ISCN Global Mixer | #connectedinEurope: Smart City Exchanges in 12 European Cities

About two years ago a dedicated group of 12 European cities came together in the programme  #connectedinEurope to engage in a program of peer-learning exchange on smart city development. Accompanied in their exchanges by the International Smart Cities Network (ISCN), both bilaterally, as teams of two or three, and as a whole group, through online sessions and on-site meetings, interesting and fascinating project threads and learnings emerged, and the power of network effects was unleashed. 

After a general introduction into the context and scope of the #connectedinEurope program, the speakers shared the condensed learnings and observations from both the exchange as a whole group and on the individual level of the peer-exchanges that happened between the cities. 

They noted, for example, how often a broad portfolio of EU projects in cities coincides with dedicated staff for EU programs. To better leverage available EU funding, especially for a cross-cutting topic like smart city, municipalities might want to consider such positions in their headcounts. 

Exchanges specifically focused on datasets revealed an intriguing diversity of data being made available by the cities, e.g. CO2 pollution on main roads, weather data, carbon-rich soil mapping, but also number of cinema visitors, daily electricity consumption and menus in school cafeterias. Much could be won if such datasets would be mutually and complementarily filled in other municipalities! The discussion on datasets showed also that fully mature data catalogues, i.e. knowing comprehensively as a municipal administration what data one holds, are still a rarity. The many early-stage efforts in that regard need to take the next steps to solidify the data fundament for sophisticated solutions like urban digital twins and facilitate use case development.