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Cities from all over Europe

Learn more about the initiatives, plans and actions of cities that are making them smarter.

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Eindhoven

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Use Cases from all over Europe

Use Cases are real-world implemented solutions that give valuable insights and serve as points of reference for their replication.

MITIGATING URBAN LOGISTICS IMPACT ON CLIMATE IN VERSAILLES

To understand and mitigate the climate impact of urban logistics in the city of Versailles, Urban Radar matches private and public data to provide analytics and visualisation for an efficient and sustainable curb management.

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From Traffic Intersection to City Square

From the end of September to November 1, 2020, an intersection in Berlin was converted into a city square under scientific supervision by Germany's Institute of Transport Research. Residents and businesses were offered the opportunity to rethink and redesign the street spaces.

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Heavy metal remediation using an organic filtration system

Traditional methods for treating wash water from marine vessel maintenance can incur high costs, increased safety risks, and carbon emissions. Peterhead Port Authority is breaking ground by adopting an organic filtration technology to abate wash water contamination.

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Intelligent DAF wastewater treatment technology

An intelligent dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit was installed in one of Elgin's biggest distilleries in order to process and treat distillery co-products.

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Posts from all over Europe

Get involved and share your ideas or collaborate with others within the Smart City Community.

Data Management Canvas

KnowNow Information was commissioned by the Energy Systems Catapult to create a new method to help local energy generation projects define joined up, holistic, citizen centric, purpose led data requirements. With the objective that these data requirements would ensure that projects were not over engineered. All data required had an owner and the data itself would be loved and curated for as long as it was required. This means projects would not be bloated by having too much data. Projects could be ambtious in the use of personal data (as it had an identified purpose); plus projects would be able to articulate the value of the data in their domain. The data canvas is available here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/brochures/energy-data-management-canvas/ "The goal of this document is to guide you through a process of putting together an appropriate data management plan for your project to help you to understand the overall picture and ask the right questions. We have taken a broad view of what constitutes data, and the questions in this document are (for the most part) applicable to qualitative data, as well as quantitative." The data canvas can support any type of smart community project. Be that energy, mobility, utilities or any other data intensive project.

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How to make your Smart...

Experienced smart city consultants will tend to have a good idea as to the chance of success of a smart city project just from the questions asked by the project team. Questions Places Ask that mean they are probably not ready Warning questions that mean the community is at a very immature stage include: My leader wants to make an impact and have a very visual digital/smart project to show off to the population. Unless this investment is in digital infrastructures such as connectivity, skills uplift, innovation spaces and knowledge exchanges then it will likely be a white elephant. So steer clear. I have been given a grant and I have plans to run 30 parallel projects across 6 different themes and they have to be complete in the next 36 months across the city. This is too ambitious, with not enough focus and way too many strands that will likely unravel rapidly. Successful smart communities start focused, small and sustainable. They embrace iterative improvement. They replicate across the city based on a success elsewhere in the city. I have great contacts in the tech industry. They are looking for places to try something out and are offering 90% discounts! Time-limited offer we need to take advantage of. Top-down and industry-led projects are typically short-lived and great for marketing purposes. So they do have a role. But they often lack that key ingredient. Citizens. So end up being shelfware.. ‘aka not doing much’. These answers are warnings signs of a troubled or soon to be troubled smart community project. Consultant Questions seeking a great response The questions I ask when discussing smart places and communities are this: Does your place embrace open data? Do you actively engage citizens with this open data? Do the community leaders and citizens agree on the outcomes that are being captured as open data? Are these outcomes constantly being refined and questioned as being relevant for the place? A great response will go along these lines: Q1: Does your place embrace open data? A1: Absolutely, yes. Our community has an open data portal and active users across a number of different organisations and sectors interacting with the portal. Both consuming open data and creating new insights from the data and then posting this back to the portal. Q2: Do you actively engage citizens with this open data? A2: Our communities have active investigators and storytellers. Which combine to inform citizens on a regular basis. This includes as well, capturing feedback from citizens and ensuring this is fed into the decision making process. Q3: Do the community leaders and citizens agree on the outcomes that are being captured as open data? A3: We have a shared governance board that regularly meets and also runs engagement actions on social media and outreach activities in communities direct. These include information roadshows; digital displays in community meeting points (GP surgeries, schools, community halls, on the web). Outcomes are agreed by the community, with active ongoing voting and sentiment measurement through digital tools and social media platforms. Whilst not forgetting those not digitally connected. Q4: Are these outcomes constantly being refined and questioned as being relevant for the place? A4: At these meetings and direct engagements, a review of the information and trend analysis and whether expectations against the outcome are being realised is assessed. If not, then new outcomes are agreed or expectations re-set. How to Fix the Gap So quite a big gap. The question then is how to be more like the best behaved smart community versus the enthusiastic amateur? Use Smart City Standards. In particular embrace the sustainable smart communities model which is enshrined in ISO37106 . Along with the following PAS184 Guide to Successful Smart City Projects. See the circles image below. Which provides nine focus areas with each sub-divided again into a measurable element. With a clear statement of what ‘good looks like’. It is the measure of how close to that pass mark which informs a place as to what they need to do next.

