs in a place where our citizens can acquire skills and competencies and can see for opportunities how with these trainings and formations that are offered to them they can have better conditions of life and they can have better careers another important topic here i want to see the digital education hubs as a point of meeting between providers of these services and citizens because we don't talk enough about edtech in europe but edtech is one of the most growing sector for the last one and a half year i now i started this work in july i organized the first round table with the first companies that are very much engaged because we need to work closely with them that's a business model that's opportunities for jobs that's opportunities for economic development of our regions and in rumenia you have very good examples so we count we count on you mr marcoola i don't agree since the beginning that missions are following the approach on top down not at all since the beginning our main concern it was to have a real co-creation process with our citizens and that's why i talked about not only co-creation but especially about co-implementation process that's why for me the bottom up approach is the right one our missions are entering now into a crucial phase now we know what you would like to achieve but you are right we have to ensure the transition and this transition can be adapted can be sustainable can be future oriented if since the beginning we are working closely with regions and that's why for me when we talk about the mission on smart cities climate neutral cities what is important now is to scale all the good practices that already exist you mentioned some of the cities and i can see perfectly well now how all the mayors epp mayors from these cities are united forces and they can in that case propose a new action in in our missions and i don't agree that missions are only about transfer from very high research results or knowledge results to to the to the ground no this time what we want exactly it's to inverse this logic and and to discover and to map and to see thanks to our regions what are the practices that already exist and because there will be united efforts joint efforts because there will be scaling up of the initiative because these models are transferable and inspiring others they can contribute to a european leadership and to a european achievement of the mission of the ambitions of the mission so i very much encourage you again to follow very closely because as i said at the end of the year by the end of the year we'll publish the first course and i'm sure that already with the practices that you mentioned i see here a perfect candidate to be leaders to be leaders in this in this mission thank you very much commissioner and i wonder does mr gerserk like to come in there with the question mr gerserk yeah do you hear me yes thank you very much yeah my question actually is how how europe is on the european commission level is thinking to bridge the digital gap in the infrastructure because we have for example in slovenia like 86 percentage of coverage of white spots but the coverage of the last 10 percent or 15 16 14 percent it's it will be very quite hard and probably governments will need some more money in especially in rural areas where the where the landscape is hilly in order to cover this so that's basically my question on the on the infrastructure level thank you so finally commissioner mario gabriel to reply our member states have this money at this moment that they are disposed of it thanks to the resilience and recovery facility plus because when you look at it's the different plus that are submitted and that we received i must say that it's very encouraging to see that our member states have taken some lessons from the pandemic and when we talk about connectivity and equipment they decided to make a great effort but that's why i'm always saying the question is not just to have equipment and connectivity the question is to have the people with the right skills to use them if teachers if they are not well equipped there is no access for for for the different levels of competency some people that they have them that will not serve for something and that's why here i have another concrete examples it's my initiative that i already proposed with the digital education action plan and very soon that will start is connectivity for schools we all know that in rural in remote areas the connectivity it's not at the level that we would like to see and that's why using our experience wi-fi for you and i must say that that was a good success story we need to promote now's connectivity for schools schools in rural and remote areas where we can provide them a voucher in order to have free access with good speed of internet immediately after again for me it's good to talk to our children and to our teachers about artificial intelligence virtual reality but if again they don't have the right competency skills the possibility to have trainings and to reskill to up skill to discover this this world that will be very difficult for them that's why in parallel we have to pay attention to blended learning we have to pay attention to vulnerable groups and we have to pay attention how together with our member states this time this critical enormous mass of investment will be used for reforms for inclusiveness and for sustainability thank you commissioner and finally can we thank you for your attendance here today and we appreciate that you have a very busy schedule so we bid you farewell thank you thank you very much it's always my pleasure and again congratulations to the EPP group in committee of the region's important topics concrete solutions and joint efforts so thank you very much thank you and now moving on and it's my great pleasure to show you two contributions sent in by members of the EPP group in the european committee of the regions who will share with us their views on the subject so let me start with the message of Mr. Emil Bok, mayor of Cluj in Napoca and former prime minister of Romania the city of Cluj Napoca hosts the largest and most renowned university in Romania in his role as mayor of the city Mr. Bok is designing and implementing very inspiring policies aimed at using his own words at making the city an extension