Zaragoza Citizen Card wins the ‘Green Digital Charter’ award

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Press release from EUROCITIES

Brussels, 25 January 2017

Zaragoza (Spain) has been revealed as the winner of the Green Digital Charter (GDC) 2016 Award on ‘Citizen participation and impact on society’. The awards ceremony took place during the conference ‘Cities in Transition – the role of digital in shaping our future cities’ jointly organised by the EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum (KSF) and GDC.

Cristobal Irazoqui, formerly policy and project officer on smart cities and sustainability at the European Commission (DG CNECT), presented the award and congratulated Zaragoza on the deployment and success of its Zaragoza Citizen Card, which offers all-in- one access to the city, improving the sense of citizenship and belonging in Zaragoza.

What impressed the jury?

The award highlights the active involvement of citizens in Zaragoza in addressing societal challenges in the city. The Zaragoza Citizen Card is a smart card offering citizens the opportunity to access and pay for 20 local public services (transport, parking, public libraries, swimming pools, etc.) To date, over 230,000 citizens (more than half of the city’s adult population) have applied for the card, which is helping to reinforce the sense of community. With payment processing services included, holders of the Citizen Card can even choose between prepaid and post-paid plans. The system generates ‘big data’ that can be fed into the city’s innovation ecosystem.

Background

The Green Digital Charter (GDC) Awards recognise outstanding achievements by GDC signatory cities in their use of ICT solutions to become smarter and greener. The charter is a declaration committing cities to work together in delivering on the EU climate objectives through the use of ICT. The GuiDanCe project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, supports, monitors and promotes the signatories’ progress towards a green and inclusive digital agenda.

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