In September, the SMART CITY ODESSA 2020 forum was held with the support of SYNCHRO SPACE and a discussion panel on "Innovative urban development: how to build cooperation with startups and corporations" was held.
During the discussion, the speakers analyzed practical cases of implementing smart solutions at the interface between different parties: government, business, and active community. They also tried to find ways of effective interaction, taking into account the existing conditions, obstacles, and prospects.
Each of the speakers is constantly implementing transformations at different levels, influencing the future development of our cities.

Speakers of the discussion panel:

• Alissa Ban'kovska – CEO and founder of SYNCHRO SPACE innovation hub, Head of the acceleration programme of Ukrainian Startup Fund
  
  
• Vadym Bortnyk – Head of the Directorate for Regional Digitalisation, Ministry of Digital Transformation
  
  
• Maksym Bakhmatov – founder and head of the Transformation Office, former advisor to the mayor of Kyiv
  
  
• Oleksandr Krakovets'kyi – Ph.D. CEO DevRain, CTO DonorUA, Microsoft RD/MVP
  

Today, the Ukrainian state should become a service that helps rather than hinders. Vadym Bortnyk spoke about the strategic directions of digitalization development. Namely, about the Diia app, which is one of the steps towards the digital transformation of our society, as well as about the main challenges that need to be addressed in order to become a "State in a Smartphone".

Another step towards digitalisation is the creation of a public services portal, where you can apply for any public service around the clock and in a matter of minutes without queues and unnecessary bureaucracy. If a service is not available online, it will not exist on paper. The main goal of creating such projects and services is to make the interaction between citizens and the state as transparent and efficient as possible.

When talking about cooperation between cities, businesses and, in general, the development of an ecosystem that will allow businesses and start-ups to grow and be on the global map, it is worth considering the level of maturity of this ecosystem. It is clear to everyone that ecosystem development requires resources, people, government support and mechanisms to turn an idea into a successful startup. The level of maturity of the ecosystem contributes to the development of certain elements.

Cooperation between modern cities can be divided into three types:

• The city is a "black box". A closed city where decisions are made behind the scenes, without the participation of citizens.

• The city as a service provider - the city provides services to the population, and the population, in turn, helps the city develop and pays taxes.

• City as a partner and platform for innovation.

In Ukraine, different cities are at various stages of development, and it is still a "black box" mostly. And somewhere it is already a "service provider" and perhaps somewhere there are cities that are platforms for innovation.

There is a misconception that a smart city is about technology. Indeed, technology is a crucial component of this process. But transparent processes and rules automated with the help of a particular infrastructure are more important.
Speaking of building infrastructure and smart solutions, you need to start from the top. This requires rapid collection of relevant data, publication of open data, cooperation with corporations, and a technological sandbox for pilots. In other words, this is a complex infrastructure that should consist of completely different providers. Interoperability is crucial here - it is the ability of different IT systems to interact with each other by exchanging data (signals/events). In other words, data should run, not people. Unfortunately, there is no interoperability in modern cities.
An important step is the development of a partnership ecosystem, which includes the creation of competence centers, programs for educational institutions, incubators and accelerators, angel investments and grants, piloting startups at the city level, and "bridges" with other cities, countries, and ecosystems.
Equally valuable is the positioning of cities. It is not enough to say that our city will be a center of innovation. Each city needs to understand its peculiarity and how it differs at the local and regional level.

To solve a problem, you need to understand and acknowledge that it exists. When you admit that your utilities, departments, and people responsible for crucial areas in the city are not working effectively, further cooperation with the community and startups is completely different," says Maxim Bakhmatov.
"Nothing will work until there is an audit, real figures, and an understanding that there are problems. The case of 4G in the Kyiv subway, which had been unresolved for eight years, shows that we can achieve a quick result after recognizing the problem and organizing transparent cooperation with corporations.

An example of such a decision was the story of the purchase of cameras for the city of Kyiv, which were supposed to determine whether a person was sick with COVID-19 or not. The cost of this decision was UAH 65 million. After an expert study, a small scandal, and the mayor's realization that this was a potential fraud, the cameras were not purchased, and the manufacturer withdrew the product from production and sale. "Measuring the temperature outside has a large margin of error, and it is simply impossible to clearly identify who is sick and who is not," says Maksym.