of the campus with opportunities for learning and making a difference so we will now launch the video according to André Malreau the future of cities and regions will be digital or it will not be we cannot slow or stop the entrance of the digital tools into our day-to-day lives nor should we want to for that matter beyond the hard challenges that this reality arises for the public administration the context is one that will ensure a better access for all to public services and also will make our cities and villages more inclusive therefore me as a mayor I strongly welcome this new normal the digital future of us all what is important for us the leaders of communities today is to ensure that digital transformation is done in the most direct ethic and safe way that can positively be done and also to work with soft measures into making this journey together with the citizens that need to be part of the co-design of our common future the infrastructure both hard and soft that the digital transformation process implies can be one of the main economical boosters that Europe can find in these challenge times as we are passing together COVID-19 disruption not only showed the urgent need to adapt to new ways of working and living but also accelerated acceptance and common engagement in the process of digital transformation making this historic journey from one era to the other can be the most resilient and participative way human being passed in the new fourth industrial revolution and here in Europe we are the ones best equipped for such an outcome so together we can take Europe Europeans cities regions villages to a place where we all share services products and lifestyles in symbiosis with the digital environment in a safe space that ensure free and equal access to all the best quality of life possible all this while fueling the new european economy generated by the digital transformation process supported by the european commission mission and values green digital and resilient thank you thank you emil that was wonderful and now we have another video a second contribution which comes from mrs rome carrier who is a teacher at city council in clairvoy in luxembourg and also the committee of the region's repertoire for the european commission commission proposal on youth employment support let's listen listen to her message together dear president gilovich dear chair colleagues and guests i'm particularly pleased that the debate today is devoted to the role of digitalization to support recovery and resilience this is the topic that touches upon all layers of the society no one excluded as a core reporter on the youth employment support the so-called youth guarantee i wish to share with you some thoughts that i hope will contribute to your discussion and preside the on the role of digitalization in support to the employment of young people i would like to express my gratitude to president gebelovich for asking my point of view and i'm happy to see that there are so many interested and committed guests following the pp core event online and physically as well to start i believe we all should ask ourselves what young people want and what they expect us to deliver as it was recently stressed by the european youth forum at the time of the publication of the youth guarantee in 2020 young people want to pursue their personal ambitions access quality education and training find a decent job which provide long term security fair pay and learning opportunities answering to the second question they want us to deliver credible policies translated into concrete and tangible initiatives transparent information and simple but effective communication as part of a border strategy under the european social fund plus the youth guarantee with its still uncertain financial resources and its limited scope in asian time cannot meet all the expectations alone but gives a strong signal of the attention of european union for the needs of young generations in showing young people have adequate digital skills is a top priority for the european strategy aiming at reducing disparities and not employing employment among young people up to 29 years old the against together with other societal changes the digitalization and technological change are new on the top of the list of the priorities facing job market young people need effective support to handle changes in the labor market and need to be upskilled and whisked to face transitions the consumption of ict and digital media among young people has created the myth of the digital ladies and it the idea that young people who grow up surrounded by digital technologies intuitively know how to use them and how to avoid the risk of spending time online however when it comes to the use of the technology and on the internet there is a clear preference given to communication and entertainment activities including participation in the social networks while engagement in more advanced tasks is rather limited for example only 13 of the young people have engaged in programming activities 11 percent have taken part in online consultations or voting the defined and defined political civic issues and just 10 percent have engaged in online training and many subjects basic digital skills represent a must for participation in rapidly changing society and the labor market actions undertaken by the european commission such as the recent proposed digital education action plan the reinforced skill agenda and again the reinforced guarantee will have an impact that all remains to be analyzed after the full deployment of the provision included in the multi-annual financial framework and in the meantime what regional and local authorities can do to support digital skilling and reskilling all the young people so what stakeholders in the youth tell us that there is a shortage of skilled workers in many european countries is predicted for the future and already exists today the time to trace skilled workers for tomorrow of tomorrow is now already now today the youth guarantee scheme can and should contribute to this also with the vision of regional and with local administrators they participate in the policy making participating in the outreach and mapping phase or the reinforced youth guarantee therefore they need appropriate financial