Head of the Local Economic Development Office of Novi Sad Olivera Simović, together with the representatives of the"Ericsson" Company, PUC "Informatics" and the City Administration for Inspection of the City of  Novi Sad, attended the presentation of the project "Smart Santander" at the City Hall. Within the project, Novi Sad will put into operation mobile phone application that will enable easier interaction between the citizens and the City Administration.

- In addition to public calls for the withdrawal of donor funds, where the City or City’s public and public-utility companies, in accordance with their responsibilities,  are applicants or partners in the project, the City of Novi Sad supports projects in the areas of science where the main applicants are academic institutions, large international companies and NGOs. Owing to this attitude, we are proud that the City of Novi Sad is a partner on several projects in the field of science, in the framework of the EU FP7 and CIP projects, and we are extremely pleased that we can contribute to the development of Novi Sad in this field, as well as to the development in other communities. The solution developed by the “Ericsson” Company as a part of the "Smart Santander" project will enable the establishment of a modern system of communication between citizens and public services, relying on an application for mobile phones - said Olivera Simović.

The idea of ​​"smart" cities is present throughout the world in order to transform the cities into more intelligent and efficient urban units that will produce visible benefits to its residents. "Smart Santander" is a project organized under FP7 Framework Programme of the European Union where there are 15 scientific research organizations and large world companies together with the institutions of the European Union.

Manager of the "Ericsson" Company for marketing and strategy Milena Matić said that the "Smart Santander" project is a unique project in the world that includes six cities, comprising initially Pančevo, now joined by Novi Sad. Through this mobile phone application, the citizens will be enabled to report the utility problems they encounter, as well as to express their praise for the utility services. All complaints and compliments will be channeled to the Municipal Police dispatch center that will  process them and adequately respond. By releasing these applications to work, Novi Sad have become a part of the "Smart Santander" network of smart cities.

The instructions for using of this application may be downloaded from the website of the City of Novi Sad at www.novisad.rs.

Novi Sad, 17^th October 2013