Mionica Municipality recognised that business and education based on the model of the past decades is no longer relevant.
Mionica Mayor Boban Janković talks about the application of ICT in the work of local government, new services, and the importance of smart technologies for attracting investors.
How much has Mionica done so far in the field of eGovernment and what are the next steps on this path?
– The Municipality of Mionica keeps up with the development of modern information technologies and its citizens’ need for higher quality and faster services. Previous activities on the modernisation and reorganisation of the municipal administration were directed towards achieving efficient communication with citizens, entrepreneurs and investors, and enabling their quick and easy access to the most important contents, and towards reducing the time required for issuing all documents in the municipality‘s jurisdiction.
Most of the Municipal Administration’s services are digitised or in the process of being digitised, all folders are scanned after submission and it is possible to monitor activities related to them; while access is provided to central databases of all state bodies and ministries.
The departments of urban planning, taxation, registry services, childcare and legal services are fully digitised, so the time for processing cases and issuing decisions, permits and the like has been reduced greatly.
Where in your municipality do you see the greatest potential for future digitisation?
– The introduction of “System 48” is almost completed. This system enables all interested parties to receive responses to their requests and questions for solving building, communal or infrastructure problems in a very simple way, by filling in an electronic form.
The use of this platform has greatly improved the work of the utility company and inspection service. All current problems in the field have been registered and rapid response is enabled, while interested parties can also monitor the process of resolving their case at all times.
On the other hand, applying ICT is very important for local economic development, providing support to interested and existing investors. We currently have several investors interested in investing in our municipality, and soon German company Z-line will open a production facility for the manufacture of vehicle upholstery fabrics.
Digitisation is also necessary for the Department of Local Economic Development, which provides support to investors
Two years ago, the local government launched the Centre for Education and Development of Mionica, which, among other things, provides programming and informatics courses. How important is it for technological progress to be followed by progress in education, and how much can local government contribute to that?
– The development of technology has very much changed the world in which we live. The world in which my generation grew up was different in many ways from the conditions in which children grow up today, so this requires a different approach to education and ever more use of technology in education.
We have recognised this need, and one of the goals of establishing the Centre for Education and Development was to obtain formal and informal knowledge for our municipality’s residents of all kinds, primarily raising their information literacy level.
In addition to IT and programming schools, the Centre conducts a number of courses for the staff of the state administration, including those related to the process of digitising local government and all public enterprises and institutions.