Rubén García, Head of Smart City projects in CARTIF and R2Cities coordinator, participated in this event as co-chair of the Action Cluster “Integrated Infrastructures & processes (& Open data)”. During the event, he chaired this group together with representatives of the EC and Sherpa members of the High-level group of the EIP-SCC. 99 Commitments related to Smart Cities initiatives are associated to this Action Cluster.
The EC Vice Presidents for Energy and Digital Agenda, Mr. Günther H. Oettinger and Ms. Neelie Kroes, respectively, were in attendance at the opening ceremony of this event. In this first session it was reinforced the commitment that the EC has in relation to the European Smart Cities initiative. Mr. Günther also highlighted the results of the lighthouse projects call (SCC1 call) as reference for future cities in Europe. CARTIF is leading one of these projects, REMOURBAN, with the cities of Valladolid (ES), Nottingham (UK) and Eskesihir-Tepebasi (TK).
The EIP-SCC brings together cities, industry and citizens to improve urban life through more sustainable integrated solutions. This includes applied innovation, better planning, a more participatory approach, higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions, intelligent use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), etc.
This event was related to the Invitation for Commitments that closed on 15th June, 2014. More than 400 commitments were submitted while 371 were approved by the EC, involving around 2500 partners. The Marketplace has been designed as a new Communication and information hub of the EIP-SCC, designed for those who are active in the challenging area of Smart Cities and willing to know more about ongoing and foreseen activities throughout Europe.
During the event, the 6 Action Clusters (AC) set up so far were introduced. An AC is an assembly of partners committing to work on specific issues related to Smart Cities, by sharing the knowledge and expertise with their peers, giving added-value to their national and local experience and identifying gaps that need to be fulfilled at European level.
The 6 Action Clusters which have been set up so far are:
- Business models
- Citizen Focus
- Integrated infrastructure & processes
- Policy & Regulations / Integrated planning
- Sustainable Districts and Built Environment
- Sustainable Urban Transport
The meeting was attended as well by Mónica Antón (CARTIF Coordinator of International Projects) representing the Smart City Valladolid & Palencia Association. This initiative for public-private collaboration is aimed for both cities to become scenarios for innovative projects. Smart City V&P leads a commitment based on its strategic planning process and operational agenda execution. This commitment has been allocated in the action cluster of Policy & Regulation and Integrated Planning, together with around 40 other else.
The challenge for the near future, for the commitments in all action clusters, is to start collaborating, sharing practices, getting common knowledge, and definitely to create a real market place for smart city solutions and trends.
Source: www.cartif.es