As smart city initiatives continue to gain momentum worldwide, one critical question remains: how do we ensure citizens are not only beneficiaries of these solutions but active contributors in shaping them? To address this, Solveo took the lead in organizing the first large-scale smart city innovation event in Skopje in 2018, bringing together youth, experts, and stakeholders to explore and co-create urban solutions that reflect real citizen needs.
Cities often implement high-tech solutions without fully considering citizen adoption or relevance. In Skopje, the challenge was no different. With growing interest in smart city development, there was a clear opportunity to engage local youth in building a more connected, efficient, and human-centered urban future.
The objective was to create a format that would both educate and activate young people, giving them the tools, mentorship, and platform to develop solutions that address real urban challenges—from smart infrastructure to sustainability and public services.
We designed a two-part event: the RETHINK Conference and the RETHINK Creative Marathon, with a focus on awareness, collaboration, and rapid innovation.
The conference brought together some of the region’s most respected voices across technology, government, and design. Speakers shared practical insights and real-world use cases across topics such as:
Live demos and talks from companies like Haselt, doXteam, InPlayer, Kiimo, and others offered concrete examples of how technology can transform city living.
Following the conference, a 54-hour innovation sprint gathered 100 young participants from Skopje. With guidance from 20 facilitators and 20 mentors, the teams worked through the full innovation cycle—from research and ideation to prototyping and pitching.
Highlights from the sprint included:
The top three teams received continued mentorship to further develop their ideas for real-world implementation.
Outcomes
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