The first GCD eBFC was successfully launched in Eschborn

On 1st July 2010 Mayor Angela Spizig and some invited Mayors, High Political Representatives (HPR) of local authorities and their c-level executives took part in the first conference of three which was held at the Cisco Customer Briefing Centre in Eschborn. The participants debated over “the city transformation in an ageing society”, an issue particularly acute for German cities as the German population is shrinking.

Two experts in this field, Dr. Ole Wintermann from the Bertelsmann Foundation and Diogo Vasconcelos from the Cisco's Internet Solutions Business Group (ISBG), kindly shared their know-how with the participants and presented ICT tools offering some solutions to the societal challenges related to the demographic change.

Participants had finally the occasion to exchange their own experience and initiatives, express their opinions and fears on the topic and ask questions to the experts. The first GCD eBFC proved to be a pertinent platform facilitating the discussion of political representatives on this specific topic.

The next conference is due to take place 30 September 2010 in Hallbergmoos, near Munich, focussing on “intelligent use of ICT to help master the financial crisis at the local level”, once more under the patronage of Mayor Angela Spizig, city of Cologne and member of the GCD Steering Committee.

Participation in the GCD nationwide conference series is only by invitation: interested Mayors and HPRs of local authorities in Germany and Europe may contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for receiving more detailed information on the upcoming events.

 Pictures are available here. A summary of the kick-off event will be provided soon. 

The GCD eBCF is friendly supported by Cisco Systems.