DIGITEC Tech Sessions: exchanging IT knowledge in the EU institutions
Inspired by the success of DIGITEC 2016 and feedback from IT experts, the DIGITEC tech sessions took place in Brussels (12/10) and in Luxembourg (20/10). These interactive technical sessions were dedicated to the IT community focusing on IT projects of the European Parliament and the European Commission, and their technical development and implementation.
Throughout the two days colleagues from DG ITEC and DIGIT held parallel sessions on IT projects, solutions, and practices within the EU institutions. More than 40 IT specialists presented topics such as security, cloud, software development, office automation, the digital workplace, and reusable solutions.
The events brought together mainly IT colleagues with more than 260 staff members attending the two sessions and around 400 following them live via webstream in both locations
“The technical sessions opened a window for even closer cooperation between DIGIT and DG ITEC” said Walter Petrucci, DG ITEC Director for Innovation and Resources, in his opening speech. They encourage “new ideas to emerge that will help improve our work, break silos and bring an innovative culture change”.
Between the sessions, everyone discussed the novel technologies and innovative business processes that continuously gain ground.
IT security
During the IT security sessions, experts showed how hackers prepare attacks and gave practical cyber defence advice to the participants. The cyber kill chain was explained: how the attackers reach their targets, obtain access to the companies' data, install suitable malware and take what they want.
Data centres, cloud computing and hosting
Projects from the two institutions concerning cloud and data centre solutions were presented. Colleagues from the Commission explained how cloud services were developed in the institution. DIGIT’s new cloud service is expected to bring together developers on one platform and enhance building reusable and shared services. DIGIT’s DevOps Strategy for creating an agile relationship between developers and IT operations was also debated.
Software development and user experience
Projects for new software development taking into account users’ experiences and building a proper architecture were on the spot. DG ITEC colleagues demonstrated initiatives implemented by the European Parliament for improving digital accessibility, such as using screen readers and developing software taking into account requirements for digital accessibility (W3C, ARIA etc). The Clarity project and portfolio management tool, which facilitates the planning and management of the annual IT Program of the European Parliament was also explained.
The development of a new website and a user-friendly mobile application for the European citizens' initiative, the creation of a new user-centered website of the European Commission, the development of applications with open source software - such as the DIGITEC 2016 app - or with the use geographical services were showcased by DIGIT.
Office automation, digital workplace, telecommunications
Staff engagement and new ways of working by providing the right tools for the user to work anytime, anywhere in a secure way are among the benefits of a digital workplace. The Commission’s Digital Workplace Program, already in place, will create a new way of working for the next 20 years. This initiative is supported by a Unified Communications and Collaboration approach: the right IT tools, platforms and services for enabling users to work and collaborate anywhere in real time while optimising user satisfaction and productivity.
Interoperability and reusable solutions
Interoperable and reusable solutions provided by DG ITEC were discussed, primarily referring to tackling the challenges of application availability on mobile devices through the Mobile Applications Toolkit.
From the Commission’s side, they presented basic capabilities that can be reused in any European project to facilitate the delivery of digital public services across borders and sectors, also known as CEF building blocks. Solutions for the management, alignment and publication of multilingual controlled vocabularies - such as thesauri and glossaries - were presented by the Publications Office.
Data Solutions
Different data solutions for the delivery of information and policy making across the EU Institutions were explained. DG ITEC presented its Innovation approach involving technologies such as geo-localisation and mapping, data analytics, mobile telepresence and 3D printing. The applications and tools developed by DG ITEC within the eParliament programme to empower MEPs in the law-making procedure were also explained.
Presenters from the Commission and the Parliament held a joint talk on the new Inter-Institutional Register for Delegated Acts, which is expected to provide information in a well-structured and user friendly way to facilitate law-making. DIGIT colleagues also discussed the use collaborative tools - such as Yammer, wikis, IntraComm - to break silos, change the way of working and make data reusable.
Finally, projects for better data management and shareable solutions were showcased, e.g the Commission’s Data4Policy initiative that enhances policy-making by maximising the use of big data and the catalogue of data visualisation tools provided by the Publications Office for corporate reusable visualisation solutions.
DIGIT's Deputy Director General Mario Campolargo closed the tech sessions by underlining the event's inspiring process. “Co-creating, building a community of practice and bringing talent together were all part of this DIGITEC journey” he said whilst encouraging the continuation of these discussions at DIGITEC 2018.
You can still watch the recorded sessions in Brussels and in Luxembourg.
