The seventh edition of Cities of Tomorrow, organized by the German-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Romania), will take place on the 26 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 AHK Romania 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.

Moreover, the event 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 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 stakeholders. 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.

(P)