Pierrakakis: Thessaloniki will receive 10 million euros from the Smart Cities program

Thessaloniki has “received” funds amounting to 10 million euros from the “Smart Cities” program for smart cities, the activation process of which starts at the beginning of 2022, as announced today by the Minister of Digital Government, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, speaking online at the 6th Thessaloniki Summit.

“It is a program that adds resources from the Recovery Fund and the NSRF, with a total budget of 320 million euros, in which each of the 332 municipalities in Greece will have a predetermined budget for specific (digital) solutions that concern it. For Thessaloniki for example, 10 million euros are provided “, pointed out Mr. Pierrakakis.

Hybrids … smart

As he explained, for the implementation of the program, a hybrid model was chosen, which avoids “centralization”, but at the same time acts as a compass. “One solution would be for the central government to say that we should have central platforms, for example, for parking or digitizing energy. But centralization we thought would not absorb the wealth of solutions that already exist in many municipalities. “On the other hand, if we left it completely free, there would be no compass dimension, so that the solutions would be pushed in a direction that is part of a unified national strategy”, he noted and added that for this and the model that was finally chosen list of solutions, for which the municipalities will be able to obtain funding from the Smart Cities program, within their predetermined budget, in order to launch interventions tailored to their own needs. “I think this is the most appropriate way and this is something that has been activated since the beginning of 2022,” he pointed out.

Support: New digital service

Mr. Pierrakakis also noted that on Monday the new digital service “Support” will be announced at gov.gr., which will function essentially as a digital Citizen Service Center, offering citizens support and assistance from experts to deal with their questions.

The minister added that the entire digital strategy of the government also serves to fight the pandemic, as each of the more than 1000 digital services that have been activated functions as a mechanism to serve the citizens, without them having to leave home or work. to visit a public service.

Actions for the Internet through microsatellites even within 2021

Asked where Greece is in terms of providing internet services via microsatellites, Mr. Pierrakakis replied: “Greece has recently acquired through the JMC (Joint Ministerial Decision) the institutional ability to access internet services via microsatellites. is that, in addition to the solutions offered by private companies, the EU through the Recovery Fund also makes some relevant investments, considering that (the Internet through microsatellites) can be a catalyst for full access to citizens’ online services and the so-called “white areas “(s.s. the areas where the provision of services does not make financial sense for the provider). This is already institutionally feasible and we will see it very soon in our country to start, I would say that even within 2021, we are waiting to see the first actions “.

Referring in general to telecommunications, which he characterized as “a big part of the equation for upgrading the productivity of an economy and a country”, he noted that Greece is doing well in some areas and “not well” in others. For example, it ranks 25th in mobile services worldwide, but 100th in fixed telephony, with the latest performance having to do with both the geographical features of the country and the old copper network. “We have to leave this network now and in addition to the de-lignification we have to do a decalcification,” he said, recalling that the government is “running” various programs to modernize the network, including those that cover the cost of optical branching. fiber, so as not to burden the citizen.

The Thessaloniki Summit 2021 is organized by the Association of Greek Industries (SVE) and the Delphi Economic Forum, under the auspices of the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.