New large-scale initiative towards Europe smart cities

The Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform, part of the Smart Cities and Community Partnership, which was launched by the European Commission in early 2012, works as an advisory body for the EU’s leading research initiative on the future of cities. Members include technology producers, energy providers and urban visionaries. The open-invitation group is already 1,000 members strong, and is currently building a database of high-tech solutions to help build the smart cities of tomorrow. The ideas, coming from the
December 18, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

The Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform, part of the Smart Cities and Community Partnership, which was launched by the 1690 European Commission in early 2012, works as an advisory body for the EU’s leading research initiative on the future of cities. Members include technology producers, energy providers and urban visionaries.  

The open-invitation group is already 1,000 members strong, and is currently building a database of high-tech solutions to help build the smart cities of tomorrow. The ideas, coming from the private sector and academia alike, address three key urban systems: 

Mobility and transport, including: 

• Providing real-time information that helps motorists locate available parking space at their destination before and during their trips; and

• A smart-phone app that helps older passengers plan public transport journeys that satisfy their special needs for comfort, safety and convenience. 

Energy efficiency and buildings, including:

• Economising on household electricity use by letting your home PC turn appliances on and off depending on power supply and price; and

• Using heat pumps to exploit thermal energy from sewage. 

Energy supply networks, including:

• Using “smart power grids” to make small communities 100% energy self-sufficient from a combination of solar power, biomass and heat pumps; and

• Integrated infrastructure networks for combined heat and power.

In June 2013, after discussion and multiple rounds of voting by platform members, the best ideas, together with policy recommendations, will be showcased at a conference in Budapest to be attended by EU decision makers, high-tech producers and representatives from European cities. 

This event, the first public showcase of the Smart Cities initiative, will help set the stage for the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, a seven-year programme aimed at making Europe more competitive and sustainable. It will be the platform members’ chance steer urban research toward the most needed and promising technologies, opening funding channels that will help nurture innovative ideas so that they’re market ready. 

Cities and people are at the core of the Smart Cities and Community Partnership, which seeks to improve quality of life in urban areas – now housing 70 percent of European citizens and accounting for 70 percent of energy use and 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Growing use of PC-based systems for urban traffic control
    February 1, 2012
    Siemens Mobility's Mark Bodger discusses the growing use of PC-based systems for urban traffic control. Across the ITS sector, there is a common trend of taking traffic and travel management out of the hands of bespoke solutions, realising the use of common, open-source technologies and solutions and enjoying all the attendant economies of scale and ease of use which that implies.
    Read More
  • Flir drives safety with new thermal imaging solution
    September 18, 2024

    Flir is here to unveil a groundbreaking advance in automatic incident detection and traffic data collection. Visitors to the company’s stand will see how Flir’s new thermal imaging camera offers a next-level solution for keeping vehicles, pedestrians, and public transport moving safely and efficiently. Traffic incidents on inter-urban routes are hazardous and can bring roads to a halt. Traffic management teams need accurate data to respond swiftly and save lives. Flir’s latest thermal camera, more powerful and efficient than alternatives, provides the necessary intelligence.

    Read More
  • European tunnel upgrades following new safety legislation
    August 20, 2015
    Across Europe there is a very mixed picture of compliance to latest safety standards for road tunnels. Best practice has emerged, however, in the wake of European legislation. Jon Masters reports High profile fatal fires following accidents in the Mont Blanc, Tauern and Gotthard tunnels prompted the 2004 European Union Directive 2004/54 on road tunnel safety. This meant all EU member states would have to meet new standards of safety in road tunnels by 30 April 2014. The Directive applied to all tunnels over
    Read More
  • Mileage based charging offers secure future for funding
    August 10, 2016
    HNTB’s Matthew Click sets out why a move to mileage-based pricing is inevitable. Infrastructure is the most neglected yet the most critical engine of our society, and our continued indifference could lead to a dystopian future. Our roads, bridges and highways have been largely passed by in the digital age—marginalised in an era when funding is limited and stewardship of physical assets has given way to our preoccupation with technological innovation and data—the stuff of the virtual realm.
    Read More

Highlighted Content