Last week, authorities from Lviv (Lvov), a major city in western Ukraine, signed a cooperation memorandum with Microsoft to launch several “smart-city” projects, reported leading Ukrainian IT portal AIN.UA.
Utilizing the Microsoft CityNext platform, the city will create an interactive tourist-portal that will enable visitors to obtain quality services and necessary information. A portal allowing city officials to more quickly respond to the problems and needs of the population will also be launched.
Lviv plans to introduce a series of other services for local residents. In particular, citizens will receive electronic cards, have access to mobile apps to pay for public utilities and other services, and access electronic documents. The information systems for all state agencies and public utilities will also be unified.
Lviv is considered one of the most-developed Ukrainian cities in terms of penetration by IT companies. The city was included in the 2014 global Innovation Cities Index, released by 2thinknow innovation-agency.
“We have identified the IT sphere as one of our priorities for the development of Lviv. Using modern technology, we intend to make Lviv comfortable and modern for residents and visitors, evolving with time,” declared mayor Andriy Sadovy.
Facebook accounts for police officers
In a separate move, the Lviv police began on June 25 to interact with all residents of the city on Facebook. All officers in the city will create accounts for this purpose and 6 officers (example) have thus far created a presence on the site.
As Dmitriy Zagariya, head of the Lviv police department and the man who launched this initiative explains, “a personal page on the network will allow for rapid responses by officers to the appeals of citizens. It will enable local residents to pose any questions and receive rapid responses regarding the work of law-enforcement officials or learn how to act in a given situation.”
In Ukraine, there are already other examples of using modern technology in the interest of the public, as the city council of Vinnitsya earlier successfully introduced a number of Microsoft-based services in order to more effectively interact with local citizens.
