AI-ready Municipalities

The “AI-ready Municipalities” project supports the cities of Riga and Rotterdam in advancing their digital transformation by strengthening institutional and administrative capacity for the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in municipal administrations.

The project activities focus on improving understanding of existing capacities and developing strategic roadmaps to enhance technical and organisational capabilities. Aligned with the European Union and national priorities, the initiative contributes to more resilient, innovative, and future-ready public administrations.

Now, both cities face shared challenges, including fragmented workflows, limited data integration, and the need for stronger digital infrastructure and skills.

Latvia is progressing well toward the EU’s Digital Decade goals for public service digitalisation, with Riga leading nationally in digital governance. However, gaps in digital infrastructure and limited municipal-level support risk slowing this progress. Riga Municipality faces growing pressure to modernise services and improve efficiency through advanced technologies like AI. The lack of AI tools and training currently limits service quality, operational efficiency, and employee satisfaction. Strengthening digital and AI capabilities will help Riga enhance governance, reduce costs, and support sustainable urban development.

Rotterdam has a strong foundation in municipal IT management, but fragmented workflows and siloed information still limit institutional agility and innovation. Despite progress through centralisation and shared service structures, challenges remain in fully leveraging data and digital technologies. These barriers constrain the city’s ability to improve key services, including urban planning, social welfare, and citizen engagement. Rotterdam recognises the need for a comprehensive AI strategy to modernise operations and enhance public service delivery. By aligning local action with national and EU priorities, the city aims to accelerate its digital transformation and strengthen its position as a future-ready municipality.

By addressing these issues, the project aims to

• improve understanding of existing capacities and adoption of a roadmap to strengthen AI readiness,
• strengthen technical and organisational capacities for the responsible deployment of AI,
• improve public service quality, increase public value for citizens and businesses, and build trust among them.

To achieve these objectives, the project implements a combination of advisory and training measures, including:

• Baseline assessment: Map legal, data, technology, and process landscapes (As-Is).
• Use case selection: Identify and prioritise high-impact, feasible AI applications.
• Benchmarking: Analyse good practices and transferable AI solutions from other municipalities.
• To-Be & roadmap: Define future-state processes and transition pathways across legal, organisational, and IT domains.
• Capacity building: Deliver e-courses, study visits, and train-the-trainer (ToT) programme.
• Action planning: Develop tailored, actionable implementation roadmaps for each city.

The project is part of the action “Support to EU Member States in the implementation of reforms under the Technical Support Instrument: Governance & Public Administration”, which supports the reform efforts of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands to build more resilient public institutions, encourage investments, as well as support sustainable economic and social development across the European Union.