Prince of the Netherlands will attend the International Mayors Summit in Kyiv

On November 28-29, 2017 Kyiv will host the International Mayors Summit. This forum will be held for the second time, covering the innovations and their urban impact. More than 100 Ukrainian mayors, foreign experts and local government leaders from Canada, Israel, Slovakia, Brazil, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands are expected to attend the Summit. The Netherlands will show a star turn of the event with StartupAmsterdam as its official partner (an organization that focuses on Amsterdam city development) and Prince Constantijn, the younger brother of the King of the Netherlands, as the honorary guest.

The two-day Summit work program offers a variety of formats: speeches of the world-renowned experts, workshops, innovative start-up presentations, Deloitte city progress index, panel discussions, informal meetings and visits to innovative sites. Special panels will focus on urban inclusion and the interaction between cities and business. The Summit will also serve as the presentation site of the Ranking of Ukrainian Cities on the Use of Innovation, and the open voting platform where innovative mayors will be chosen by a professional jury along with the inhabitants of the cities.

“Cities are the hotbeds for innovation. This is where talent congregates, where universities are, where business is based. Mayors and municipal governments play a crucial role in fostering the local entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems, – says Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands. — “I would like to thank Western NIS Enterprise Fund for creating this event to allow mutual learning and network building between cities.”

Amsterdam can offer a lot to learn from. In 2016, this city left Paris and Turin far behind in their run for the title of European capital of innovation and won the prize of €1,000,000. The capital of the Netherlands boasts the world’s first VR cinema, a “night mayor” who is responsible for the quality and safety of the city’s nightlife, the innovation center Amsterdam Arena etc.

“Our key objective is to create a platform for the effective cooperation of Ukrainian cities, both nationwide and together with our Western partners, — says Iryna Ozymok, the Summit Co-Founder and the WNISEF Local Economic Development Program Manager. — We want the Ukrainian cities to get their place on the world map, along with the leading cities; we want the Ukrainian mayors to be spoken about as much as the Mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner, who made a revolution in transportation service of his city; as the Mayor of Mississauga Hazel McCallion, who was re-elected to the Mayor’s Office for 11 times; as Michael Bloomberg, who made New York the city we now admire. That is why the focal point of our second summit is innovation: technological, infrastructural, political, cultural, and touristic. Together with key Ukrainian startups and our Amsterdam partners Ruben Nieuwenhuis and Bas Beekman from StartupAmsterdam we will show how innovation can improve the today’s urban life.”

The Summit will result in signing the Manifesto of the Innovative Mayors “On Cooperation and Interaction in the Development of Innovations”.

The International Mayors Summit is held under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Ukraine with the support of the Kyiv City Mayor and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

The event doesn’t presuppose free participation, but the organizers have provided the opportunity to attend lectures with prior registration. More information on the Summit: http://internationalmayorssummit.com/