Facilitating the Co-design of the First Smart City and Digital Transformation Strategy for Timișoara

The Smart City and Digital Transformation Strategy 2022-2027, initiated by the Municipality of Timișoara, reflects the distinctive strategic response of the city to the global trends of digitalisation and sustainability.

Luminspino acted as designer and facilitator for the entire process leading to the creation of the strategy, deploying a wide range of activities to elaborate the complete document:

  • Design of the process framework, working principles, roadmap and internal logic;
  • Adapting the public policy, smart city and innovation management methodological instruments to the specific needs and objectives of each stage of the process;
  • Data and information analysis, processing and content presentation;
  • Integration of the collected and processed data and information, in a structured mannered, prioritised and optimised, within the content of the strategy; 
  • Elaboration of the concept for the 3 online consultations, with over 500 stakeholders,  as well as processing of the results;
  • Complete facilitation of the 3 Steering Group workshops and 2 large-scale events during the process;
  • Permanent communication with the coordinator from the City Hall of Timisoara, as well as with the members of the Steering Group and other local actors; 
  • Design of the structure of the strategy, in accordance with the objectives of the entire endeavour; 
  • Complete drawing up of the strategic document.

Moreover, Luminspino brought along four valuable “peer-review” experts from the international arena:

  • Oesha Thakoerdin – Co-Founder, Director and Board Member of WEnergy Global, and Expert with the World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank 
  • Colm McColgan – Director at Donegal Digital Innovation Company and General Manager of ERNACT – European Regions Network for the Application of Communications Technology 
  • Tamas Gyulai – Smart City expert for industrial clusters at Szombathely and President of the Regional Innovation Agency of South Great Plain 

The Motto of the Smart City and Digital Transformation Strategy Timișoara 2022-2027 is “Innovation Made Accessible to Everyone!”, the Vision is “Timișoara 2027: European location of choice for human resources engaged in developing innovative products”, and the Mission is “Boosting the city’s evolution by tapping into the citizens’ collective intelligence”.

The seven Ambitions of the strategy encompass:

  • ”The City for All”, ”The Sustainable City” and ”Intelligent and Impactful Public Investments” represent the foundation of the Smart City Timișoara, the access to appropriate RESOURCES, in terms of favourable environment conditions, effortless interactions between the city and its inhabitants, and public investments that are positively perceived during everyday life
  • ”Every Citizen Has a Voice” and ”Smart City is Fun City Timișoara” represent the capacity of the Smart City Timișoara to create rapport and fellowship with the inhabitants, the HUMAN-CENTRIC approach. As public decisions will rely more and more on citizens’ consultation, the city will become the favourite place for work and fun, and especially for the feeling of “home” and “belonging”. 
  • ”Vibrant Innovation Ecosystem” and ”Timișoara – An Attractive City for International Talent” represent the upper level of the Smart City Timișoara, the authentic capacity to generate value and innovation, and to COLLABORATE, which would count in the benchmarking with other European cities. These two Ambitions target the setting-up of the internal conditions for competitiveness, as well as the city’s ability to become a “magnet” for talents, beyond the national borders.

The complete document is available here.

What do the international experts think about the Smart City and Digital Transformation Strategy of Timișoara?

Charles de Monchy: ”Enthusiastic reactions of the participants in the online consultations, as well as excellent vision, coupled with a clear matrix with the aim to make things practical. Great variety of participants and complexity of knowledge involved in the process of co-design. All the ingredients needed to start implementation are into place!”

Tamas Gyulai: “Great bottom-up and co-creation approach – smart city generation 3.0 in Timisoara! The strategy is inclusive for all sectors, which is a positive aspect, while the focus on talent retention and attraction is a sound differentiating feature of the strategy.”

Colm McColgan: “A very clear strategy, as well as the process and methodology, governance and concrete plans. I would suggest prioritising Ambition 3 (Vibrant Innovation Ecosystem), as the forefront of implementation.”