At a Remote Meeting ICT Cluster and Sofia Municipality Laid the Foundations for Cooperation in Support of Sofia's Digital Transformation

On April 8, 2020 was held an online meeting between representatives of Sofia Municipality, Invest Sofia Agency and ICT Cluster. They discussed the possibilities of cooperation between the municipality and the business for the digital future of the city and what digital technologies can help during times of a state of emergency. The meeting was attended by Vladimir Danailov - Deputy Mayor of Sofia, sector "Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development", representatives of the Sofia Municipal Agency for Privatization and Investment - Nadia Sultanova and Ana Georgieva, the ICT Cluster team and companies developing solutions for improving the urban environment.

Mr. Peter Statev - Chairman of the Board, introduced the participants to the ICT Cluster initiative to create a Digital Innovation Hub in Sofia to support the industry in the process of digital transformation.

Prof. Silvia Ilieva, Head of Research Institute and GATE Project, presented the initiative for the use of big data and artificial intelligence in urban management and modelling. In collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and Chalmers Industry Technique, Sweden, innovations are being developed to model urban living processes (City Living Lab), interdisciplinary collaboration with industry (Digital Twin Lab), and virtual reality and big data visualization (Open Visualization Lab). Innovations of this nature could be used for monitoring, analysis and city design to reduce noise, pollution and improve the coverage of 5G.

Konstantin Konov, Procurator of Robert Bosch Bulgaria and Managing Director of the Bosch Engineering Center, engaged in high-tech R&D, talks about the wide range of Bosch solutions developed that cover the Smart City concept and could, in partnership with the municipality, be tested and implemented in an urban environment.

Mihail-Ernesto Mihailov, Representative of Theoremus - a company offering innovative urban systems management solutions, working with the Sofia City Mobility Center on an optical system for monitoring traffic on urban transport. Data analysis will allow real-time vehicle optimization measures to be taken.

Yavor Mihaylov, a graduate of Sofia Highschool of Mathematic and founder of MYXrobotics, spoke about a joint project with the Sofia Municipality, using autonomous planes (drones) to produce accurate 3D models and maps and analyse them with AI.

The meeting ended with a promise of future cooperation. Representatives of Sofia Municipality and the Invest Sofia said they were ready to support projects and initiatives that would lead to a faster digital transformation for the benefit of the industry and citizens of Sofia.