Following the annual conferences in Larissa, Venice, Leipzig, Zagreb, Hamburg and numerous others in various European cities, Major Cities of Europe (www.majorcities.eu) and the Municipality of Prato are pleased to invite you to the international conference 2023 to be held in Prato, at the "Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art" (https://centropecci.it/), from 25 to 27 October 2023 with the support of the Tuscany Region and Confservizi Cispel Toscana.

The golden thread: A Loom With a View - Weaving the digital future of communities, cities and regions is the motto that links the themes of the conference. Our goal is to explore and discuss the impact of digitization and climate transition in local public administration as well as the impact of emerging technologies: for the development of public services; for physical and IT security; for policies and projects in managing climate transition; and for the development of the new skills required.

The objective: the conference is not just about the review of best practices but about, sharing, debating, and questioning. The objective is to give each participant the opportunity to enrich their professional background, to develop new ideas and collaborations and to promote exchanges of experiences on the use of modern technologies.

Participants: The conference is open to those interested in sharing ideas, strategies, projects, and experiences in using technologies for the digital transformation of local public administrations, cities, and regions.
We welcome councillors for digital transition and environmental policies, CIOs, Smart City managers, security managers, environmental project managers, whether they are decision makers or managers responsible for their implementation, or specialists. More than 200 participants from all over Europe are expected to join the event.

The programme: the programme focuses on the importance and role of technologies and includes sessions to discuss current key topics:

- digital transformations driven by the challenges for the digitization of Europe.

- role of technologies in the management of climate change.

- the impact of new emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence,

- data management and visualization, digital twins,

- protection of citizens, infrastructures, and public services: security, cybersecurity, digital identity…

- the evolution of the role of the regions and the related regional digital services.

- the future of the roles and organization of IT centres in support of emerging technologies.

- the new digital skills, the new professional and managerial profiles.

The speakers: the programme includes distinguished speakers from cities, regions, research centres and specialized companies who will address the key priorities.