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'Citython' - Opportunity...

Citython is a mobility hackathon where a group of experts and students in urban planning, sociology, engineering, data science, and business creation work together to foster innovation in our cities . As part of EIT Urban Mobility’s core activities, the aim of this year is to celebrate new Citython editions in the top European cities of Eindhoven (Netherlands), Bilbao and Barcelona (Spain), and Hamburg (Germany), and Lublin (Poland). Who is it for? If you are a bachelor's, master's, Ph.D. student, or researcher with expertise in urbanism, urban data, or computer sciences willing to ideate the most innovative solutions to solve the urban mobility challenges existing in the cities, you can participate. The winners are also offered the opportunity to work with cities and industry professionals to implement their solutions and present them at a world-famous exposition such as the Dutch Technology Week, the ITS World Congress in Hamburg, or the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. Find out more information here !

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BABLE at AHK's Business...

BABLE was proud to take part in the implementation of a Romanian-German economic collaboration project with the theme ' Energy Infrastructure in Cities '. The initiative of the Romanian-German economic collaboration project and its financing come from the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy in Germany within the “ Energy Solutions made in Germany ” program.The project is addressed to Romanian and German companies interested in developing bilateral business in the field of urban infrastructure and aims to promote locally German systems and products in this field. During the delegation, AHK Romania organised an online symposium attended by German and Romanian experts who offered participants an overview of methods of efficiency and modernisation of urban infrastructure. In order to promote German companies, their representatives held online meetings with potential Romanian employees. The article (in Romanian) can be read here ! Big thanks to the participants, including: @Ileana Bănucu , @Szabolcs Szilveszter , @Alexandru Petrovici , @Paul Gribincea , @Dan Nichiforel

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Solutions from all over Europe

Solutions are neutral, standardised and expert-curated blueprints with information that can be used for their successful implementation.

Mobility Hubs

Mobility Hubs are places of connectivity where different modes of transportation - from walking to rapid transit – come together seamlessly. One of the key components of mobility hubs is the presence of a large area of influence, which is achieved from the concentration of employment, housing, shopping and/or recreation centres. This integrated suite of mobility services is intended to meet first-last mile needs of transit users through shared and sustainable transportation. It offers different options to users and ensures optimal connectivity. The most beneficial intermodal mobility hubs are mainly implemented close to existing mobility junctions such as train stations, as well as other transit stations. Other elements of mobility hubs include dedicated curb spaces for taxis, energy generation from solar cells, electric vehicle charging stations, interactive kiosks, and amenities like cafes or plazas to create an active space that is welcoming during layovers.

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Building Energy Management System

According to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. At present, about 35% of the EU's buildings are over 50 years old and almost 75% of the building stock is energy inefficient. Buildings are therefore the single largest energy consumer in Europe and have vast potential for energy efficiency gains. Currently, only about 1% of the building stock is being renovated each year. Renovation of existing buildings can lead to significant energy savings, as it could reduce the EU’s total energy consumption by 5-6% and lower CO2 emissions by about 5%. One way to increase the energy efficiency of buildings is to implement a building energy management system (BEMS). BEMSs are centralised, computer-based systems, which provide real-time monitoring and integrated control of building services and equipment to optimise energy usage. They typically control the lighting, power, hot water, and HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) systems. The system monitors the information received from various sensors in the building (smart meters, occupancy, temperature, carbon dioxide and humidity sensors, etc.) and optimises the energy consumption while maintaining safety and comfort. These systems can also be used to improve the health and security of the inhabitants by controlling and monitoring the environment, emergency responses and regular maintenance schedules. The technology can be applied to both residential and commercial buildings and at varying scales from small independent buildings to complex sites with multiple buildings. (European Commission) Problems to be solved Energy consumption Energy cost Greenhouse gas emissions Power outages

