A NEW APPROACH TO THE DELIVERY OF PUBLIC SERVICES THROUGH THE USE OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Info on Novi Sad Pilot
City of Novi Sad is a regional centre for the ICT industry with a thriving ecosystem of small to medium size ICT companies, representing one of the most successful economic sectors. Building on this expertise, the city administration has put in place a number of strategic plans which aim to create a smart and sustainable environment in which ICT innovations feature heavily with the active involvement of primarily citizens but also SME’s, in the (re)definition of city services and their continuous improvement and better usage of the city resources. 

To achieve these goals, the City of Novi Sad participates in a series of international projects not only improving own capacities but also creating innovations in ICT. 

CLIPS is a 30 month pilot project funded through the CIP Programme of the European Commission, aimed at the development of a new approach to the delivery of public services through the use of cloud computing. The CLIPS project brings together key stakeholders from across the EU including public authorities, citizens and businesses to develop a dedicated framework for cloud-based public services which seeks to overcome some of the major issues that have so far prevented the full adoption of the cloud within the public sector notably in architecture, design and security.

Through the delivery of five pilots in five cities: Bremerhaven (DE), Lecce (IT), Novi Sad (RS), Santander (ES) and Stockport (UK), the project will seek to demonstrate how cloud-based services can be used for the benefit of citizens and to facilitate the fictional scenario of a family moving from one member state to another and the typical complexities that such a move could entail. Taking into account administrative requirements such as registering for utilities, schooling, local taxes, social care, all through the use of a dedicated cloud-based infrastructure, the primary goal of CLIPS is to demonstrate how the cloud can be easily integrated to improve efficiencies and public service delivery.

Throughout CLIPS pilot the City of Novi Sad decided to leverage several technologies:
• Cloud technology to optimize ICT infrastructure used by different public administration departments providing services to the citizens.
• Crowd sourcing to engage citizens in improving and enhancing everyday management of the city.
• Open data to enable third parties and in particular local SMEs to build new solutions and services on top of the data available in the city databases.

The following services that could potentially have high impact on the quality of the life in the city have been identified:
• Registration of private and legal entities into the system of payment collection of utility-housing products and services
• Registering and cancelling alternative billing address for unified collection
• Voluntary home insurance administration
• Registering the number of residents in an apartment/house (for calculation of payment for common utilities)
• Filing an electronic inspection or communal complaint
• Finding a school in an area
• Mash-up and visualization of open data.

Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
With small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as its main target, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) supports innovation activities (including eco-innovation), provides better access to finance and delivers business support services in the regions.

It encourages a better take-up and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and helps to develop the information society.

Funded by the competitiveness and innovation framework programme of the European Commission, under grant agreement No. 621083

Visit our website: www.clips-project.eu
Join our LinkedIn-Group: CLIPS project

Objectives
Over the 30 month duration, the project will deliver a common platform with interoperable services, transferable methodology and associated sustainability models that will facilitate increased adoption of cloud-based public services throughout the EU. It will also seek to identify and address key constraints that could impact the replication of the final solution. If successful, this project offers a step forward for EU cloud capabilities with significant benefits not only for public organizations at a national and regional level but also for SME suppliers and citizens alike. The key project objectives are:
• The introduction of a new approach for cloud-based public service provision involving representation from a range of community stakeholders;
• The analysis of policy and ethical issues with reference to cross-border services also considering the requirements of a NON EU country;
• The implementation of 5 pilots across 5 different countries experimenting with cross-border services;
• The definition of a sustainability model for the approach proposed to facilitate future adoption throughout the EU;
• All public services and components developed will reside in the cloud and will be accessible through a repository to allow use and adoption by other public administrations and SMEs. New services will be required to adhere to an appropriate accreditation process to ensure compliance with policies and guidelines of the different public administrations.

Expected Results
1. A common platform, methodology and associated sustainability model that will facilitate increased adoption of cloud computing for public services with relevant stakeholders involved throughout the project to ensure that the final solution is delivered according to end user needs
2. Improved interoperability and data management between administrations
3. The development of new services that can be easily replicated throughout the EU
4. The adoption of an existing authentication platform (STORK) for the delivery of trusted and reliable services
5. The identification of key constraints that could impact adoption of the fi nal solution
6. Case studies and impact analysis generated from the pilots that can be shared across the EU
7. The use of innovative architectures that can be applied across different legal environments in order to demonstrate that the aggregation of services is viable across borders
8. Improved opportunities for SMEs to develop and deploy cloud-based services within public organizations

The Consortium

We Need Your Input!
The CLIPS partners are keen to obtain input from key stakeholders across Europe (namely public organizations, municipalities, citizens and large and SMEs) to help further define end user requirements and to ensure that the final result is targeted towards user needs.

Please visit: www.clips-project.eu/clips-stakeholder-group/ 

Contact
info@clips-project.eu