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Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

#HacktheCrisis: And the Winners are...

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Last weekend I participated in the Dutch edition of #HacktheCrisis as mentor on behalf of Amsterdam Smart City. The event was initiated by TNW, Innofest, StartupAmsterdam and Brain Fuel, with support from over 130 organizations.

#Hackthecrisis is a global hackaton movement which started in Estonia three weeks ago and spread to nearly 70 countries. The goal is to come up with solutions to the COVID-19 crisis.

The 48-hour hackathon attracted approximately 600 participants and 200 mentors working on four challenges: health & wellbeing, logistics, remote education and SME’s business continuity.

For many, including mentors, judges and organizers, this was their first virtual hackaton, powered by Slack and other digital tools.

The output: 55 solutions submitted via the F6S platform, accompanied by a 3 minute pre-recorded video-pitch. Pitches were assigned to mentors for review and evaluation based on the following criteria: 1.Problem & Impact, 2. Design & Technical Aspects, 3. Originality, 4. Feasibility, 5. Business Model and 6. Money Usage. A panel of judges deliberated over the top three finalists per theme before announcing the winners via live stream.

And the winners are…

Challenge 1: Logistics & Supply Chain
Winner: PPlCert -- Peer-to-peer platform for medical equipment
In this category, many groups tried to tackle the shortage of protective equipment in hospitals. Because supplies have to be sourced quickly, following a traditional procurement process is not feasible. At the same time, healthcare professionals and institutions have to ensure that products flooding the market meet necessary standards and are actually safe. The winning team developed "PPlcert" - a peer-to-peer platform where healthcare professionals can review and validate products, increasing transparency and reliability. Similar to Airbnb or Uber, anyone purchasing equipment can rate the product, enabling healthcare organizations to learn and benefit from each other’s experience.

Challenge 2: Remote Education
Winner:
Ediya – Using gamification to keep students motivated

In this category, the winning team identified a key challenge with remote learning: keeping students motivated and engaged. This led to the development of the platform “Ediya” where teachers keep their students motivated through fun challenges. The platform is easy to use and enables teachers to learn from and adopt each other’s challenges, improving the performance of students and teachers alike.

Challenge 3: SME Business Continuity
Winner:
Roodkappje – Local volunteers supporting small food suppliers
In this track teams tried the address the challenge of many small business being closed and facing bankruptcy. To tackle this problem, the winning team came up with "Roodkappje" – an app which matches small food suppliers with local volunteers who deliver meals to people who are not able or don’t dare to leave their homes. The app creates “missions” -- orders that must be delivered to customers. Local volunteers deliver orders to stay fit and help their local bakery or restaurant survive the crisis.

Challenge 4: Healthcare & Wellbeing
Winner:
AnalysisMode – Cracking a vaccine through gamification

This challenge saw the most number of participants and submissions which is logical as COVID-19 is first and foremost a medical emergency.

The winner in this category was "AnalysisMode" - a collaborative platform accelerating the development of a vaccine with the help of willing citizens. Anyone can help by playing a game that identifies patterns which will later be used to teach an artificial intelligence (AI) to predict vaccine formulas. To date, the game has been played more 7,000 times by people from 93 countries. The team is already working with University of Oxford and others to develop the solution further.

Honorable Mention: Smart Quarantine

Although not a winner, "Smart Quaratine" deserves a mention for tackling a very urgent problem. The solution builds on contact-tracing solutions implemented in Singapore and the Czech Republic. The team proposes the development of a GDPR compliant and privacy-preserving solution for the government and citizens. This solution enables a data-driven, or “smart” lockdown in order to restart the economy while preventing a second wave of the epidemic.

The app tracks the people you have been in contact with and asks for your permission to share this data with relevant agencies and anyone you might have been in contact with if you test positive. The app also shows concentrated areas of activity and impacts on various professions and regions, providing insights into whether it’s safe to visit certain locations. This type of solution is key to finding a balance between protecting lives and livelihoods by ending the general lockdown and restarting the economy while also preventing a second wave of infection.