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Vehicle Sharing System

Vehicle sharing systems allow customers to use various vehicles without the need to own each vehicle. There are different types of vehicle sharing systems on the market. Differences can include the type of vehicle shared, like car sharing, bike sharing, scooter sharing or electric vehicle sharing. In addition to the type of the vehicle, one main difference between vehicle sharing systems is the vehicle holder. Most commonly, the operator owns the vehicles that are then shared with the users. Another opportunity is peer-to-peer vehicle sharing, in which the citizens share their own vehicles. For each vehicle sharing system, it is necessary to ensure the accessibility of the vehicles and to manage the location and operation of the vehicles. The growth of vehicle sharing systems is driven by urbanisation, increasing smartphone penetration, growth in internet of things (IoT), climate change, regulations, growing awareness about the environment and personal health etc. ( SUNRISE, 2020 ) Problems to be solved GHG emissions congestion Large space consumption of parking areas Deficits in intermodality and accesibility High investment costs for purchasing vehicles Pollution

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Virtual Power Plant

The concept of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) overturns the more traditional idea of relying on centralised (often CO2-emitting) power plants for predictable and reliable power output. As more and more small and large independent power producers enter the scene, solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources (RES) have penetrated the electricity grid all across Europe, opening the transition to a clean and sustainable energy infrastructure. However, the integration of these Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the grid is posing a number of challenges related to transmission congestion and/or voltage and frequency stabilities; renewables, in particular, are creating reliability issues due to their uncertain and intermittent nature. This clean power has disrupted the energy grid and created the need for new models and solutions for their integration. A VPP aggregates many dispersed and independent DERs into a single operating agent that acts like a traditional power plant, with a similar sizable generation capacity, allowing it to participate in power system markets (both wholesale and retail) or sell services to the operator. A VPP thus represents a flexible portfolio of DERs with the aim of enabling smaller power system agents (i.e., consumers, producers, prosumers, or any mix thereof) to engage in electricity markets and provide services to the grid. VPPs can help the integration of RES by providing both demand- and supply-side flexibility services to the main grid. VPPs can aggregate demand-response resources or energy storage units responding to grid requirements (demand-side flexibility), as well as incorporate fast-response units such as capacitors and batteries, along with CHP and biogas power plants to optimise power generation (supply-side flexibility). Through these two types of core services, VPPs can provide tangible benefits such as (IRENA, 2019): Supporting grid operation through various ancillary services Demand-side management and real-time load shifting based on price signals to reduce peak demand – making a business case for deferred investments in transmission and distribution grid infrastructure Balancing services and providing ramping requirements via optimisation platforms to compensate for fluctuations of any variable generation output from RES Increasing local flexibility at distribution system level, if there is a regional local market for flexibility in place Decreasing the marginal cost of power By reducing or shifting load during peak demand to avoid the use of large (fossil-fuelled) power plants to meet a small amount of electricity demand at an elevated cost, or By completely replacing the peak power plant with the dispatch of the aggregated DERs and charged batteries Optimising investment in power system infrastructure By saving on the costs of new capacity additions and/or grid reinforcement with the provision of real-time operational reserve capacity from already connected DERs, while providing them with additional revenues through their participation in ancillary markets when needed. Problems to be solved Raising grid stability and reliability issues due to integration of distributed energy sources Increasing demand for integration of variable renewable sources into the grid Restricted market participation of small independent DER operators Increasing & changing energy demand Increasing costs & emissions from current energy supply Demand for greater grid resilience and flexibility

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What our partners are saying

Kristin Engholm

International Relations

Helsingborg Smart City H22

City of Helsingborg, Sweden

I got a positive experience from day one working with the team at BABLE. They are professional and very good at pushing forward in a steady and energizing way. Being part of workshops hosted by BABLE has also broadened my knowledge when it comes to the challenges and solutions important to us all when creating smarter and more sustainable cities.

