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Grenoble’s GRANDALPE 25 development project

The Grenoble-Alpes Metropole introduces the GRANDALPE 25 project, aiming to transform a district with 30,000 inhabitants and 40,000 jobs into an active living space, an innovative economic hub, and a leader in new mobility. The project adopts the “Fabrique de la ville” approach, focusing on citizen engagement, integrating culture and art, and employing tactical urbanism to involve various stakeholders in shaping the district’s development. The ultimate goal is to create a city without fossil fuels and build a vibrant, inclusive community that reflects the needs and aspirations of its residents.

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UTA member Kentyou wins bid to provide Barcelona with enhanced data tools

Kentyou had been selected by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona to provide a solution regarding the utilisation of data collected in loading/unloading zones to enhance city logistics policies.  

The challenge: 

The Metropolitan area of Barcelona is confronted with the task of extracting maximum value from the data gathered through their app, SPRO, which monitors loading/unloading zones.  However, several obstacles hinder the effective utilization of this data: 

  • The complexity and sheer volume of collected data pose significant challenges. 
  • Safeguarding data privacy and security is crucial, especially when handling sensitive personal or business-related information. 
  • Prioritising investments in appropriate technology and infrastructure to support data storage, processing, visualization, and analysis capabilities.  

Without these vital resources, Barcelona may not fully harness the potential of the data collected through the app. 

Expected Improvements:

Kentyou will work with the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona to achieve an improved data visualization and analysis system as a solution to their challenges. The solution provided will enable them to achieve the following objectives:

  • Sharing System Performance: The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona intends to provide various stakeholders with access to the performance metrics of the system. This transparency will foster collaboration and enable stakeholders, including local authorities, to have a better understanding of the system’s effectiveness.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: By enhancing data understanding and interpretation, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona and other stakeholders will be empowered to make informed decisions based on the data collected. This will help shape city logistics policies and streamline operations.
  • Accurate and Reliable Data: Ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of the data collected through the app is a priority. They strive to eliminate errors and inconsistencies, guaranteeing that the information is trustworthy and dependable.
  • Enhanced Data Management: increasing data processing capabilities to handle the large volumes of collected data efficiently. This will enable more comprehensive analysis and extraction of insights.
  • Data Privacy and Security: Ensuring data privacy and security, protecting sensitive information and minimizing the risk of unauthorized access or misuse. 

By addressing these areas, Kentyou’s solution will help the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona to leverage data as a valuable resource to optimize city logistics policies and operations in the metropolitan area.

https://raptorproject.eu/2023-city-challenge-barcelona/

CLIMABOROUGH, helping EU cities achieve NetZero

Climaborough is a project, co-funded by the European Union and CINEA (https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/index_en), with the ambition to bridge the gap between design and implementation of urban innovations, particularly in the face of climatic change and its consequential needs for adaptation and mitigation. 

More specifically, the project is aimed at enhancing cooperation among 8 cities in Europe (Athens, Cascais, Differdange, Grenoble, Ioannina, Maribor, Sofia and Torino) in the field of urban planning strategies for achieving climate neutrality by 2030. To achieve this, the project relies on a 5-step methodology:

1.   Identifying challenges related to the creation of urban planning strategies targeting climate neutrality by 2030.

2.  Opening an innovative public market shared by the 8 cities to address their respective challenges.

3.Implementing and evaluating the innovations developed to assess their usefulness, impact on the efficiency of urban planning strategies, and their contribution to climate neutrality.

4.   Evaluating the influence of the initiative on carbon footprint.

5.   Establishing a mentoring system to promote the replication of innovations in other areas. 

All participating cities have been able to define the challenge for which they wish to participate in the innovative public market. 

AN INNOVATIVE PUBLIC MARKET SHARED BY 8 EUROPEAN CITIES

An innovative public market refers to a public procurement process that addresses research and development needs. Economic operators, including research institutions, SMEs, start-ups, and individuals, are invited to participate and provide inputs. The feedback received will support the design and launch of a call for tender using the instrument of Innovation Partnership.  The problem or challenge description provided in the consultation serves as context information for participants. The actual tender requirements will be outlined in the call’s Terms of Reference (for Grenoble, see: https://climaborough.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/PMC-Grenoble-Alpes-Metro.pdf). 

The procurement is expected to be launched in September 2023. In the context of Climaborough, the innovative public market is coordinated by ANCI Toscana and is evenly shared among the 8 participating cities. Each city will receive €280,000 euros to finance research and development related to their respective challenge.https://climaborough.eu

New content on UTA’s website

As part of its activity to enhance information sharing and to provide opportunities to its members, UTA is launching 2 new webpages, which aim at keeping track of smart city events and public funding opportunities related to the development, testing and implementation of smart city solutions. These new pages aim to provide members with up-to-date information and will be updated on a regular basis with new information as it becomes available.

Smart City Events

Funding

New Partnership Manager at UTA

Urban Technology Alliance is pleased to announce that it has hired a new partnership manager, Federico Cruz. 

Federico will work closely with UTA members, fostering collaborations and coordinating various UTA activities. As a dedicated liaison, he will prioritise meeting members’ requests and needs, thereby playing an important role in shaping the future initiatives of UTA.

For direct communication, please feel free to reach out to Federico at federico@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

With a background in working with organizations in the Smart City and public sectors, Federico brings a wealth of international business experience to the UTA team. His expertise will undoubtedly enhance our efforts to drive innovation and sustainable smart city development.

How can UTA help your organization?

It is fascinating to see that each city is unique yet all share similar concerns that can be addressed together by joining forces and sharing our know-how. That is why UTA has been founded. Benefits of UTA include:

  • Access to global matchmaking platform, allowing cities with specific needs to work directly with technology and solution providers on UTA supported projects
  • A wide pool of best practices captured through real world projects – available to help jump start smart city projects
  • Quarterly events to share experiences and discuss key trends
  • Insights from world leading experts – people who are front and centre of the Smart City movement

Watch Dr. Levent Gürgen, president of UTA, give an overview of the Urban Technology Alliance.