Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - smartpolis (Budapest Smart City Centre of Excellence)

Teaser

For the last decade the smart city concept became reality by the accelerated development of new technologies and the increasing need of society for establishing sustainable, cost effective, green and safe living environment. Therefore development of smart cities is one of the...

Summary

For the last decade the smart city concept became reality by the accelerated development of new technologies and the increasing need of society for establishing sustainable, cost effective, green and safe living environment. Therefore development of smart cities is one of the key elements of Horizon 2020 dedicated to generating excellent science, creating industrial leadership and tackling social challenges.
The consortium organized for this proposal has defined the overall goal to establish the Budapest Centre of Excellence for Smart Cties. The Centre called Smartpolis will become an incubator of smart city concepts and solutions in the region through its high level theoretical research, system and technology developments, accelerated deployment, as well as its educational and consulting activities.
The Central and Eastern European (CEE) region is lagging behind the development level of the Western European smart cities. The Central and Eastern-European region needs a special centre of excellence for smart city developments, as
• there is no regionally effective centre for smart city developments,
• there is a considerable gap between the Central and Eastern European urbanization and cities in terms of infrastructure conditions relative to the more advanced part of Europe,
• the region has specific ways in urban planning, control and management.

The planned centre should:
• closely cooperate with academic institutions to have access to the required competences,
• have a good practice in international scientific research networking and industry cooperation
• have a good vision on the development of the future, next generation smart city solutions and technologies.
The following regional specifics also underline the need and justify the establishment of a local Centre of Excellence:
• relatively large number of cities with less than 200,000 populations in the CEE region and lower levels of over-all urbanisation, at about 10-15% below WEU regions,
• significantly lower investment and modernization of city infrastructures including road infrastructure, utility infrastructures, construction quality and in particular energy efficiency in the built environment,
• Smart City actions supported mostly by limited funding from national and municipal government without creating appropriate impact,
• the lower level of participation of the widening countries in the Central Eastern EU region (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) in the lead initiatives of the EIP SCC.

Work performed

WP1: Project management
WP2: Evaluation of the existing smart city developments
WP3: Investigation of the future smart city concepts, technologies and systems
WP4: Business model development
WP5: Exploitation and dissemination
Ten deliverables have been prepared comprising analysis of the regional specifics and requirements, assessment of best practices, analysis of future development trends and associated technologies, and methods and solutions to be adapted in terms of knowledge transfer. The most important deliverable was the business model and business plan for the new centre of excellence.
The project also organized three workshops with the involvement of academia, industry and public administration.
The project also had an active dissemination activity, organization of conference tracks – Budapest and Berlin -, management of the Future Internet Smart City Platform with quarterly events, and the preparation of multiple publications.

Final results

The ultimate measure of the success of Smartpolis will be the improvement of the quality of life in cities within the CEE Region and, above all, improving the quality of life of citizens should be the driving force when introducing smart city solutions. Our ambition is to establish the Centre of Excellence as Trusted Advisor in the selection of concepts, strategies, business models and related solutions.
The goal is to realize the following objectives:
• development of a regional cluster
• transfer of knowledge between the leading coutries and the region with added value of the centre
• increase the CEE Region scientific capabilities
• accelerate regional smart city activities
• create a self-sustaining business
Smartpolis will create and manage a new regional cluster of over 50 cities from the CEE region, integrating businesses as well as local research & education organizations. This network will serve as the foundation to acquire project and consulting services and form the sustainable business model of the Centre. In addition, this CEE regional city network will allow Smartpolis to establish local services on a strategic basis across the region adding both capacity to Smartpolis and to increase the knowledge base and scientific performance of the local cities. Adoption of concepts and solutions within the CEE region should be ensured as well as fostering a pan-European innovation exchange. We will foster collaboration by sharing knowledge and best practices in order to expand the network, and becoming the major driving force for smart cities within the CEE region.

Website & more info

More info: http://smartpolis.eit.bme.hu/.