The conference starts with a welcome by Geert Mareels, Flemish e-Government Manager. The Citadel Statement: European policy to support local e-Government will be presented by Dr. Julia Glidden, managing director, 21c Consultancy Ltd, followed by "Modernising government to shape a better future" by Prof. Carlota Perez, the Author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: the Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages. She is a researcher, lecturer and international consultant, specialised in the social and economic impact of major technical change for growth, development and competitiveness.

Daniël Termont, Mayor Ghent will reflect on the Citadel Statement, followed by "I-scan tool. E-government: a new chance or a new problem?" by Sabine Rotthier, University College Ghent. The I-Scan has been presented on the Smart Cities academy on personalised services (May 2009). Cisco presents "Innovations in Mobile Communication for Emergency services".

Open data

"Opening up public data to improve transparancy and efficiency" is brought by Paul Davidson, Chief Information Office of Sedgemoor District Council. Director of the Local e-Government Standards Body. Paul represents local government on the UK Cabinet Office Chief Technical Officers Council and manages work in their Information Domain. He is introduced by Smart Cities as speaker.

Jos Creese, Head of IT, Hampshire County Council and President, Society of IT Management, UK presents "Tomorrows public services today"

Information doesn’t want to be free, people do

Famous author Cory Doctorow (photo) is brought by Smart Cities. Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of the or Teens/HarperCollins UK novels like FOR THE WIN and the bestselling LITTLE BROTHER. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London.

The copyright reform movement is often caricatured with the phrase, "Information wants to be free." But the moral principle behind free access isn't about avoiding payment: it's about access to culture, about good science, and about a fair deal for taxpayers and citizens.”

Launch Citadel Statement

The conference ends with a talk on "Open source Cloud computing platform" by Dries Buytaert (Drupal) and the speech of Geert Bourgeois, Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Administrative Affairs, Local and Provincial Government. The Citadel Statement will be launched at the end.

Schedule and more information: http://www.opengov2010.be/schedule

(Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CoryDoctorow.png?uselang=nl)