A smart city is a place where, thanks to an ultrafast fiber-optic network, modern technologies enhance the well-being of residents. It is a comfort of everyday life and security provided by access to an increasingly wide range of e-services. It's a city inhabited by conscious citizens, actively participating in the life of their association and using innovation to realize community goals and ambitions.

Smart City Forum is the largest congress in Poland dedicated to the functioning and development of smart cities. It brings together not only mayors and presidents, but also experts from industries such as transportation, construction, security, energy, data management or public services. The congress seeks answers to the question of how dynamic digital transformation can be used to improve the functioning of regions. The concepts of smart cities, and especially smart villages and smart rural areas, are one of the leading social threads running through our daily work in the Regions, which is why the Smart City Forum has been on our calendar of events for several years now. The panel entitled "Small towns and municipalities - a strategy for being smart" included NEXERA board member Paweł Biarda and Anita Białek, from the Świętokrzyskie Region, Deputy Head of the Kije Municipality, where we conduct our investments. The speakers touched on issues such as Smart City 4.0, the open innovation model, investment in ICT infrastructure development and smart agriculture. Of great interest to the audience and experts were practical examples of smart implementations based on broadband Internet.

At the heart of the idea of smart cities and villages is universal access to reliable telecommunications infrastructure. It is high-speed Internet that allows those living in smaller towns and villages to benefit from innovative technological solutions that contribute to a more comfortable daily life. And we are invariably proud to be part of this important civilizational change.