The 3rd Annual Kingdom eGovernment Summit was held in Riyadh, on 25th and 26th of September 2012. The Summit aimed to build awareness and accelerate the integration of e-Government in the day-to-day activities of the public sector and the services it offers to businesses and citizens.
Leading solution providers had the opportunity to meet up to 150 influential Government officials representing a variety of key Saudi Arabian governmental bodies, giving experts the chance to discuss business solutions and upcoming ICT projects in Saudi Arabia and the GCC Region.
I had the pleasure to be among the invited experts / speakers, together with friends and colleagues from other European Union member states, such as Jeremy Millard (DTI, Denmark), Carlos Jimenez (Catalunia Administration), Blaz Golob (CeGD, Slovenia), Frank Leyman (Belgian Administration).
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| View of the audience at the Interoperability Session |
My first talk targeted Open Data and Collaborative Governance, briefly presenting some "lessons from he field" and some insights on the ENGAGE Open Data e-Infrastructure project. You may find my presentation here: http://www.slideshare.net/charalabidis/open-data-and-collab
Then, I had to moderate a session on eGovernment Interoperability, stating progress in European Union: European Interoperability Framework, National Interoperability Frameworks, SEMIC.EU, the CIP Flagships (STORK, PEPPOL, SPOCS), W3C and IEEE working groups on interoperability in public administration formed a good part of the agenda.
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| View of the panel at the Open Data session |
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| The Al Maasmak castle at the old city |
Riyadh is a city of 5 million people, with several spots that are worth visiting, like the Kingdom Tower (where you can see the whole city from 300 metres / 99 stores high) or the Al Masmaak Castle (where a very important battle took place on 1902, eventually leading to the establishment of Saudi Arabia independent state).
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| With Blaz Golob, CeGD Ljubljana, at the Kingdom Tower / view of Riyadh |
