Functionality of smart cities is growing while their numbers extend globally. There are many smart actions available to citizens already present in the infrastructure, education & beyond. In Albania, Tirana, the capital city, is at the forefront of smart solutions providing several e-services
Adriapol can stimulate job creation in a structured way by encouraging innovation, skills, & development of industry, aligned with national policies and donor goals. Building on the concept of “triple helix”, bringing together universities,government & industries, this eco-system will function on integrated approaches at the regional level with special attention to regional variances related to problems, such as inequality. Leading universities, such as Marin Barleti in Albania and its academic partners, provide a “one stop shopping” experience for the industry as they perform executive education; student recruitment and engagement, corporate relations through colleges, schools and research centers. Adriapol has decided to take this nontraditional role as it considers it a major potential source of innovation. We try to combine skills gained in a localized setting that lead to employment through participation in the local labor market; we have jump-started projects of self-employment.
The social economy, which is largely generated by NGOs, makes a huge contribution to job creation activities by targeting public investments to tackle and target social exclusion and supporting people in terms of employment. Adriapol combines the elements of the triple helix (university – industry – government) to benefit urban innovation. The Institute has always pursued creative ways to respond to the development and growth challenges in a country like Albania. Beefed up with a team of professionals trained abroad, it works to provide innovative solutions that simultaneously respond to both urban and employment growth needs of the urbanite. The multitude of projects and cooperation activities that have already taken place made the Institute more programmatic. Thus, the Institute works with projects that address the city or the urban center as a whole while providing policy guidance and practical solutions to the issues that accompany growth and development.
One of the major challenges facing the Albanian economy is how to provide better training for its workforce. The VET system isn’t sufficiently geared to the labor market. Thus it fails to meet its needs. The technical secondary schools, (part of the VET system), focus on the graduation requirement and neglect the area of practical training. Adriapol strongly believes that adequate education is vital in a globally competitive labor market. Through our international forums we have pitched forward the concept that the most effective way to address the employment needs is the equipment of the labor force with technical skills effective in a multi-cultural and multi-language setting. This new understanding of the role of post-secondary education will assure Albania of its human development and effective democratic functioning. However, the situation is still far from being ideal and we see ourselves in the forefront of training Albanians with the professional skills required for future.