Next Steps

As hackers will often tell you, success is 10% idea and 90% implementation. In order to make an impact in the short-term, several organizations, including Yes!Delft, Smart Health Amsterdam and Sanquin will work with the winning teams to implement their solutions.

To support the further development of all initiatives, Corona Community Care was launched - an open platform where anyone can share their idea. The platform also matches startups to mentors from the likes of EY, Uniliver, Accenture and Booking.com.

Hack the Crisis wrapped up with a special announcement from the president of Estonia, calling on hackers to participate in the Global Hack, April 9-12. Having emerged as a global digital leader, Estonia’s initiative is a great example of how we can leverage the power of digital, collaborative innovation during these unprecedented times.

I came away from the weekend feeling inspired by what can be achieved in 48 hours and energized by the idea that the COVID-19 crisis might pave the way for radical collaboration models.

More information:

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Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Top-down & bottom-up innovation in an era of COVID-19

Urban innovation rhetoric often differentiates between government-imposed “top-down” measures and community-led “bottom-up” approaches. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, we are seeing rapid proliferation of both top-down and bottom-up innovations.

Top-down

Many governments have implemented surveillance technologies to track the location of infected people and monitor quarantines. These innovations are usually re-purposing existing technology but they are also controversial:

China installed CCTV cameras outside apartment doors of coronavirus carriers to enforce quarantines and uses mobile apps and QR codes to track the health of individuals.
Hong Kong requires coronavirus carriers to wear a wristband linked to a smartphone app, alerting authorities if the person leaves quarantine.
Taiwan tracks quarantined people’s phones using data from cell-phone towers. The system which is described as a “digital fence” alerts authorities when someone leaves the area.
Singapore has deployed an app called TraceTogeher using bluetooth signals between cellphones to monitor whether potential carriers of the virus have been in close contact with other people.
South Korea uses a “smart city” dashboard that combines smartphone location data, CCTV video data and credit card transaction data to reduce contact-tracing time and inform people who might have come in contact with a coronavirus carrier.
Moscow uses facial recognition and a 170,000-camera system to enforce quarantine.
Israel's security agency is using citizens’ cell phone location data collected over the past few years for counterterrorism purposes to track and enforce quarantine controls.

There is some evidence linking surveillance technologies to slowing the spread of the virus, but privacy advocates warn the coronavirus could acclimatize the public into accepting a new normal of intrusive technologies. Fans of surveillance note that citizens who accept surveillance by companies selling advertising should not be upset if the technology is used to save lives and protect society.

The Netherlands is considering the use of cellphone location data to slow the spread of the virus (as is already done in Germany, Italy and Austria), but such data must be aggregated and anonymized. Anonymized data can help authorities understand where people are congregating and reduce the rate of infection, without compromising privacy.
Bottom-up

So what are alternatives to top-down governmental responses to the pandemic?

On March 27, Amsterdam launched WijAmsterdam (WeAmsterdam), a platform to crowd-source social initiatives combating the crisis. WijAmsterdam was built using open-source code developed in previous innovation projects. The platform lists more than 180 initiatives (as of April 1) varying from people delivering meals to neighbors to digital programming by the Rijksmuseum.

Here are a few more inspiring examples of bottom-up innovation:
Coronavirus Army is a grassroots volunteer initiative developing open-source and privacy-friendly digital solutions to help tackle the pandemic. Examples of tools currently under development include the Outbreak Tracker app which tracks your location but keeps your private data on your phone. If you test positive for COVID-19, you can then “share” the last 10-15 days of your location history to the server and have it matched against other app users to inform those who might be at risk after being in the same location as you.
Hack the crisis a global movement of hackathons developing tech-based solutions for crisis response and post-crisis era. WirVsVirus (We against the virus) hosted by the German government in March had more than 40,000 participants working on more than 800 ideas. The hackaton is coming to the Netherlands April 3- 5!
OpenCovid19 is a program that aims to develop low-cost, open-source COVID-19 creating prevention, testing, and treatment kits to fight the pandemic.
Open Source Ventilator (OSV) is a group of engineers, designers, medical professionals and volunteers working together to generate open source designs for ventilators that can be produced at scale.

