Smart Regions

In September 2006 the town of Wevelgem launched an online single contact point. Requests and incident reports sent in by citizens are captured via different channels (telephone, fax, e-mail, website, desk,...), tracked throughto the organization from registration until completion.

In 2006-2007 a new strategic plan for a the region “Zuid-West-Vlaanderen” was developed. As part of the vision-building process, a youth consultation initiative was set up called “Phare West” (www.pharewest.be). The question “What would you do for the region if you had one million Euro?” was launched on a specially designed website. More than 3,000 reactions were sent in and 30 young professionals volunteered for a two-day brainstorming camp. To keep the flame of enthusiasm burning, a wiki was set up for the volunteers, thus enabling joint editing of the combined manifesto.

Obtaining affordable, quality child day care, especially for children under the age of 6, is a major concern for many parents. Child day care needs are met in different ways. Care in a child

The business mapping application of Waregem allows the city to understand and see all the information relating to all the businesses on its territory, irrespective of where this information comes from: federal, Flemish or from its own data sources. Waregem was the very first municipality in Belgium to obtain a full and up-to-date picture of all its (4,500) companies. Information about all these companies is available electronically, including: the nature of activities, location of activities, number of employees, annual account, export destinations etc.

One of the key conditions for offering back-office integrated electronic services is that all connectivity bottlenecks between government departments should be solved. A typical characteristic of a local authority is that its buildings are scattered around the municipal territory. Cost-effective solutions were engineered for six local authorities to solve this Missing Link connectivity bottleneck. The solutions were characterized by a pragmatic overview of the best available technology (like fiber, laser and radio) while taking opportunities into account (a high building).

The goal of the E-government Academy seminars was to share experiences, expertise and approaches (organizational, services offered, regional economic approaches, ICT-tools) between the participating regions. The workshops were intended to challenge mindsets and to foster thinking 'out of the box'. Each partner organized several workshops for specific target groups on specific topics, usually at the beginning of a project' phase. National and international experts were invited to these workshops.

Libraries are increasingly the cornerstones for service salivery (could this be providing services) in local authorities. Libraries - and librarians - have a potentially important role to play in today's knowledge society. However the labor-intensive in-out procedures for books results in repetitive and uninspiring work for librarians, limited opening hours, error-prone procedures and no added value. In may 2006 the book traffic in the library in Avelgem was completely automated and linked to electronic identity cards.

One of the main aims of the LoG-IN project is to improve the exchange of data between local and higher administrative levels by using technical networks. This serves to optimize the quality of local government administrative services for regional business by way of electronic services, with a resultant increase in competitiveness. The supply and processing of spatial data has a central role to play in the project. The LoG-IN Generic Information Infrastructure is a powerful internet infrastructure shared by 35 local authorities from 3 countries.

POGO standard (Personen, Organisaties en Groepen Opvraagbaar) was developed and includes the first version of an xml-schema and white paper. A test site with web services was implemented and evaluated by the steering group as being successful. In the first half of 2007 the project was demonstrated as good practice during a brainstorming session on e-government for local authorities in Flanders (14 and 15 march).

Physical access issues, such as insufficient computing and telecommunications infrastructure, high costs or unreliable services tend to produce digital divides. To overcome social, cultural, educational, and spatial isolation, the city of Kortrijk/Courtrai has put 8 public internet access points into service in the city centre as well as in the surrounding rural communities. Being a multifunctional and secure platform, PIAPs give citizens the opportunity to consult digital services in their own community for free. The applications offered on the platform are highly accessible.