Bulgaria
Yordanka Fandakova
1,560,000 (2019)
Vladimir Danailov
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Simplify administrative procedures for firms and residents
Improve internal government operations
Focus on measurement
Dedicated innovation team
Culture of innovation in city
Support from outside city administration
Engagement with partners
Leadership from Mayor
More than a quarter of the 200 services provided by the city of Sofia have been transformed into e-services. This number is expected to triple for the period of 2020- 2021. Within the span of a few weeks, Sofia’s newly-created innovation team has managed to launch several Covid-19 related initiatives to inform residents about the pandemic situation, including a dedicated chatbot and a Viber communication channel with over 30,000 users. The team is currently planning to rebrand the channel when the need for pandemic-focused communications ends so they can continue to use it as a communication channel for the municipality.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Sofia has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Sofia approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Digital governance: See examples in the Spotlight above.
Transport/mobility: There are over 200 smart intersections in Sofia equipped with sensors that detect every passing car, cameras that show the real-time situation in key locations, buttons to help pedestrians proceed faster, and controllers to collect all the information and manage part of the process automatically. The city is in the process of implementing a digital ticketing system that is going to replace paper tickets. Since February 2020, Sofia has been testing a car equipped with a computer and cameras that automatically detect vehicles that have not paid for their parking in the city center.
The Digitalization, Innovation and Investments Unit (supporting new approaches and pilot projects) consists of 10 staff. The ICT Unit (responsible for e-government and system implementation) consists of 40 staff. Both units are led by the Deputy Mayor for Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development.
Taking risks or testing new ideas
Data-driven analytics/public data management
Engaging residents in new ways
Developing new solutions based on digital technologies
Organizational change within the municipality
Human-centered design
Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Sofia has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Sofia's funding for innovation capacity is also directed towards training staff and building capacity*.
*"Training staff and building capacity" is not an option in the 2018 survey, while "Launching or sustaining a project" is not an option in the 2020 survey.
Sofia has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms and not-for-profit organizations.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with the private sector, academia and think tanks to collect and analyze data.