These are positive stories, but the problem is that they are not comprehensive in one city. And it is impossible to call it a full-fledged ecosystem.
There are motivated people in small communities who can do something and create something. But even when they want to do something, they usually do not find support and do not know where to go. They come to Kyiv or other cities with a population of over a million people, get enthusiastic, return home, and want to do something, but the conditions are limited. Therefore, it would be right to create a framework for small communities and use it as a typical solution for territorial communities, medium-sized cities, and cities with a population of over a million," advises Oleksandr.

Of course, there are obstacles: heavy bureaucratic procurement procedures or lack of transparency in some decision-making processes in territorial communities. For a leader, digitalization is a management process where he or she can control and see all stages of decision-making.



It is important to build institutional capacity for digital transformation. And the creation of a CDTO (Chief Digital Transformation Officer) school for staff training, which includes an understanding of change management, and technical and bureaucratic issues of digitalization, will help.



Vadym spoke about the three main projects currently being implemented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation:

• Digitalization rating to determine the digitalization index of regions
• Creating a portal for communication and experience exchange with a single entry point for hromadas
• Procurement project - a marketplace that structures all products and helps to choose the best solutions

Free tools are the path to poor digitalization. After all, all the best products are usually fee-based. The cost of software is not only the cost of the license but also support and ensure that it will work. Therefore, at the state level, with the participation of relevant experts, it is necessary to create a standard set of recommendations for cities and towns. If the city does not have the funds to purchase these licenses, it is worth going once and ordering a solution from third-party consulting organizations or IT specialists. Once to pay for this framework, and then distribute it for free, or for some conditional support.
The current approach to procurement does not involve support for software products. Most often, it turns out like this: we buy it, develop it, put it on the balance sheet, write a user and administrator manual, and that's it. No one is engaged in support, and the next updates may be in six months, a year, two years, or never. Because there is no money a new tender needs to be held, or something else has changed. Very often, instead of iteratively improving the product, a solution is purchased every two years, used, discarded, and a new one is purchased again," says Oleksandr.
"One of the best solutions that the government can create now to simplify digitalization is to adapt legislation and processes to the way software is logically created and maintained."

UNIT City has become a combination of hardware and software solutions, with more than 150 innovative companies from Ukraine and abroad. 90% of them are product companies and start-ups that can cooperate in one place and create an ecosystem together.
Unfortunately, UNIT City is an exception. State or municipalities sponsor 90% of the world's innovation centers. These states understand that it is necessary to build hardware solutions to keep these people in one place and concentrate.
Of course, it is impossible to give away these areas. But it must be done under strict conditions, as, for example, in China. There, a startup is offered benefits for six months, a year, or three years. If it fails to deliver results, it is harshly "thrown out" and the next startup is accepted. Interestingly, there are more than 100 centers like UNIT City in China, and their development began 40 years ago.

Today, I don't feel that the state can allocate 40 hectares and build 500,000 sq m, allocate funds for training, and not steal them. Perhaps, private companies should be allowed to do this, if the state is still weak," says Maksym.
Oleksandr Krakovetskyi also shared his personal experience:
"With our project, which many abroad consider innovative and appealing, we have won various competitions, completed three acceleration programs, received exactly zero investments and funding, and zero contracts thanks to these programs. And by all accounts, our project should be closed.
The problem is that there are various events, networking, and forums in Ukraine, but unfortunately, they do not lead to positive results and contracts. Why do people attend Web Summit and Smart City Expo? Because these meetings end in real contracts! Young startups need confidence that what they are doing is a priority.
Today, many entrepreneurs have given up on Ukraine and started looking towards foreign markets. If they are told in no uncertain terms: "We are not interested in your solutions" or "we have no money and resources." startups start to leave. And it's not just about jurisdiction or registration. Unfortunately, no Ukrainian startup that wants to achieve global goals starts its expansion with Ukraine.
Speaking of smart cities, not just the digital component is crucial. Very few smart city startups can exist without urban infrastructure. Therefore, every city willing to cultivate a startup ecosystem and startup culture must have ways to incubate these projects.
In Kyiv, we have Salyutna Street positioned as a smart street with smart lighting. But it would be nice if every city had a street, factory, or medical facility where it is possible to incubate such projects and allocate money. After all, a startup doesn't need millions at the beginning. They need to check whether their idea will work and how much it will cost.
Accordingly, 90% of smart city innovations will die without the possibility of incubation. The same goes for companies. It's nice that more companies are ready to work with innovations. At least they declare they are looking for these innovations and are ready to consider them. But this needs to be strengthened.