Thursday 19 October

Mr Demidov and Mr Lonsky represented the city administration of St. Petersburg

eCitizen partners were warmly welcomed by the representatives of St. Petersburg city administration, who stressed the importance of international cooperation for the city. The partners also heard a presentation of the city's e-services including a very large project on city traffic cards. Mr Demidov from the Committee on IT and Communications told that over 800 000 inhabitants of St. Petersburg, entitled to social benefits, received the so-called "green card" to be used in city transport.

The presentations continued with thorough introduction to the city's huge research and development potential on ICT. There are over 100 universities in the city, with world class education on ICT. Ms Zyuban, representative of St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation told about her own university in more detail and pointed out that its capacity alone is remarkable. 

ICT from business perspective was presented with case studies on ICT related projects in St. Petersburg, given by Mr Kuprienko. The potential for cooperation on themes related to ICT is huge, and the city of St. Petersburg seeks for new opportunities to develop its activities in this field.

Jan-Ole Sandås delivering the latest news from Component 3

Component 2 activities were presented by Turku, Vaasa, Trento. Development of eGovernment Desktop of Turku, "JoutseNet 3" has been nearly finished, and Vaasa has concentrated on its Kuntatoimisto programme for city administration.

Component 3 activities were summarised by component's responsible partner Vaasa. Tartu's wap-portal is ready and results will be launched for eCitizen partners soon. Vaasa is working on implementing VETUMA for electronic signature purposes, and making plans fro mobile phone services.

Bologna and Tampere summarized their Component 4 activities, Bologna concentrating on delivering experiences of its Iperbole project and Tampere describing its eParticipation services, including Valma preparation forum and Neighbourhood association's web page.

Component 5 and the eGovernment study under preparation were discussed in more detail, with Arvo Ott from the eGovernance Academy, Tallinn, and Erling Sörensen, IS Fyn, leading the discussion. The study will be ready by the end of the year and published also on the project website under "Publications".

During the study tour all partners were able to present their latest main activities. Discussions among partners were lively, and they continued even outside the official programme, over the festive dinner on Thursday.

Friday 20 October

The study visit also included meetings for project steering group as well as local coordinators. Present situation of the project was overviewed and discussed, and plans for future activities made.

One of the most interesting parts of the study visit was the possibility to familiarise with the cooperation company of the Committee on IT and Communications of the city of St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Information and Analytical Centre (IAC) that is responsible for actual implementation of many of the city's eServices. Director Mr Isaev and Vice Director Mr Svistunov presented eCitizen how St. Petersburg has proceeded in implenting the idea of eGovernment in practice within city administration and providing both the business sector and citizens with eServices.

Study tour materials

Study tour programme (pdf, 0,03MB)

ICT Business in St. Petersburg: project cases, Mr Ivan Kuprienko (pdf, 2,36MB, in Russian)

ICT Education and Research in St. Petersburg, Ms Alevtina Zyuban (pdf, 1,59MB )

Presentation of Information Analytical Center, Mr Boris Isaev (pdf, 0,85MB, in Russian)

Government-to-Business Activities in SPb, Mr Andrei Svistunov (pdf, 0,31MB, in Russian)

All study tour materials are available on project Intranet Moodle.