MARKHAM, ON – February 13, 2017 – Digital Markham, the City’s new digital strategy, is about to ignite sparks of innovation across the community. The strategy, approved by Markham City Council on January 30, 2017, will become a foundation for digital advances, collaboration and partnerships among citizens, businesses and government.
The goal of the strategy is to transform Markham into a “frictionless city”, improving the quality of life in the community and making Markham a digital destination. The strategy focuses on four key objectives:
- Serve and engage the community
- Be the digital differentiator for business
- Leverage the City as a platform for innovation
- Enable a digital workforce
“By 2025 I envision Markham as a “frictionless” city – with seamlessly accessible and integrated services. The goal is to enrich the digital experience of our citizens and customers, and create a digital vibe in the community.” said Mayor Frank Scarpitti. “We were the first municipality in North America to offer online voting since 2003, and we have continued to invest in technology, currently offering over 70 online services and business tools to better serve our customers. Moving forward we want to expand the digital universe making the City of Markham a “living lab”. We will explore retrofit opportunities, incubators, and digital alliances with key partners and thought leaders, all in an effort to further advance a more sophisticated connected community”.
Markham will become even more of a digital destination, leveraging opportunities in the new Future Urban Area and Markham Centre. The City will connect with partners including the new York University Markham campus, set to open in 2020. The campus will prepare tech-savvy graduates for the workforce in the City of Markham, York Region and the broader GTA, strengthening our economy.
City Staff will adopt “digital first” thinking in the work they do to set the stage for the next generation in the workforce. A comprehensive cloud and mobile strategy, and secure and resilient technology infrastructure will enhance digital service delivery.
“Markham’s growing economic prosperity depends on our ability to attract business", said Mayor Frank Scarpitti. “Our Digital Strategy makes it easier to do business in Markham by implementing innovation and expedient decision-making. This will position Markham as the digital destination of choice for business”.
Markham staff will report to General Committee in June 2017 with a detailed implementation plan for Digital Markham
