Skip to main content

Madrid and IBM partner on smarter cities project

The City of Madrid and IBM, through its subsidiary INSA, have announced the start of a ‘smart city’ project, designed to improve city life for Madrid’s three million inhabitants. The contract, with an estimated value of approximately US$20 million, will IBM’s Smarter Cities technology, including Big Data and analytics, to transform the city’s supplier management model, allowing the city to manage and pay each service provider based on service levels in an effort to improve the management of public servi
July 10, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The City of Madrid and 62 IBM, through its subsidiary INSA, have announced the start of a ‘smart city’ project, designed to improve city life for Madrid’s three million inhabitants.

The contract, with an estimated value of approximately US$20 million, will IBM’s smarter Cities technology, including Big Data and analytics, to transform the city’s supplier management model, allowing the city to manage and pay each service provider based on service levels in an effort to improve the management of public services such as street maintenance, lighting, irrigation, trees and green spaces, cleaning and garbage and waste management.

Madrid is one of the five most populated municipalities in Europe, producing one million tons of household waste and using some 15 million Cubic meters of water every year. The city also manages and tracks numerous assets including 1.7 million vehicles, more than 252,000 street lights and 287,000 trees that are cared for by the city.

The city will begin using an innovative technology platform called Madrid iNTeligente (MiNT) – smarter Madrid which will help improve quality of services, communications with citizens, anticipate issues and coordinate resources. By using smart phones, tablets other Mobile Devices and social media, it is expected citizens will be able to instantly communicate with the city about issues such as broken traffic signals or pot holes, receive instant feedback and track progress or the status of an event or issue.

“This project will serve as an example for other European capital cities which will be able to follow Madrid´s model as the first European capital with comprehensive public services integration, ” said Marta Martínez, general manager for IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel. “We are proud that the City of Madrid has relied on IBM Group for this innovative initiative.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • London joining forces with European cities to trial smart technology
    January 21, 2016
    Using the River Thames to heat homes, testing electric bikes and trialling state-of-the-art smart parking bays are just some of the innovative projects to be put to the test in London as part of a Europe-wide technology drive. London is joining forces with cities across Europe in a US$27 million project that will demonstrate how innovative uses of technology can improve the lives of their residents. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich has been chosen to
  • India to invest in transportation to boost urban economies
    November 13, 2012
    Grand plans have been announced for transport investment in India aimed at boosting city economies. India’s Government Secretary for Urban Development Sudhir Krishna explains all to Jason Barnes. There are many reasons for developed countries’ high levels of urbanisation, not least of which is that the types of employment to be found in towns and cities tend to generate relatively greater wealth and so make greater contributions to a country’s economy. That creates the imperative for developing nations to f
  • Ameresco wins $4m Oregon LED upgrade
    November 5, 2020
    Deal covers approximately 8,000 light fixtures and promises significant energy savings
  • EU research develops method for evaluating critical infrastructure
    January 10, 2013
    The European Commission’s SeRoN research project has drawn to a close, having developed a sophisticated method of identifying and quantifying threats to critical infrastructure. In December 2008 the European Commission published the directive 2008/114/EC on the identification, designation and assessment of the need to improve ‘European critical infrastructure’. In line with the objectives formulated in this directive, the SeRoN (Security of Road Transport Networks) research project was established in Novemb