Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Councilor Cocco: “We are the first in Europe to offer this service. It will be available 24 hours a day and constantly updated."

Milan, May 21 2020 – The Municipality of Milan, the first municipality in Europe, today launches the “020202” service on WhatsApp, with the aim of giving all citizens accurate, reliable and up-to-date information on the city.

020202 is an automated "chatbot" service that will allow citizens to obtain, 24 hours a day, answers to the most frequently asked questions on the coronavirus emergency, updated news on Milan and accurate information on open commercial activities, available public services and permitted travel and traffic, as well as the needs of people with disabilities. Furthermore, health information and information on decrees, ordinances and circulars will be available.

To use the Municipality of Milan 020202 service on WhatsApp, simply save the number 020202 among your contacts and write the word "Hello" in a message. The virtual assistant will activate indicating a series of options to choose from to obtain an immediate response:

A) Citizenship support services

B) Resumption of economic activities

C) Public services and places of worship

D) Travel permitted

E) Traffic and parking

F) People with disabilities

G) Help the city of Milan

H) Health information

I) Decrees, ordinances and circulars

It will be sufficient to reply to the list with the letter indicating the desired service to find out, for example, the operational registry offices, the "Milan helps" services, consult the Government FAQ relating to Phase 2 or the ordinances of the Mayor of Milan, discover volunteering and fundraising initiatives.

“Thanks to the collaboration with Facebook today we present to citizens the virtual assistant of the Municipality of Milan – declares the councilor for Digital Transformation Roberta Cocco – A simple and intuitive system to provide citizens with all the useful information in such a delicate moment directly on their smartphones. It is a model already used by the WHO and Great Britain to answer the most frequently asked questions related to the coronavirus and Milan is the first city in Europe to experiment with this interaction. The contents have been selected based on the most requested information on our infoline 020202 and will be constantly updated to offer timely information on the city's services and activities. Citizens will also be able to propose ideas and suggestions or give us their opinion through the short questionnaire available after use".

"In difficult times like these, people use WhatsApp more than ever to connect, support their loved ones and their communities and share information - comments Luca Colombo, Country Director of Facebook Italy - We are therefore happy to be able to provide the Municipality of Milan with a useful and effective communication tool to answer citizens' questions, with reliable, timely and constantly updated information that allows people to experience the city in an aware and safe way".

The 020202 service was implemented on the WhatsApp Business API version, using the Infobip global communication platform to allow the sharing of timely information on the management of the Covid-19 emergency in the City of Milan.

“In this particular period, Governments and Public Administrations need access to channels for the distribution of clear and immediate information - comments Silvio Kutic, CEO of Infobip - Infobip is proud to provide this service together with assistance in the management of updates and to its technical competence for the good and safety of the community".

Infobip provides chatbot service and update management assistance for immediate 24/7 access to all information about the virus. For more advanced queries, the chatbot will direct the user to online news from the Municipality of Milan.

The service was developed free of charge by Facebook and Infobip who responded to the "Alliance for #milanodigitale" call aimed at public and private entities who want to donate technological and digital projects to the municipal administration aimed at improving the city and services aimed at citizens and to city users.