Jacob Bundsgaard, Mayor of Aarhus, Denmark, opens Internet Week Denmark 2017

Thank you, and welcome to Aarhus, everyone, and to Internet Week Denmark 2017. Five inspiring days with more than a hundred events, focusing on digital development. Internet Week Denmark is getting us ready to participate actively in the digital transformation of businesses, education, and, well, everyday life, actually. To make the most of tomorrow, we believe in listening, learning, and collaborating. And in Scandinavia, and in Denmark particularly, this is precisely what we do best. Making the people, whether you call them users or consumers, the center of our attention and efforts, doesn't only make the results more democratic, it makes it better. And during the Internet Week Denmark, we'll be sharing the Scandinavian way to... ...with the rest of the world. To inspire and to exchange perspectives. To help human and machine bring out the best in each other. To create a smarter tomorrow with more innovative products, greater services, faster systems, more profitable businesses, and more sustainable solutions. Internet Week Denmark is about putting digital development on the agenda. Because we believe that the Internet economy will be better. And the Internet economy will be a crucial driver for prosperity in the future. And at the same time, it's an opportunity to draw attention to Denmark's position in the very forefront of the digital development. Whether it's a question of developing digital solutions, IT readiness, or smart and sustainable cities, these are the type of innovations that we need to promote. And the best part is that it's all happening right now at a tremendous pace. And everyone is welcome to join in. The digital transformation is a common project. And we all have a stake in it and all need to contribute. And to get the most out of the opportunities opened by digitization, we also need to understand it. To be comfortable with it. And for a project to succeed such as this, you need a common language. For everyone to understand the dozens of technical expressions that we hear all the time. Danish cities, and at least Aarhus, are like an open API. Jacob, are you sure everyone knows what API means? Hello there, Sideways Dictionary. Thanks for joining us. Well, since you asked, I'm pretty sure everyone in this room knows what an API is. Right? Yes, but do they really know what it means? Do you know? Well, I think most of us does. But obviously I can't be sure that everyone understands it. So, how would you explain it? Great. An API is like a Lego brick. An application without an API is like a Lego brick without the studs. It's not much fun. And you can't build anything new with it. All right. That's okay. That makes sense. But can anyone just, anyone use an API? Think of it like a harbor, like the one we have here in Aarhus. An API is like a crane that moves shipping containers of certain shapes and sizes in and out. It might be open to the public, or it might be for VIP use only. Ah, okay. Thank you, Sideways Dictionary. I think everybody understands what an API is now. Anyway, that cleared up. I'd like to use the IPAE term as a symbol of the development that we are seeing in Danish cities right now. OWS was just named number 22 in the European Digital City Index, which ranks European cities in relations to digital entrepreneurship. And it's a very important thing. And to the index, OWS has the potential to become sort of a mini Silicon Valley because we have all the ingredients for creating digital growth and success stories right here. We have a world-class education and research. We have large and small companies within the field. And we have a vibrant, diverse entrepreneurial community here. But first and foremost, and this is the most important, we have an ecosystem, which enables us to work together. To create results and development. And in this sense, OWS works like an open API which everyone can access and contribute to. So this is basically one of the fundamental drivers behind digital transformation here. And the way the Internet and digital technologies allow us to connect with one another directly. What we also call peer-to-peer. Peer-to-peer. It's like a potluck picnic where each guest brings a different dish and everyone shares directly with each other. As opposed to a restaurant where everyone places an order and waits for the kitchen to deliver food to the table. And basically this allows us to create a new sharing economy based on our ability to connect to each other. New businesses, business models are entering the market with great success. And we see this very clearly in the short-term accommodation market. But we also see it in many others. And basically, as you know, Airbnb are now the largest accommodation provider in the world. Anyway, the city of Aarhus has a strong interest in the sharing economy and the new opportunities that it provides. And in 2017, besides being European Capital of Culture, we're also a test city or testbed for sharing economy. And we're also a test city for sharing economy through a partnership with the Ministry of Business. A partnership exploring the potential of sharing economy in relation to tourism, transportation, jobs and active citizenship. So on the background of this knowledge we gained here in 2017, we will be able to hopefully influence the development of sharing economy to ensure that we are creating the best possible framework for a sharing economy. On the one hand, ensuring growth and prosperity and development in this type of economy and with these business models. But