Astrid Loschke

TÜV SÜD Akademie

Product Manager - Environmental Technology

City of Munich, Germany

Thanks to the cooperation with BABLE, we are one of the first organisations in Germany to be able to offer training on the topic of "Smart City", and our classically shaped training portfolio has been expanded to include new and sustainability related topics. BABLE has always been a committed, knowledgeable and trustworthy partner with a good network. They have had lots of motivation and patience and have always come with many good ideas for establishing our new "Smart City Officer" training.

Andreas Kraut

Head of Office / Digitisation Officer (CDO)

City of Ettlingen, Germany

BABLE supported us in our funding application for sustainable last-mile logistics in Ettlingen from the very beginning. Thanks to the agile and professional support during the project conception, the formation of the consortium and the acquisition of funding, the financing of our project could be secured. We are pleased that we will soon be able to enter the first test phase!

Patrick Kühn

Head of The Department of Mobility Planning

City of Bielefeld, Germany

The cooperation with BABLE was characterised by very good technical comprehensibility and rigorous workshop management. The jointly developed content was able to show a clear path for how the city of Bielefeld can approach Smart Lighting projects in the future. The support from BABLE was insightful and innovative, and the documentation was helpful for the further process.

Nuriye ÜNLÜ

Deputy Director of the Institute

Software Technologies Research Institute (YTE)

TÜBİTAK-BİLGEM, Turkey

Through a series of trainings, workshops and discussions, BABLE helped us to build new capacities which provided a quick start in development of our national Smart City strategy and maturity assessment model. The activities and guidance were characterised by a holistic and experienced perspective and covered a varied number of topics such as governance, finance, Smart City solutions, and data, among others.

Philipp Lämmel

Research Assistant and Project Manager

Fraunhofer FOKUS

Berlin, Germany

Making a city more efficient, sustainable, socially-just and technologically advanced are the core themes of the Smart City vision. It is of central importance that the Smart City is much more than the distribution of various technologies in the city. It is also about organizational aspects and changes in society as well as urban culture. For example, we investigated and developed recommendations together with BABLE for the Liverpool region. The resulting positive changes make me look back on this project with pride and satisfaction, knowing that we have had a lasting impact on the city's development. With the BABLE team consistently delivering excellent work, I look forward to more exciting joint projects as we support cities on their journey to becoming smarter cities.

Professor Mark Boyle

Director

Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place

University of Liverpool, England

The Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool recognises and expresses gratitude for the excellent work and report written by the international experts of BABLE GmbH and Fraunhofer FOKUS in Germany. This outstanding review of international good practices in the development of urban data ecosystems structured and capstoned an international symposium entitled, ‘Building Smart Cities with Citizens and for the Public Good’, held in March 2021. This has proven invaluable in helping the Liverpool City Region accelerate its transition to a smart, data-driven economy. We thank especially the authors- Alanus von Radecki, Nikolay Tcholtchev, Philipp Lämmel, and Gretel Schaj - for calling attention to the key issues which cities and city regions need to confront when embarking upon a comprehensive digital and data transformation and for navigating these issues especially effectively.

Mauro Ramos de Jesus Pereira

CEO

BikeTrace AB

Ytterhogdal, Sweden

Working alongside BABLE Smart Cities has been a fantastic experience so far. I really like the fact that I can showcase our project and checkout what Smart Cities-related projects other companies are working on. But most importantly, their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm about development of Smart Cities has been a true source of inspiration for me personally and for BikeTrace as a company.

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Cities from all over Europe

Learn more about the initiatives, plans and actions of cities that are making them smarter.

Stockholm

Eindhoven

Barcelona

Manchester

Use Cases from all over Europe

Use Cases are real-world implemented solutions that give valuable insights and serve as points of reference for their replication.

MITIGATING URBAN LOGISTICS IMPACT ON CLIMATE IN VERSAILLES

From Traffic Intersection to City Square

Heavy metal remediation using an organic filtration system

Intelligent DAF wastewater treatment technology

Posts from all over Europe

Get involved and share your ideas or collaborate with others within the Smart City Community.

Data Management Canvas

How to make your Smart...

'Citython' - Opportunity...

BABLE at AHK's Business...

Solutions from all over Europe

Solutions are neutral, standardised and expert-curated blueprints with information that can be used for their successful implementation.

Mobility Hubs

Building Energy Management System

Vehicle Sharing System

Virtual Power Plant

What our partners are saying