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The Malta CIP National Contact Point together with the Malta-EU Steering & Action Committee (MEUSAC) organised an international seminar entitled “ICT-enabled sustainability in “smart” cities” at Le Meridian Hotel in St Julians on the 3rd March 2010. This information and networking event was addressed by the Hon. Minister Dr. Austin Gatt, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, the Hon. Dr Chris Said, Parliamentary Secretary for Consumers, Fair Competition, Local Councils and Public Dialogue, as well as by other high calibre speakers, including officials from the DG Information Society within the European Commission.
Malta, like the entire Europe, is facing today the need to speed-up economic growth through higher productivity, innovativeness and competitiveness, but in a manner that ensures a sustainable and rational use of resources. ICT has now become one of the main infrastructures and an obvious enabler for the achievement of long-term sustainability, within “smarter” societies. Malta’s size and geographical location, its highly developed ICT infrastructure and commitment to sustainable growth, makes it a great “test-bed” for new ICT solutions and infrastructure paradigms, and thus a “catalyst” for their expansion and development into the Euro-Mediterranean region.
In this context, the aim of this event was to provide information on the specific funding opportunities existing under themes 1 and 4 of the 2010 ICTPSP, and served also as a meeting place for representatives of public administration, academia, business and civil society from across CIP member countries, giving them the occasion to establish direct communication channels and set the base for joint projects and further collaborations. To this end, the event was structured so as to allow for two parallel networking sessions, each focused on one of the above mentioned themes. During these sessions, the participants were able to briefly present: