Alexandru Panait, the young man who digitized hundreds of town halls in Romania in less than a year, has extended his very ambitious project outside the country for several months, more specifically in dozens of cities in Arizona, United States of America.
Alexandru Panait, a young man with a brilliant mind PHOTO personal archive
In August 2020, Alexandru Panait created e-PrimariaTa, the first digitalization application of the public administration in Romania. In less than a year, over 500 town halls in Romania have been digitized, greatly simplifying the bureaucratic procedure for obtaining documents.
Since last year, the young man has spectacularly expanded his project. And this has become a reality thanks to
of the Gov-Smart project, a global extension of the successful e-PrimariaTa platform. Since the end of last year, the project has also reached dozens of cities in the United States.
The essential difference between the new Gov-Smart platform and the old e-PrimariaTa platform lies in the implementation of advanced technologies, which ensure continuous adaptability.
“This modern approach is very relevant in the context of global public administrations, which often do not pay enough attention to this aspect due to cumbersome public procurement procedures. One of the major advantages of Gov-Smart is its improved modularity. This feature not only facilitates the digitization of institutions in Romania, but also allows for global expansion, offering adaptable solutions for digital identity and transcontinental administrative support”says Alexandru Panait
Currently, 3,187 town halls in Romania are digitized through the Gov-Smart platform.
“This digitization works as a proxy, allowing citizens to interact online with any town hall in the country through the application we developed. Specifically, when a citizen fills in and sends a form through Gov-Smart, it reaches the town hall in question in digital format via email. The authenticity of each form is ensured through the use of blockchain technology”adds Alexandru Panait.
The Online Counter module is offered free of charge. It facilitates the interaction of Romanian citizens with all the town halls in the country. Other modules, such as the Local Official Gazette, the Local Council, artificial intelligence document management and blockchain Registry, have variable costs.
“Our goal is to provide a complete solution for public institutions, keeping within an annual budget of maximum 50,000 euros. It is important to note that, as the number of institutions that adopt our system increases, costs can decrease for all public institutions in Romania, thus providing a significant economic advantage”specifies Alexandru Panait.
Plans to expand the Gov-Smart platform are already in an advanced phase, with a specific focus on the United States market.
“Thanks to Gov-Smart, we digitized and standardized the interaction between citizens and public institutions in 26 cities in Arizona as a proxy, led by Phoenix, the largest city in the American state, but we are in discussions with those in Arizona to use the application directly . We started at the end of 2023 to launch our online counter solution in Arizona cities. By the end of this year, we want to expand, thanks to the Smart-Gov platform, to other American states”specifies Alexandru Panait.
Project noted by the European Commission
The initial e-PrimariaTa project attracted the attention of the European Commission, being included in the Next Generation Internet initiative, which aims to strengthen technological research links between Europe and the United States.
In 2023, Alexandru Panait was selected to collaborate for six months with the Blockchain department at Arizona State University. During this collaboration, the eminent young Romanian published a research paper exploring the future of democracy in the age of modern technology and how initiatives like Gov-Smart can facilitate this transition.
In 2021, the eminent young man was selected, together with several top researchers and innovators from the European Union, to continue his research on the decentralization of public services through Blockchain technology, within the NGI (Next Generation Internet) project, a project that aims to to provide the framework for the digital infrastructure base on which the digital European Union will be built in the coming years.
In 2021, Alexandru Panait (27 years old) worked for three months in America with top specialists.
