Last week, our strategic director dr. Jiska Engelbert joined a panel discussion on 'Smart City Rotterdam' together with Frank Vieveen, Programme Manager Smart City & Digital Economy (Municipality of Rotterdam), and Cor Rademaker, CEO Strateq.
The panelists discussed what vision the City of Rotterdam has on smart cities, the importance of perspective and participation of the citizens and that technology and digitalization must never be a goal in itself but only a means to make a city for livable for its inhabitants.
Citizens should therefore be more consulted when it comes to smart city applications: from different colors for different kinds of cameras or QR-codes that citizens can scan to find out what data is collected and what happens with the data. With a councilor for Digital Inclusion and Digital Rights, Rotterdam has taken good first steps in putting the inclusion and rights of citizens in the 'smart city' high on the agenda.
The event was organized by the Erasmus Alumni Club and moderated by Lotte Schipper.
