gathered in Brussels, 28 May 2010, on the occasion of this year's GCD Spring Summit of Mayors

 

 

"I need you" were the words that Commissioner Kroes used for calling on the members of the GCD-Steering Committee who listened to her speech that closed the morning session of the GCD Spring Summit. "The primary platform for all of this is, of course, the internet. Which is why fast and ultra-fast internet is so important for a truly digital future." Indeed some 30% of the Europeans have never used the internet, because they are not digital natives or they simply do not have the access or enough skills to use the internet due to their age, social or educational constraints. These are also the core features having impact on the Europeans' digital experience and that GCD is pursuing to improve since 1999. 

 

Twice a year the GCD-Steering Committee meets in the framework of Summit of Mayors for debating on current issues of local relevance and learning from each other. New this year: Pol Vanbiervliet, Managing Director Cisco Belgium and Luxembourg welcomed the Spring Summit and provided the background technology for allowing a smooth run of the dialogue of Mayors and invited guests within Europe and between Asia and Europe who participated also via Telepresence from Tokyo, Helsinki and Milan, a high definition system allowing the users to attend any event independently from their location. 

 

"Trusting digital identity services" and "how to fight against digital poverty" were this year's two round tables that were moderated by Baudoin de Sonis (e-Forum) and Pastora Valero (Cisco Europe). 

 

The Belgian city of Saint Gilles, the Finnish city of Helsinki, the French city of Issy-les-Moulineaux and the Global Business Dialogue on e-society (GBDe) from Tokyo analysed the current situation on the e-ID card and shared their worse case scenarios and good practices with the audience in Belgium.

 

Bilateral cooperation between Africa and Europe/Asia for reducing digital poverty as well as multilateral collaboration between cities, business partners and the civil society for increasing capacity building in less developed regions are crucial issues that GCD is pursuing vigorously since its creation a decade ago: the Korean city of Guro, the city of Luxembourg, the Senegalese city of Rufisque, the Italian city of Segrate, the Congolese city of Dolisie and the German NGO "Senegal und Freunde", meanwhile key concerted actors in helping to fight against the digital divide in Africa, reported on the GCD-initiatives and shared their latest experiences.

 

On the occasion of the Spring Summit 2010 Mayor Angela Spizig, city of Cologne, announced the first GCD nationwide conference series in Europe for briefing German political and c-level executives at the local level that will be launched on Thursday, 1 July 2010 in Eschborn, near Frankfurt am Main, at the Cisco Customer Briefing Centre.

 

Chairman André Santini invited Commissioner Kroes to consider the concerns and expectations of 200 member cities worldwide towards the Digital Agenda and to continue the just started valuable dialogue between GCD and the European Commission on the Digital Agenda that has been recently launched by Commissioner Kroes.