The bigger picture

The coronavirus pandemic is fast-tracking many technological and social innovations. Experts are warning the crisis will undermine people’s privacy as governments implement top-down policies that weaken individual liberties.

In recent years, Amsterdam has positioned itself as a leader in responsible digitalization. Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York co-initiated the Cities for Digital Rights coalition to safeguard privacy, freedom of expression, and democracy. And Amsterdam’s government is working on the implementation of the Digital City Agenda and TaDa principles, guided by a conviction that inclusive and fair digitalization contributes to individual freedom.

As authoritarian regimes use this crisis to grab power at the cost of civil liberties, my hope is that Amsterdam and the Netherlands will respond by safeguarding personal freedom from the top and encouraging collaborative innovation from the bottom.

What do you think? How should government and civil society cooperate during the outbreak? Do you have examples of top-down or bottom-up innovations that help without compromising civil liberties? Please comment below.

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Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

2019 Delegations Report: Sharing Experiences and Fostering Collaboration

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In 2019, Amsterdam Smart City coordinated and hosted 114 delegation visits. Most delegations visit to gather knowledge, learn from best practices, meet innovative companies and startups, and to establish new collaboration opportunities.

As in previous years, South Korea visited most often, with a total of 27 groups. Other delegations visited from Japan (11), Germany (8), United States (5), Denmark (6), the Netherlands (5), Finland (4), China (4), Turkey (3), Singapore (3), Sweden (3), Russia (3), Bangladesh (2), France (2), India (2), Malaysia (2) and Taiwan (2).

Groups by type:
• Public: 51
• Academic / research: 28
• Private: 21
• Public-private: 11
• Media: 3

Most visited projects:
• De Ceuvel Living lab
• Marineterrein Living Lab
• Johan Cruijff Innovation Arena
• Schoonschip

In a previous post we shared the experiences from visits in the first half of 2019. In this post we look at a cross section of delegations that visited Amsterdam Smart City during the second half of 2019.

1. Finish Association of Local and Regional Municipalities
Twenty-three mayors and elected officials from smaller Finish municipalities visited Amsterdam with interest an in sustainability projects involving citizens. Besides getting an introduction to Amsterdam Smart City, the group visited Pakhuis de Zwijger for a presentation and discussion with Servaz van Berkum. The project which stood out the most for this group was the Frans Halsbuurt redesign where 600 on-street parking spaces have been removed, providing residents with a unique opportunity to co-create the new public space. The delegates were impressed with the role of Pakhuis de Zwijger as a neutral facilitator of the co-design process and that the outcome is binding for the municipality. The delegates expressed that experimentation with citizens’ participation and co-creation is a key priority for Finish municipalities. It is also an area they would like to continue learning and exchanging experiences about.

2. City of Helsingborg, Sweden
This delegation of 12 city directors from Helsinborg municipality was interested in two main topics: 1. The “Amsterdam Approach”, or the reason why Amsterdam won the Innovation Capital award in 2016 and 2. Amsterdam’s experience and best practices on place-making topics. The delegation met with Amsterdam Smart City Program Director Leonie van den Beuken for a discussion about public-private collaboration and bottom-up innovation in Amsterdam. The group also met Stefan Bodecker from Placemaking Plus who shared a broad range of place-making projects and interventions in Amsterdam and the metropolitan area, especially in disadvantaged communities. Stefan’s message which resonated most with the group was that “place-making is a powerful tool to transform communities and you should focus where the problems are the biggest”. The program finished with a tour of Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab, Oosterdokeiland, and Central Station.

3. Singaporean Smart Mobility Delegation
A delegation of 18 public-private representatives from Singapore visited Amsterdam Smart City as part of a mission visiting the Intelligent Transport (ITS) Congress in Eindhoven. The group was most interested the possibility for Singaporean startups testing their solutions in Amsterdam. The group expressed interest in further exploring potential channels for collaboration and co-innovation between Dutch and Singaporean ecosystems on smart mobility, especially on autonomous vehicles (AV’s) and MaaS.

