Digital innovation is a driver of sustainable urban development all over the world. Approaches to becoming ‘smarter’ may differ, but open and interoperable solutions arguably play a key role in ensuring the sustainability of smart infrastructures.

Public authorities collect and produce reams of data, which can be used to design and deliver innovative services and applications. From a governance perspective, public data also has the potential to contribute to more transparency in municipalities’ urban planning. This is why open data strategies are at the core of smart city initiatives all over Europe.

The third GDC award category will recognise the project that has adopted and implemented open data and/or interfaces; has deployed and/or promoted interoperable solutions; and has tried to promote urban platforms or the better use/re-use of infrastructures, services, tools, etc.

The three finalists are:

• Amsterdam region’s Open Data – Smart Neighbourhoods (ODSN) project
• Rijeka’s iURBAN intelligent urban energy tool
• Valencia’s Smart City Platform

Amsterdam region’s ODSN project uses IT to achieve urban climate targets

Commissioned by the Dutch ministry of infrastructure and environment, the Open Data – Smart Neighbourhoods (OSDN) project implements the IREEN roadmap, which was developed by Green IT Amsterdam under the FP7 funding programme between 2011 and 2013. This roadmap for energy-efficient neighbourhoods aims to promote the development of a comprehensive Europe-wide innovation strategy and the take-up of ICT-based energy efficiency solutions in urban districts and neighbourhoods.

The ODSN project builds on Amsterdam’s expertise and experience in open data management and in supporting new data-driven projects in five municipalities of the Amsterdam region, namely Haarlem, Tilburg, Zaanstad, Lelystad Airport Business Park, and Heerlen.

The project encourages the participants to learn about the benefits of open data and also about the challenges involved in monitoring, as well as in engaging and protecting the privacy of residents.

More information is available at at Green IT Amsterdam website.

Contact person: Jaak Vlasveld, director of Green IT Amsterdam: jvlasveld[at]greenitamsterdam.nl

Rijeka’s iURBAN: intelligent tool for an energy-efficient smart city

Just like all other local and regional authorities, the city of Rijeka must pay the energy bills of public buildings, such as schools, kindergartens, public libraries, and the city council itself.

An open access research book was published online in November 2016, just after the end of the project. Entitled iURBAN: Intelligent Urban Energy Tool, the book introduces this tool that integrates different ICT energy management systems (both hardware and software) in Rijeka) and Plovdiv. This system provides useful data to a novel decision support system needed for the development of associated business models.

The iURBAN smart Decision Support System (smartDSS) addresses a growing market demand for cheaper and cleaner energy services. It enables municipalities to analyse consumption patterns within buildings, detect sources of inefficiency, and identify power-hungry devices that weigh heavily on the municipality’s energy bill. It also helps building managers identify areas where investment is needed.

Interested to know more? Visit the iURBAN website at http://www.iurban-project.eu.

Contact person: Tatjana Perse, head of the city of Rijeka’s e-government unit: tatjana.perse@rijeka.hr

Valencia Smart City Platform (VLCi)

The Spanish city’s 2020 strategy emphasises innovation, sustainability and environmental quality; promotes entrepreneurship; foresees the emergence of a civic-minded political culture; and aims for the creation of spheres of excellence in promising sectors such as design, renewable energies, health, technology, and arts.

The Valencia Smart City Platform (VLCi) enables the municipality to efficiently manage its public services through the compilation and use of urban, citizenship and service management-related indicators. These enable the city to accurately measure urban behaviour and resources, and offer an integrated view of its operations and management. The indicators also enable Valencia to check itself against other similar cities and to improve its strategic and operational decision making processes over time.

By using some of the 600 indicators integrated in the VLCi platform, the municipality can also provide better services to its citizens. VLCi’s control panel display encourages the use of public open data by citizens, technicians and council officials for urban service management purposes.

To improve interoperability between its municipal services, Valencia has also developed an urban management platform based on FIWARE, an open standard recommended by the European Commission, which smart city developers use to ensure Internet of Things (IoT) compliance.

Further information is available at http://vlci.inndeavalencia.com (in English)

Contact person: Anna Melchor-Pérez, smart city specialist at Las Naves (previously InnDEA Valencia Foundation), Valencia city council: anna.melchor[at]inndeavalencia.com