At the Smart Cities Conference, which took place on September 18 at the University of Latvia's House of Science, experts from public authorities, local governments and the private sector stressed that the main challenge is not a lack of technology, but the skills to use it effectively and meaningfully. Experts pointed out that in order to promote the use of data in local government, it is important to define how data will be used for the benefit of local government and people. Staff need to be upskilled in working with data and their competences need to be enhanced, and the introduction of new systems means changes to existing processes, so change management and effective data governance are just as important. Often, it is the lack of…