Between November 2024 and February 2025, the Cluj IT Association, in partnership with Smart Innovation Norway, carried out the project “AI-Driven Green Digital Transformation in Public Administration”.
The project pursued the development of an approach model for evaluating the degree of digitization and the level of preparation of the town halls for the adoption of modern digital tools, including artificial intelligence, taking into account at the same time the need to ensure the lowest possible level of negative impact on the environment. The mayors of Romania and Norway were primarily targeted, and the project could later be expanded to include local administrations from other countries.
Within the project, a web platform was implemented that allows evaluation processes to be carried out by going through a form in multiple steps, answering multiple-choice questions.
The set of 180 questions, grouped into 11 categories, was made by the implementation team through a process of research and analysis, aiming at the full coverage of all activities carried out within a local administration organization and specific aspects related to sustainability and reducing the negative impact on the environment.
Artificial intelligence algorithms were used to train the interpreter of the evaluation responses so that he could create a comprehensive diagnosis of the current state regarding digitization, preparation for the adoption of AI tools and ensuring sustainability, and to be able to generate actionable, personalized recommendations in this regard. For the interpretation and formulation of the results, a large language model (LLM) from the Llama family was integrated. From the beginning, the system is available in three languages, Romanian, Norwegian and English, making automatic translations through Deepl integration to ensure efficient collaboration between administration representatives and consultants from both participating countries.
The system was piloted and validated through training and work sessions with municipalities from Romania and Norway, including on the Romanian side the municipality of Bistrita, the municipality of Turda, and the city of Cugir, and on the Norwegian side the municipalities of Kongsvinger, Kristiansund, and Bamble.
The participating municipalities appreciated the relevance of the project and the result of the implementation, showing interest in using it further and recommending it to other institutions.
Following the implementation of this pilot project, the partners, the Cluj IT Association and Smart Innovation Norway intend to continue developing the system and implementing it further both in their countries, Romania and Norway, as well as in other countries.
The project is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA grants Romania 2014-2021, in the frame of the “SME Growth Programme Romania”.
