“D.E.P.AN. – City NETWORK” was established in June 2015 as a “HELLENIC DEVELOPMENT CITY NETWORK”, a non-profit company, on the initiative of twenty-three local government organizations from Greece which financed the network in the first year of its operation.
D.E.P.AN. includes a number of local actors from across Europe who are joining forces to develop and manage public services and infrastructure more effectively and respond in the best possible way to the needs of citizens by providing better quality services and enhancing local development.
Mission: D.E.P.AN. applies the Quad Helix Model to create a network that will facilitate cooperation and has complementary action with local authorities, government, academic institutions, private sector and civil society to promote entrepreneurship and quality services to citizens.
Vision: D.E.P.AN.:
• brings together actors in each field to share their experiences, learn from each other and work together.
• promotes wider awareness and understanding of the need for Sustainable Development across Europe.
• brings together Knowledge through benchmarking and supports the development and dissemination of good practices and policies.
• is working to develop knowledge and experience on accessibility issues in the European Development Area.
• provides a platform for those who support the need for sustainable development, as well as a represent a voice to European and national institutions and organizations whose actions have a direct impact on urban development.
• provides project management and mobilization of the necessary resources to rationalize the services offered locally.
• is working to achieve economies of scale that provide better quality services at the lowest cost possible.
• identifies and addresses specific needs which arise from distinct cases and from local or regional context.
Vassilios E. Koutsioris
General Manager DEPAN
Vassilios Koutsioris, studied Civil Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire and continued his studies at City University of London from where he obtained his master’s degree.
He is currently General Manager of the Hellenic Cities Development Network (DEPAN), which aims to support local governments in the implementation of their development projects and actions. Over the past 10 years he has been working on local government and regional development issues. He has been an external consultant to local government bodies. In the past, he worked in managerial positions both in technical companies and consultancies. He has considerable experience in combining all available means to achieve the objectives of each business.