Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the opening of the first public innovation hub:
Hello everyone!
I have had the opportunity to follow up innovation weeks, and I want to underline the fact that this third this week, held in the third consecutive year, is much richer and more challenging than the first week of this activity which has already taken on a regional dimension. I must remind you that the online e-albania service system we inherited provided only 13 services, while today online services amount to 260, in addition to 570 information services.
Despite the numbers speak for many more, the truth is that there is still a lot to be done to achieve the goal. The goal is to have these services used by much more citizens than those that use them today. In this respect, there is a double work to do. On the one hand we need to increase the sensitivity and the degree of public information about this tremendous opportunity that online services offer, by saving energy, time and above all, by freeing the public from the clutches of corruption and ordinary tips even for having a simple service. On the other hand, there is still much to be done to raise the level of education of the public, starting with the youngest, so that they will not only use these spaces but will also contribute to their transformation. We are all aware that innovation is the tool of the next generation and as it happens everywhere, it still happens in Albania, in the sense that those who are more active and actually bring innovations in this field are generally quite young and belong to the next generation.
What we are doing today to create a concrete opportunity through a space that is made available to innovators, is very important. A physical space, but also a space of opportunities and support on our part to create conditions to work in this area without a schedule and go beyond the knowledge and the tools we have today. It is a common practice in the region, and it is a practice that has proved to be very effective. This is a new practice for us, but I am convinced that it will be as much effective.
This intensification process of the work on information and communication technology in view of modernizing the state functioning system has two extremely important sides. On one hand, the extraordinary potential of economic growth, employment growth, and the increased capacity to develop the economy and society. On the other hand, which for us is of fundamental importance, the tremendous potential to repel corruption systematically. It is through the modernization of services that the real and effective fight against corruption takes place, as well as through the establishment of systems that are spontaneously immunized from corruption, because the relationship between the citizens in need of a service and the state delivering the service by means of the technology of information and communication is not a personal one.
Today there is a significant number of services provided directly online. The service for issuing building permits started a few days ago, but I will give as an example the service for the payment of electricity. Today it is one of the most successful services, and it is easy for all of us to assess it by making a comparison with what happened until recently when people were forced to squeeze into miserable counters, to wait into endless queues and to torture themselves in those queues in order to pay their electricity bills. Today, it can be done from home.
Our goal is to succeed in providing every citizen service directly at home, through the information and communication technology, thanks to a simple connection to the Internet by phone or through the computer at home. And on the other hand, what is not only possible but also necessary, is that in providing all these services the state must also provide to citizens all the necessary documents in the respective counter where the service is provided.
And we need to make this a legal obligation for the state. But in order to make it a legal obligation for the state, desire and willingness are not enough. We need to have a database and a system of online interaction among institutions in order for this to be possible, so that when citizens are provided an online service, they must submit only those documents that are not issued by state institutions, provided that they are required to get a service, for example, banks or other non-state institutions. All this is utopia, but it is also a possibility, it is a necessity, it is a very clear goal of ours on the path of which we have embarked.
If until less than three years ago, the Albanian state had only 13 online services, which were used by nobody, while today it has 260 online services which are still used by a few people but which are there to be used by everybody, it is certain that in the year spanning between this innovation week and the next one – so one year from now – we will make a huge progress. Characteristic of the progress in this field is that progress is very fast and changes are exceptional within a very short time frame.
By thanking all those who are here not just as attendees, but also because they are contributors in one way or another to this very important process which is actually a technological revolution; by thanking the ambassador for his presence, and through the ambassador the Italian government for the financial support to the creation of this extremely important and effective space, as it can be seen at a first glance, and by encouraging all those who use this space to give it its proper value through results, it only remains for me to thank you for your patience and attention.
I understand that it might be very tiring for all of you to listen to someone who is not an expert of the field, I mean your field since it has a different speed from that other areas of life, especially when it comes to listen to my speeches that generally are not very short. I know that it is a particular endeavour, therefore I am very grateful for your effort.
Many thanks!
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Innovation Hub is the first public innovation centre in Albania, with the prospect of becoming a regional exchange centre. This centre will provide a suitable platform to create open-space areas for young people with innovative ideas who want to develop and turn them into successful businesses. The youth will be provided training in various fields, financing through projects, in addition to following up the entrepreneurial activity. This space will accommodate different start-ups in the field of Information and Communication Technology, with an aim at becoming one of the most important centres in the field of innovation community.
At the same time, the Innovation Hub will provide all interested young people with information on the regional ecosystem, the possibilities for applying for different projects or to cooperate with young people or start-ups in the region.
Innovation Hub covers an area of 900 square meters, and provides space and working tools for 150 young people. It is shaped as a youth centre with areas suitable for study, work but also for resting.
