Urmas Klaas – Mayor of Europe – October ’22 – Education

“Science and education are the reasons Tartu is and will be”

Urmas Klaas (born in 1971) has a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors. He has worked as the editor-in-chief of Estonia’s oldest, largest and most respected newspaper and also taught at the country’s most prestigious institution of higher education, the University of Tartu. He has served as a regional governor and chaired the economic affairs and cultural and educational affairs committees in the Estonian parliament.

Since 2014 he has been the Mayor of Tartu – Estonia’s second-largest city. In his work he has underscored the importance of inclusive leadership, considering it vital that decisions be made with the involvement of as many interest groups as possible. As the mayor of Tartu, he has emphasized the need, in the development of the city, for the implementation of the ‘smart city’ philosophy in all areas of urban life.

Mr Mayor, Tartu was the only Estonian city chosen as part of the EU Mission of “100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030”. What do you think was the reason for that? Is it also a sign that the country is on the right track as a whole?

Tartu has been at the forefront of sustainability in Estonia for years and we have the most ambitious climate goals among Estonian cities. Our application to join the mission relied on our work so far and was compiled by a wide range of partners from Tartu University and Tallinn Technical University to local NGOs and the private sector. The will and power to undertake this monumental challenge are present in Tartu as presented by the diverse group.

Can you share some of the more ambitious projects in the field of research and business that you think contributed to this success?

Tartu has been very active in boosting renovation activities. We have included additional Horizon funds to support local apartment building associations in addition to national renovation financing.

Our current ambition is to boost Tartu and the Estonian renovation market by supporting pre-fabricated renovation technologies in Tartu’s most difficult high-rise apartment buildings. It is extremely important that people feel the positive sides of climate mitigation actions in their everyday life.

It’s important that the actions are not perceived as something extra and costly but something that can help increase the quality of life. A good example in Tartu is the Car Free Avenue taking place for the 3rd year in a row. A wide monofunctional car-oriented street is transformed into a multifunctional urban space for fun and revitalization of the city centre among other reasons to promote sustainable modes of transportation.

How will academia contribute to meeting the goals of climate neutrality and smart city by 2030? Is there a natural bridge between the two?

There is no Tartu without the University of Tartu. Science and education are the reasons Tartu is and will be. Climate change demands innovation. It demands finding new ways of understanding and new ways of implementing.

None of our success stories has come without involving the academy. We have joined the 100 climate-neutral cities mission in cooperation with our universities and we cannot reach our goals without them.

Where do you think the creation of a smart city begins?

I think the trigger for the creation of smart cities is the ambition to improve the quality of life in the city and of citizens. Cities with limited budgets and resources must be creative in how to smartly build an ecosystem for innovation and research, attract talents, promote economic growth and improve the city with modern technological features. All of these are playing a crucial part in the smart city concept. Technically, the creation of smart cities begins as soon as data transformation provides some intelligence that is changing and improving the quality of life of citizens.

Smart city in Tartu began (not purposefully as a “smart city”) when the City Government decided to put technology at the service of citizens in the key issues for coexistence: mobility, health, transparent government, sustainability and digitization. Tartu has always been driven by the idea of creating a green living and safe environment and a diverse cultural scene for ourselves and not be an exhibition stage. We like to think in Tartu we are differently smart as we make smart decisions based on data and technology we have.

I believe every mayor in the world would describe a “smart city” differently, so the “creation” and concept itself must be a way of thinking, it cannot be a supreme goal of governing the City, but a way of forward-looking thinking of a city´s role and responsibility.

In the City of Tartu, we are seeing a smart city as a human-focused ecosystem where physical and cyberspace are interconnected to make social, economic, political and environmental changes. And I want to stress out the word “changes”. The smart ecosystem in Tartu works without one central technology driving force but more as a collaborative process from private, public, finance, science parks, universities. So, with the correct and productive “ingredients” the Smart City as a concept will be growing organically and imperceptibly. And it works and has been working in Tartu - services, infrastructure, public environment, etc are seamlessly developed and functioning. Improving the quality of life with all the stakeholders where the city acts as an enabler, provider and investor at the time, is something I believe differentiates us from other cities.

Tartu has approximately 100 thousand inhabitants. Imagine the city as a practical testbed, with access to modern infrastructure and top scientists - health tech, artificial intelligence, material science, ICT at the University of Tartu - the institution that I believe acts as the backbone of Smart City Tartu. Tartu was one of the first cities to introduce mobile parking (because people had issues walking in the cold to get their parking tickets from the machines!), public access to WIFI, electronic elections, real-time based public transport system. All these features are seamlessly implemented to our everyday life.

What is the connection between digital literacy of average citizens and successful ‘smartification’ of urban spaces?

To answer that question, we have to ask ourselves questions like how does one learn digital literacy, what services can the city provide to make sure (especially the older generations) are still able to use the digital services the city provides without fearing change. Data is needed here as well to determine who is being left behind, education programmes, understanding the communities on the ground level and getting out and talking to people (citizen engagement).

There is a big connection between the success of a smart city and the ability of the citizens to use and understand the technologies. So, if we improve digital literacy by doing the groundwork, we can inherently increase the factors of success in the smartification of urban spaces. Very often it goes beyond the will of the citizens to accept transformation, but the duty goes back to the city to provide the education and resources so that they are able to use and understand the changes. If people are educated on the technologies and have a comprehension of the technology, the vast majority will accept it. We normally only fear what we don’t understand or know.

The connection between digital literacy and smartification is influenced by the strong will and the ability of citizens to accept the transformation in life. Strong will means that one has to learn and practice the new technologies to make his/her life easier and faster. The great obstacle in digital literacy is the fear of smart and new technologies. So, to make smartification successful we have to work on removing this fear taking in consideration the differences of mental acceptance between generations.

The connection is set when intelligence from data & technology is driven by the first decision about urban spaces reshaping. So, data is needed, but it’s not a question of gathering thousands of sensors. It’s about value from the data to help humans make better decisions, anticipate problems, and design the future.

What is your personal vision when it comes to the future state of education in Tartu and Estonia?

Tartu already has a high-quality education network from primary to higher education. The teachers and educators of our institutions include leading scientists and renowned specialists in their fields from all over the world who have enabled us to successfully fulfil our role as the Educational Innovation Centre in Estonia. We have successful active learning programmes, work with the local AHHAA Science Centre and host the annual Tartu Education Festival and Fair which has participants from all over Estonia.

Our aim for the future is to develop an education system that follows the principle of seamless education. This means close co-operation between general and vocational education institutions and valuing skills and knowledge acquired through extracurricular recreational activities. We support the notion of independent students and encourage mobility between different educational paths among students of every age.

All schools and kindergartens in Tartu have signed a value-based quality agreement that is regularly reviewed and updated. Tartu is a multicultural city that recognises the importance of language immersion schools and classes where the development of children with non-Estonian native languages is supported on the basis of internationally recognised methodology. A flexible, innovative and open education system ensures equal opportunities for everyone in Tartu to receive a good education and to participate in society and the labour market.

It is important to keep up with the times and the keyword here is educational innovation. The University of Tartu, which is among the 300 best universities around the world, opened the Centre for Innovation in Education at the beginning of this year and has already been training education innovation specialists for years.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that the youth must start learning creativity, innovation and digital skills such as web design, robotics, digital music creation, programming and cyber security from an early age. That is why digital learning starts in kindergartens and general education schools.

Author: Vincent Iolov

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