on the other hand, also ensuring that it takes place on fair conditions, fair competition, both for consumers and for employees and companies alike. And in connection with our partnership with the Ministry of Business, we are hosting a people's festival on sharing economy, where citizens and companies can meet representatives from all aspects of the sharing economy. So please, already now, reserve the date, August 21st, we will be having a people's festival for the sharing economy. And as a matter of fact, the sharing economy was the central theme of the Internet Week in 2014. I don't know if anyone can remember that far back now. But... We try to pick up on the different trends and the sharing economy is really, really playing a major role, as everybody knows. Anyway, Internet Week Denmark isn't just about new trends. We are also celebrating the pioneers of the Internet. We will be conferring three pioneering awards in the categories Technology, Service and Rethink, which is also the theme of our European Conference. Our European Capital Culture. They will be celebrated here in the City Hall tonight and I hope that many of you have the opportunity to join us. I'm fascinated by the Internet. It continuously creates new waves of technical and technological development. Take the blockchain technology. Blockchain. It's like a public money ledger. Every transaction performed through the blockchain is recorded on the public ledger of transactions. And instead of only having one ledger and source of truth, every person has a copy of the ledger and performs checks to ensure all transactions are legitimate. All right. That... I don't know about you. That's pretty complex. Do you have another explanation? It's like the minutes at a town hall meeting written by two very accurate people. Both writers take down exactly what happened when it happened in the meeting. And they look over their notes to make sure the two are exactly the same. Checks and balances. Okay. That makes sense. Thank you. Again, sideways dictionary. Well, according to Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading analysis of the societal effects of the new technologies, the blockchain technology is going to revolutionize the world. And it's going to revolutionize the internet as we know it. And the internet as we know it, the internet of information, has created growth and development all over the world. But the wealth created in the process is very unequally distributed because the values traded on current markets are typically processed by intermediary. For example, a bank or another financial institution that ensures the security of the financial transaction. The blockchain technology uses the peer-to-peer principle to validate and secure individual transactions without an intermediary. So, simply put, this means that the blockchain transactions are much safer. The costs are minimal, almost nonexisting, because there aren't any third parties trying to generate revenue of the blockchain transaction. And Don Tapscott foresees that the blockchain technology may actually help transform the internet into an internet of value, where wealth is more equally distributed than we see today. So, it will be very exciting to see how this blockchain technology develops in the coming years. And it will be even more exciting to watch the next waves of the internet's development, not least in the context of Internet Week Denmark. This week is precisely about creating a common basis for dialogue and discussion. About what kind of future we want to create together. This is not a given. This is performed, developed by us. And this is an open source festival, you might call it. Open source. It's like baking a cake for a friend, then giving them the recipe. Not only do you get to enjoy the cake, but you can also bake another. Or make it for another friend's birthday. Maybe using peanut butter this time, instead of buttercream. Because your friend is a genius. Thanks. Well, definitely Internet Week Denmark is an open source event. In that way, we can also, everybody gets to contribute, get inspired and keep developing together over the week. There will be plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in all the technical terms that you would want to for the rest of the week. Digital security, artificial intelligence, competency development, drones, coding privates, privacy, fake news and smart cities are just some of the topics that we'll be covering over the next week. And over the course of this week, we'll also have the opportunity to explore the many sides of the internet. The commercial, the societal, the social, the good and the bad. And not least, thanks to the many businesses, organizations and private individuals who've committed and contributed to making this event a reality, we're able to experience both a very broad and interesting program with very, very large diversity. And because Internet Week Denmark is crowdsourced, everyone is able to participate. Everyone can contribute with events. So I would like to give a special thanks to Business Region Aarhus, to the Central Denmark Region, all our partners and sponsors, all of who have helped to make Internet Week Denmark a reality. You've spent hundreds of hours of planning and promoting events. And over the next week, we'll be harvesting all the fruits of your hard labor and showing what Denmark is actually able to offer. The overwhelming commitment and quality you contributed to this testifies to a need for an event just as this. And I hope that all of you will enjoy the week. Welcome, everyone.