4. Association of Flemish Municipalities (VVSG), Belgium
A group of approximately 40 elected officials from Flemish cities and municipalities visited Amsterdam with a focus on smart, sustainable and circular cities. The full day study program started with introductory presentations to Amsterdam Smart City and the City of Amsterdam Chief Technology Office, followed by an innovation tour of Johan Cruijff ArenA. In the afternoon the group split up into two tracks. One group visited De Ceuvel, Schoonschip and Buiksloterham in Amsterdam North with a focus on circular area development, led by Frank Alsema of Urban Labs and Geert Litjens of Spectral Energy. The second group visited Epicenter digital innovation hub with a focus on data-driven innovations and smart mobility. This group met with Carlien Roodink from Axians, Christine Groothuis and Jeroen Brink from Municipality of Haarlemmermeer and Joey Fontaine from EV-Box.

5. Ecologic
As part of the Energy Future Exchange (EFEX) program, Ecologic Institute visited Amsterdam Smart City with a group of 13 public-private international professionals in the energy sector. The group was interested in the way public, private and civil society stakeholders work together on sustainability projects. These delegates were impressed with the rich ecosystem of projects and pilots, judging by the engagement and activity on the Amsterdam Smart City platform. They confessed there is often an appetite to start similar initiatives in their home cities but leadership is often lacking.

6. Southern Company
Michael Britt, VP Energy Innovation Center at Southern Company visited Amsterdam to connect to key innovations related to smart energy and smart grids. Amsterdam Smart City facilitated a visit to Quby with a focus on smart home / energy devices, as well as a meeting with Alliander Strategy Director, Pallas Agterberg to discuss the role of Alliander in the Amsterdam Smart City program as well as with the broader energy transition. Reflecting on the program, Britt praised the way public and private, large and small parties work together in Amsterdam and wanted to bring a similar approach to Atlanta and other places where Southern Company operates.

7. Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) and Gwangju City
This delegation of 12 researchers and governmental representatives was interested in innovations related to data-driven and citizen-led air quality projects. After being introduced to bottom-up projects such as Hollandse Luchten and ClairCity, the delegation dove deeper into the discussion of how big data can help improve decision making on air quality topics with Martin Smit from Caeli.

8. Trianel Cooperation, Germany
A delegation of 14 city and utility managers from small and medium-sized German municipalities visited Amsterdam with an interest in innovative technologies and business models. The group started out the program with an introduction to smart energy developments in Amsterdam and the Netherlands by Adriaan van Eck from Flexiblepower Alliance Network. The group also discussed the governance and evaluation of smart city projects with Marije Poel from the Smart City Academy at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and dove into technical discussions and demos with Hubert Penn from Dexter Energy and Geert Litjens from Spectral Energy. Participants communicated that a key challenge for German municipalities and utilities is a lack of mandate or responsibility to facilitate public-private collaboration. While there is a desire to work together, it is not anyone’s responsibility to initiate action. In this sense, participants were impressed with the role of Amsterdam Smart City as a facilitator and its continuity over the past decade. The group wrapped up their program with a meeting and tour of the Johan Cruijff Innovation Arena, hosted by Huib Passman.

9. Nikken Sekkei Research Institute (NSRI) & Fudson, Japan
Amsterdam Smart City hosted NSRI & Japanese real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan for a program focused on organization and governance of smart city programs and projects. The delegation was interested in the role of Amsterdam Smart City in smart city projects, and lessons learned which could be transferred to Kashiwanoba smart city project in Japan. The program focused primarily on the evolution of Amsterdam Smart City from a European-funded project with focus on implementing smart energy / smart grid projects, to an ecosystem facilitator. The delegates were most impressed with the transparency of the community platform and thought this could be a way to facilitate closer interaction between professionals and citizens, which is a key priority in the development of Kashiwanoba.