resources from both national and EU budgets to reinvest it in achieving real professional integration especially of vulnerable young people they boost information making sure that sufficient budget is allocated by the central government in the frame of the european social fund and inform their citizens accordingly they create synergies when driven by sufficient motivation and management spirit they can help establishing private and public partnerships aiming at organizing training ship and apprenticeship to provide digital learning for young people which can help them to decide on their future career and develop their digital skills in order to access permanent employment especially micro as well as small and medium-sized enterprises do not have a loan the means to do it without the support of a dynamic local authority dear guests these are only a few ideas for me my side and i hope can provide some food to your thoughts in your already paid today i conclude by wishing you all the best of the outcome of this initiative thank you thank you miss carrie for that inspiring discussion and now we'll go straight to our second panel because we are caught for time and i would like to introduce and start with our friend and colleague marco madcola this session is on tackling the digital divide for europe's recovery local and regional authorities for competitive and resilient europe marco is chair of ispo city board and president of Helsinki region marco as an expert in the field and an engineer yourself what are the main challenges and obstacles you identify for regions and cities to close the digital gap which recommendations would you give to a regional and local administrator to overcome such obstacles and do you believe that investing on a high quality digital education ecosystem in the u can help achieve the digital transition and i'd ask you to please keep your speech to five minutes thank you marco um thank you thank you very much for the kind and challenging introduction and as well your questions let me first stress heavily that the key with digitalization is that it needs to be embedded in all the processes it's not a separate issue it's not the technology equipment making miracles but it's really that we learn to use that for the benefit of let's say everything especially in education so that all children or grown up adults lifelong learners use that in their own daily life and that's why what demil box stressed a bit earlier about this digital innovation hubs and their role in the city development that is the crucial point and the my kind my kind of kind of personal commitment for our epp led cities within the cr is for the next couple of years is that every city needs to renew its operating model to ensure its future as a sustainable citizen city and as a digital society based on open innovative collaboration and competitive sustainable growth businesses so we cannot think cities as a separate public sector organizations but the growth companies small company startups they are all crucial for the future of cities and that means that the welfare future will be invented by and inside the cities and and villages that's why i was very pleased to hear maria cabriel to stress that these emissions they are not from the top down but they are co-creating new innovations they are kind of co-inventing the future she had very challenging a few words there that i don't repeat all but that was the key message there and definitely it means that we the epp local leaders want the future to be sustainable we will operate on all the dimensions of sustainability economic and ecological social and i stress heavily cultural cultural so it's it's all forms of learning arts design especially the key message is coming now from the EU initiative the new Bauhaus the mental growth and that's why the cultural dimensions mention of sustainability is so crucial and that this development to sustainability can only be achieved by the help of societal innovations which are strongly supported by technological innovations digitalization and progress and this is why we always we need to use the new artificial intelligence robotics all those that embed those to be supporting the services at the and at our cities and there let me just stress that what does it mean in very concrete form because i've just led last week the strategy negotiations of my city espo with all the political groups and we agreed on a few kind of spare heads for the next for your program period and we started the services that services are provided by the entire city community not just the city organization companies organization other communities they form this ecosystem which commission a Gabriel stress so this is where the digitalization is and can help a lot and i'm happy in the future to share with our other e people at cities let's work together and make this progress within the missions and with the other you initiate this because they are now commission is providing so many new instruments to our hands and it's up to us to build this operational model and i'm happy to share how we do that in in practice with my city for the future of europe so in a way answering as well the future the conference of the future so how we get the citizens to feel that europe is bringing so much added value thank you thank you mr marcoola as always a fountain of knowledge and experience and thank you for offering to share that expertise with everyone else we'll now go to a short video from and mr surson which will be five minutes and we watch this together thank you ladies and gentlemen greetings to the european week of cities and regions from the municipality of doniz studenke which is situated 250 kilometers from prague in the northeast of the czech republic we are a true rural region i came back after studies in prague and Copenhagen after internship in the european union in brussels and i felt somehow natural to come back to my born region maybe it was because my mother was a mayor in that time and my grandfather used to be a mayor of our municipality before it's already 11 years i work as a mayor in this municipality and i wished so that the example i made 11 years ago was a trend in the rural areas it means so that young people come back to the rural areas european union is standing at the crossroad in this