Smart Cities and Regions
Background – Key drivers shaping the digital future
The digitalization of Cities and Regions, presents significant challenge for many municipalities. At the same time, many larger cities have well progressed towards applying digital technologies to develop modern urban spaces, commonly referred to as Smart Cities.
In contrast to many well advanced urban areas, rural areas are often among the less favoured in terms of economic growth, deployment, and obtainability of services (public and private). At the same time, these areas account for 28% of the total EU28 population.
Many of Europe’s rural areas face significant socio-economic challenges. Rural economies are essentially driven by agriculture, food and tourism. Rural areas have great assets which are often underutilized.
Both Cities and Regions, are complex socio-technical, cyber-physical systems whereby Digital Technology plays an essential role for sustainable development and to address the needs of many stakeholders.
Obviously public services are key for the development, with many municipalities, cities and regional authorities face challenges to transform and digitalize these services and ecosystems.
Although single projects are often successful, the coordination and coherence of services, building sustainable ecosystems that consider many stakeholders together with strategic alignment is complex.
CHALLENGES AND IMPACT
Many Cities and Regions have investigated the use of Digital technology and innovation to solve the multiple challenges faced by cities and regions. These developments represent significant future areas of innovation, in order to form sustainable ecosystems.
However, many examples in smart cities have demonstrated the challenges to delivers these suitable solutions. Integrated and standardized, large scale, sustainable approaches that deliver the expectations are challenging.
Key is a close collaboration between all ecosystem stakeholders from the public sector, research, industry, cities and regions in order to develop sustainable solutions and form innovative ecosystems. These smarter areas demand tailored, holistic, systemic solutions that integrate multiple stakeholders.
The areas are complex socio-technical systems that encompass many various needs, objectives and societal aspects. Sustainable solutions that put citizens in the focus require to be complemented by corresponding service and business models in the context of limited access to public funding.
RESEARCH FOCUS
With this research Cluster we aim to develop systems solutions, architectures and social innovations considering the complexity within smart cities and regions. Digital Technologies and various innovative solutions are offering transformation paths for Cities and Regions that are integrated into a set of validated transformation paths, which can be piloted and validated in real world projects.
The cooperation of numerous stakeholders is necessary to facilitate validated transformation paths that consider the interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder environment in Smart Cities and Regions. This will transform Cities and Regions into vibrant and innovative areas of sustainable economic growth, by utilizing the key drivers for change are digitalisation and increased connectivity between existing digital platforms.
- Develop Digital strategies and sustainable business models that allow transforming Smart Cities and Regions.
- Examine approaches to increase the Citizen experience
- Develop viable Data Markets and Data Platforms
- Investigate how technologies can be used to provide innovative services
- Digital Business & services innovation
COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES
At the Innovation Value Institute we have many years of experience in developing in partnership with solution providers innovative results for Smart Cities and Regions. The Innovation Value Institute provides a vendor-independent research institution aiming to facilitate and lead innovations to support the digital transformation in urban and regional areas and to provide advice. In cooperation with partners from industry, society, administration and politics, the Innovation Value Institute facilitate the formation of sustainable ecosystems.
The areas are complex socio-technical systems that encompass many various needs, objectives and societal aspects. Sustainable solutions that put citizens in the focus require to be complemented by corresponding service and business models in the context of limited access to public funding.
Meeting the Challenge
To meet the challenges of developing sustainable cities and regions, the Innovation Value Institute assist in developing, testing and piloting solutions in cooperation with partners to establish digital transformation paths for urban and regional areas. We help to develop sustainable business models and strategies and examine approaches and technologies.
- Connectivity between various software environments
- Connectivity between software environments and digital devices
- Incorporation of the new objects into the digital twin
Research Agenda
- Develop Digital strategies and sustainable business models
- Examine approaches to increase the Citizen experience
- Develop viable Data Markets and Data Platforms
- Investigate how technologies can be used to provide innovative services
- Digital Business & services innovation
- Interoperability and Standards
- Reference Architectures
List of Publications:
Scientific Publications
- Helfert, Markus; Bastidas, Viviana; Pourzolfaghar, Zohreh Digital and Smart Services-The Application of Enterprise Architecture In proceedings International Conference on Digital Transformation and Global Society, pp. 277–288, Springer, Cham 2018.
- Pourzolfaghar, Zohreh; Bastidas, Viviana; Helfert, Markus, Standardisation of enterprise architecture development for smart cities, Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 10 , pp. 1–22, 2019.
- Mamkaitis, Aleksas; Bezbradica, Marija; Helfert, Markus, Urban enterprise: a review of smart city frameworks from an enterprise architecture perspective Inproceedings, 2016 IEEE International Smart Cities Conference (ISC2), pp. 1–5, IEEE 2016.
