Challenge

The ‘Mechelenbon’ is a gift voucher. Beneficiaries of the voucher can purchase services and products from the 200 Mechelen traders who are members of the system. With this project, the City of Mechelen wants to achieve a digitization or automation of its Mechelen voucher.

At the moment the voucher is only available in paper format and has many limitations. The voucher is susceptible to fraud, requires too many administrative operations, is not flexible in use, ...

At the same time, the  gift voucher is a success: it enhances the urban economy, boosts life in the city, and still has a lot of growth potential. That is why with this project the City of Mechelen aims to create a digital, smart version of the voucher that is useful for all parties involved (customers, shopkeepers , city services, etc.) and that addresses the above shortcomings but also preserves the gift aspect . In other words, the city of Mechelen wants to develop an innovative system that allows transparent and efficient management of financial transactions between governments, citizens and companies.

If successful, other local authorities can join this system.