moment and we are facing a huge challenge of the future of the rural areas i'm persuaded that digital transformation can bring back future to the rural areas tools like smart villages or community let local development which can engage people to plan their own future can bring back the quality of life to the rural areas thanks to the technologies you can work from home you can study for home your doctor can visit you through technologies to your home you can communicate with the state from your living room one of my friends he lives here in a timber house four kilometers from here and he's designing high-speed railways from his timber house on the other hand i hope that even in the digital era young people will still party in this nice countryside instead of meeting each other on internet that we still will have possibility to go for a beer to a pub to discuss issues with our friends that the local churches will stay ahead of the communal life one of the crucial projects we are now doing in my municipality is building up broadband infrastructure we have been planning it for three years one year ago the average connectivity of our citizens was from four to eight megabytes per second it was too slow to work from home it was too slow to study from home even for me it was much easier to sit in a car and bring application for a grant to the post office four kilometers in Schumberg then to upload it by electronic means today every citizen of our municipality can thanks to the combination of three different technologies enjoy connectivity of 150 to 1000 megabytes per second i already feel effect there is a lot of young people from the region who would like to move to our municipality and live here but smart villages are not just about technologies they are first of all about people and their smart ideas also social innovations are very important for the future of rural areas behind me you can see a castle from 16th century which we change using two million euros from three different european funds into a unique integrated project combining social flats where mentally handicapped people are living with social cafe where they are working they just move three floors by a lift there is also a big family center which is attracting a lot of people and young people from the region there is also a space for community school from NGOs for seniors there are flats where young people seniors or the minorities are living another pilot project we are now preparing on the level of olomodes region is focused on telemedicine concretely on the pregnancy diabetes future mothers thanks to that will not have to travel 120 kilometers through mountains to the regional hospital but they will stay at home and measure the level of diabetes themselves and just the data will travel to the regional hospital and will be investigated rural areas are not a museum rural areas are smart remember europe starts in rural areas thank you redim very inviting background and views there i must say no i'm extremely pleased to give a warm welcome to our friend Eva Medell member of the EPP group in the european parliament and president of the european movement international serving on the committee of industry research and energy as well as the special committee of artificial artificial intelligence in a digital age dear Eva very welcome to you thank you for accepting our invitation some of our questions are what are the most advanced sectors which are the ones that still lag behind and need to be further supported by EU policies and the european parliament will be discussing the draft proposal for regulation and artificial intelligence what is the key crucial point of contact between AI and digital transition i would like to also ask your point of view on the real state of play of the digital divide in the EU are you of the opinion that member states would also regions and cities are on the right path to reach the swift and well functioning digital transition over to you Eva thank you very much Deidre good afternoon everyone that's indeed many questions out there i'll try to be as concise as possible but first of all thank you for having me to the committee of the regions and to the EPP group it's always a pleasure to exchange views with you particularly happy to hear also Marco Marco with whom we have discussed the subject extensively over the past couple of years but also the president and mayors from various regions and understand specificities when we talk about the digital divide i always kind of have a little bit of a of a of an inner laugh in a way and you wonder why well perhaps the reason is because it was more than 10 years ago that the world economic forum came with this important report on how to bridge the digital divide well here we are in 2021 not being able to solve that problem in its entirety and i'm very happy that we have good examples of projects of attempts that we could ideally amplify and most importantly try to you know adapt to other regions and perhaps find the possibility of implement similar projects there as well um i'm vulgarian as some of you know and i can see the digital divide on a daily basis i was born in sofia and i'm very happy to say that sofia today is becoming one of the best places in europe to build a startup we have a lot of talent we have a fast-speed internet we have good higher education wages are are relatively low people are motivated creativity is endless but in the same time we have young people that are leaving the countryside leaving rural areas where the remaining population is detached from many of the advantages of the modern world including the digital access to diverse information public services and human connection but i have to say that it is not either or it's not a black and white story so many places have very different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to digitalization as we have just heard and seen so i think the first issue to recognize is really the importance of looking very closely and this is why local and regional government governance are so important i have to say that there is a way of dealing with the digital divide but as you might know i'm also very interested in the revolution of skills so this is why i also would like to make an emphasis today on that point if we look at data if