Israel is a start-up nation in smart cities but in many of them innovation is not implemented

"Israel is a start-up nation also in the field of smart cities, with many technologies being developed there, but in many cities in the country, especially in the periphery, this innovation is not implemented - and they are left behind. There is a big gap between innovation in general, and Israeli innovation in particular, in the field of smart cities and Its implementation in Israel," said Haim Bibbs, chairman of the Local Government Center.
Biebs said the words at a reception held by the Israeli delegation to the international conference and exhibition of the smart cities at the Fira de fair center in Barcelona. He heads a group of 40 heads of settlements in Israel who participate in the event.
In an interview with People and Computers, Bibbs stated that the local government center took it upon itself to assist the municipal authorities on the cyber issue. "We will initiate a tender through which we will make the solutions accessible to the authorities, in full, with an emphasis on assistance to the periphery," he said. "We are doing this following a scathing report by the State Comptroller, and even though it is not our job, but the government's job, we have taken the issue upon ourselves."
In general, Bibbs criticized in the interview (and not for the first time) the attitude of the government towards the local government, even though the corona proved that the municipal authorities are able to fulfill many tasks that the central government should do. "The government does not release powers, it increases regulation and bureaucracy," he noted. He hopes that the new government that will be formed will learn the lessons from the corona, change the situation and direct resources to the weak authorities. "The most important thing is that they release regulation, that they don't interfere. We do the technology and the application better than them," he said. "Take as an example the innovation center we established in Modi'in (Beaves also serves as the mayor of Modi'in-Maccabim-Reot - YK), which will be a model of a system that will allow the decision makers to better manage the city's activities, based on data. We intend to allow every city to implement this concept, where we will assist the weaker cities with almost full funding and others - according to a payment model. I intend to meet with the Minister of the Interior, when he is elected, and present to him the requirements and what needs to be done."
Next month the local government center will hold the annual conference MuniExpo. Biebs said that over 1,000 mayors and officials from the country and abroad have already registered for it. Among other things, the mayor of Kyiv, who visited the exhibition today and met for a short talk with Biebs, is expected to attend the conference.
About 24 thousand visitors came to the event in Barcelona, ​​including 400 Israelis. 25 companies from Israel are exhibiting in it - and are gaining a lot of interest. The largest Israeli pavilion at the exhibition is that of the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The team of the ICT department of the municipality, led by the NMR, Itzik Ben David, presents the concept of digital for businesses and various technological solutions. Ben David said at the ceremony held by the municipality that the purpose of its participation is to present the new technologies coming from Tel Aviv and to share the information with cities Along with Ben David, on behalf of the municipality, Mittal Lehbi, the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and responsible for transportation in the municipality, and Sigal Weizman, a member of the city council, who holds the innovation portfolio, were greeted at the event.
Among the participants in the welcoming ceremony of the Israeli delegation was Hugo Valenti, director of the Smart Cities Conference and Exhibition in Barcelona. He said that "You, the Israelis, do many beautiful things in the field of innovation, and we learn new things from you, in the displays you present here."
The event was moderated by Sergio Vinitsky, the representative of the conference and exhibition in Israel, who noted with satisfaction that the Israeli participation in them returned to the dimensions of 2019, before the corona virus. Additional congratulatory words were given by Carmit Fenton, the Tel Aviv District Commissioner at the Ministry of the Interior, and Ram Seeds, Director of the Economic Society at the Local Government Center.

by Yehuda Konfortas "People and Computers", Barcelona