Cities of Tomorrow #7 (March 26): Communities in Focus – There comes a time when we have to think global and act local. We. The community.

The seventh edition of Cities of Tomorrow, organized by the German-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Romania), will take place on the 26th March 2019 at JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel and will be dedicated to communities, the business community as well as the civil society, and the importance of their engagement in the sustainable development of regions and cities.

This year we will add a new dimension to the event concept: the civil society. A dialogue between public authorities and the business environment is important, but the involvement of the civil society is as necessary. Therefore, we consider that the key element in shaping the sustainable development is the TRIALOGUE.

Moreover, we will focus on the role of communities in developing a city, a region – a country. The functionality of a community is not only determined by its inside, but more by how it collaborates with other communities. The way we understand to engage as a community, to have a unitary voice and to constantly get involved, defines our future.

The novelty of this year is the pitching competition „Communities in trialogue”. 9 participants of 3 categories, public administration, civil society and business environment, will each have 5 minutes to present their city/region-based project, which contributes to urban development, investment location development and city/region marketing, the implementation of smart city solutions, the enhancement of life quality or the improvement of the dialogue between stagkeholders. These projects will be evaluated by a jury of experts, and the winners will be awarded prizes by AHK Romania that will support the future development of their projects.

Similar to previous years, the event will also host a project marketplace, where sponsors will have the opportunity to present their solutions and technologies for cities and regions, while representatives of local authorities (regional development agencies, county councils, municipalities) and communities will present concrete projects, for which they seek support of private actors. Moreover, during the second part of the event, we will continue the World Café concept, consisting of 8 roundtables, which will allow participants higher involvement in interactive discussions and the identification of problems and solutions. The conclusions and insights of the roundtables will then be the foundation of future actions.

A relevant aspect for the success of this project is not only the day of the event itself, but also what happens afterwards – how do participants use the exchange of ideas, experience and contacts acquired at Cities. Brochures of past editions and concrete initiatives that were born at the event can be found here: www.citiesoftomorrow.ro.

About AHK Romania

As the official representative of the German economy in Romania, AHK Romania is the first point of contact for German companies interested in our market. Therefore, a significant part of our daily business relies on facilitating contacts, connecting future partners, supporting investors, identifying business potential and opportunities for our members and researching the market.

Nonetheless, the spectrum of topics we cover is much broader and expands at a fast pace: AHK initiatives range from projects in the fields of sustainability, energy efficiency, renewable energies or waste management to smart city, real estate & investment, digitalization, automotive and industry 4.0 to vocational education, advocacy and arbitration. Further details can be found here: www.ahkrumaenien.ro, www.econet-romania.com