we look at statistics we're going to see that 40 percent of the companies report that they cannot find suitable skilled candidates for jobs openings in europe therefore addressing the issue of re-skilling and scaling up and upskilling is really necessary i think today it will be important to ask ourselves what kind of skills will be needed for the next decade not only for the months to come but what skills are needed for jobs that do not exist currently but of which we are going to be quite sure they will be there in the next few years to come what again data and estimation show is that 65 percent of the children entering school will graduate and work in a job that does not exist today so many of those jobs will be in the digital sphere and will be less and less bound to one place so digital if done right has the potential of bridging the digital divide between places of current opportunity and misery so what can the EU do to foster skills while respecting this national prerogatives i believe is one of the questions we want to address well recently the president of the commission has said that we need the european council dedicated education and i'm very happy she said that i've been repeating that all over and over again for the past couple of years even i believe in some meetings that were set up by the committee of the regions and the ebb group but i think there's also a local element to skill that national and regional authorities can better take care because those education systems are so different and i think where the EU can help is with helping national and regional governments to think through the most difficult aspects of this decade long transition and that is what will the demand be what are the fundamental trends around which we should redesign our education system and its governance how can we bring new skills into companies public institutions in academia to be part of that process and perhaps just finally i think we need to remember that the education system is a very robust system changes take time changes will affect the labor market in 10 to 15 years so we need to make sure that the european union is there to support national and regional governments to stay on that course and this is why i very much you know admire the work of mayors of regional governance of everyone that's involved in the regional institutions because you kind of are faced with the demands at first hand and you have to deal with them sometimes very very quickly and your expertise and your knowledge is absolutely key for us within the Brussels bubble in the Brussels institutions to be able to address those concerns in the most effective way possible and this is why i'm always very happy to be joining your discussions because i learn a lot and this enables me to bring back those messages into their respective committees in the european parliament so thank you very much for having me thank you very much Eva it was a pleasure to listen to you and certainly you're a woman on top of your brief we can easily say that and can i go straight now to a video from Hannah Dinovska mayor of the city of Łódź in poland please and this city is becoming a vibrant center of research and a living laboratory for innovative urban green and digital solutions can we go to the video please directive the city of Łódź, which represents the United Metropolis of Poland with the resolution of the 12 largest cities in Poland, engages in intensive legislative work to regulate these friendly in the threat of new technology in the administration to create a better and advanced digital administration, we must also have appropriate competencies and courage, difficulties associated with this, in my opinion, should more and more convince us to take the initiative to work together and exchange experience the possibility of transferring services and digital components should be key to reducing costs and accelerating the threat of these technologies in our local communities, the second aspect of the digital era on which I would like to pay attention is the necessity of the approval of the local and independent authorities, which guarantees us the passing of the European the local government with new regulations about digitalization the experience of the last few years shows how it is important and difficult to think about, I will only mention a lot of court cases concerning the supply of applications used to rent cars, so-called car sharing, small electric vehicles, night shift orders, or the issue of people and directives in this area, issued in this area, the application of the current regulations have an important impact on our right to design local, public, residential and transport policies, but also on the income of the local authorities, to emphasize the importance of this agreement, it is worth pointing out the future regulations that are going to be developed in a more international way, for example, the regulations related to the operation of digital platforms, autonomous vehicles, drones, or artificial intelligence, more and more often, these regulations take the role of the European Union, and not the directives, which is an important limit of the possibility of the influence of the devices in the form of these regulations on the level of the national law, so it is necessary to increase our commitment to the European Union, the region has to actively take part in creating these regulations and take care of considering the position of the devices in these acts. Well, thank you, that was a lovely video from Hannah Dinovsky, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate her for the excellent work she's doing for her citizens, and for further reviving their living spaces. We are due to close shortly because the interpreters do have to go, and unfortunately, we don't have much time for questions and answers, and the transmission will end automatically. Following on from this, I would like to thank all the guests and all the participants this morning, and all the people who contributed to this online debate. Thanks to the interpreters and the back room, Carl, Linda, Rilucha, and Barbara for their help in this event this morning. Please continue the debate online with hashtag EPP local dialogue. I wish you all a pleasant day and good work in your future work. Thank you.