“Will smart cities ever live up to the hype?”, asks Simon Giles at Mindtrek

For the second year in a row, Smart City will be one of the main focuses at the international technology conference Mindtrek held every year in Tampere, Finland. Smart city development is not only a hot topic in Tampere where Smart Tampere program by the city of Tampere was launched last year, but all over the world with city after another declaring themselves smart.

The Smart City Event at Mindtrek consists of inspiring speeches, lightning talks and workshops. This year the focus is on themes such as Smart Mobility, Digital Learning, Smart Lighting and City of Things. Special emphasis is put on the citizen’s perspective.

Our most respected speakers in the field of Smart City are Jacques Vermeulen from Nokia, Simon Giles from Accenture and José Quádrio Alves from CGI.

Jacques Vermeulen is Nokia’s Global Go-to-Market Lead for Smart Cities developing strategy, solutions, partnerships and business. He is passionate to tap into his ICT, digital video, Smart City ecosystem and customer experience in order to help build a sustainable urban development. At the Smart City Event at Mindtrek he will speak about how “Smart Cities in Search of Sustainability Will Need.. Sustainable Smart City Solutions”.

Simon Giles leads the Global Cities practice within Accenture Health and Public Service. His aim is to support cities, counties and new urban developments to deliver better outcomes for citizens through the innovative use of technology, in combination with new business and governance models. He might give us an answer on the question: “Will Smart Cities Ever Live Up To The Hype?”

José Quádrio Alves is a Vice President in CGI’s Strategic Industry Consulting. He leads CGI’s Global Future Cities and Regions initiative, addressing multiple industries, sharing CGI’s Future Cities Vision and Best Practices with clients around the world. He will talk to us about “Smart City Ecosystem and Values”.

The city of Tampere is the main partner of Mindtrek, leading the change into a smart city through a strategic economic development program, Smart Tampere. City of Tampere and Smart Tampere will be present at the seminar, showcasing its ongoing and future smart city projects.

Smart Tampere program consists of two parts: creating smart city ecosystems and digitalizing the city’s services. The aim is to have all the services digitalized by 2025. The program aims for innovative and digital smart city solutions through cooperation between companies, organizations, municipalities and citizens. This means better services for citizens as well as new business opportunities for companies by creating access to international markets in other smart cities of the world.
 

Further information about Smart Tampere:
Tero Blomqvist
Smart Tampere Program Director
+358 50 585 1080
tero.blomqvist@tampere.fi

Further information about Mindtrek:
Jenna Tuominen
Conference Coordinator, Mindtrek
+358 400 41 5858
jenna.tuominen@mindtrek.org