Prastora Urban Art Forum will take place in Vitebsk on 22-24 June during the City Day celebrations, head of the Center for Urban Projects and Initiatives Prastora Oksana Kuzina told BelTA.

The centerpiece of the forum will be a Smart City hackathon that will bring together IT specialists, designers, urban specialists and environmentalists. "The smart city concept seeks to create new jobs and caters to the needs of local residents and visitors. Such a city attracts investors and tourists. Participants of the hackathon will be invited to put forward their ideas on addressing environmental, energy and infrastructure issues of the city. Both individual participants and teams are welcome. They will be given 48 hours to create a prototype of a future technology product that will help Vitebsk respond to modern-day threats," Oksana Kuzina said.

Winners will be chosen by a jury that will include a representative of the local authorities, an architect, a designer, an IT specialist and a coordinator of the forum. The proposals of the winners will be incorporated into the action plan to promote sustainable energy and environmental conservation. This will enable the winning participants to launch a viable startup that will attract investments.

The participants of the forum will be able to attend lectures given by experts from Belarusian, Russian and international companies. The experts will talk about smart solutions for urban development, the use of the Internet of things and the implementation of the Smart City concept in the United Arab Emirates.

The Prastora forum is part of the Energy Days held by cities that signed the Covenant of Mayors for Energy and Climate. Vitebsk is one of them. The event is supported by the European Union.

The forum is organized by the culture department of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, the Center for Urban Projects and Initiatives Prastora, and the Gorky Central Municipal Library.

BELARUSIAN NEWS