10. City of Reykjavik, Digital Transformation Team, Iceland
Once the City of Reykjavik had set out to develop a smart city data platform and warehouse, their Digital Transformation team visited Amsterdam to learn from its experience on similar topics. A roundtable discussion was hosted at City of Amsterdam’s Data Lab with contributions by Tamas Erkelens from the Chief Technology Office and Hein Wils from Information & Statistics Department. The discussion focused on Amsterdam’s experience and lessons learned from setting up DataPunt – the smart city data infrastructure which makes data about the city findable and accessible for further processing by employees of the municipality as well as the general public. The meeting was followed by the international edition of the Data Dilemmas event where representatives from Reykjavik and Boston shared data-driven projects and related ethical dilemmas along with Amsterdam and Hilversum.

Priorities for 2020

Improved Exchange
Over the past three years, Amsterdam Smart City has shared experiences and inspiration with more than 250 delegations and 3250 participants. To increase our impact in 2020, Amsterdam Smart City will focus on improving the quality of the exchange and learning between visiting delegations and local stakeholders.

To achieve this we will prioritize delegations that would like to share projects and lessons learned on key topics of interest to Amsterdam Smart City partners and stakeholders:
• Data-driven innovations contributing to clean energy, circular economy, and emission-free mobility
• Use cases and standards for 5G, IoT, digital twins and data platforms
• Data management and cyber-security for responsible digital cities
• Collaborative innovation methodologies: best practices for facilitating innovation between public-private stakeholders

Testing & Piloting as a Tool for Exchange
As a partner of the Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab, Amsterdam Smart City facilitates testing of innovative technologies and approaches to urban challenges. A key priority for 2020 is to facilitate national and international stakeholders wishing to test and validate their innovative solutions on the Marineterein Amsterdam Living Lab.

Opportunities for the Amsterdam Smart City Community
Another key priority for 2020 is to further support Amsterdam Smart City partners in the broader ecosystem with sharing knowledge and best practices with international delegations. Are you active in hosting intentional delegations for knowledge sharing programs by means of lectures, workshops or otherwise? Share your program offer on the Visits page.

Opportunities for Visiting Delegations
Amsterdam Smart City welcomes visit requests year-round. To better facilitate exchange of knowledge and experience, we have designed three key opportunities when visiting delegations can share their best practices with our partners and community:
• June 15-17: WeMakeThe.City festival in Amsterdam
• October 29: Data Dilemmas Event in Amsterdam
• November 15-19: World Smart City Expo in Barcelona

Questions, comments or suggestions?
Reach out to cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com

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Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Seminar South Korea and Smart Cities collaboration

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Cities are getting denser. There is more traffic, more pressure on public space. At the same time, our citizens want more green and less pollution. We have to deal with shocks and stresses due to climate changes and we will need to be able to adapt to the disruptive changes of our planet.

Combine Korean and Dutch Knowlegde

Like South Korea, the Netherlands is grabbing the opportunity of 4th generation IT that can provide unique embedded solutions for city challenges that were never possible before. When we combine Korean and Dutch knowledge on for example digitalisation and technologies such as AI and 5G, we can create more resilient innovative ecosystems and business opportunities.

In the last year, both the Dutch and Koreans have worked with persistence on establishing a bilateral Smart Cities collaboration. Momentum has been created to broaden and professionalise the current ecosystem. We are ready to step up and enlarge opportunities for a wider audience.

Presentation ‘Doing Smart Business in Asia, Korean style’

Commissioned by the Netherlands embassy in Seoul, Bas van Beers, Business Strategist on Sustainable Smart Service Innovation, has conducted a sector study to seize concrete smart cities business opportunities in South Korea. At the seminar Van Beers will:
- Present an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, pressing issues and challenges of both Korean and Dutch smart cities developments;
- Share insights in specific smart city subjects, solutions and innovations, business models and opportunities that prove possible and scalable in South-Korea;
- Share insights in the Korean export strategy of smart city development and possibilities for Dutch solutions to become part of this strategy;
- Define next steps, both short term and long term on the needed preconditions to succeed with business development in the local context of both countries.

Let’s start with starting

We all know that global challenges can only be solved together. However, tackling global challenges and intercultural differences in the emerging ecosystem of smart cities will not be without effort. For this reason, we have incorporated an interactive part in the program that will enable sparks between the participants and create new insights. So let’s start with starting. Together and step by step we will create the best cities we can.

Location: Prinses Beatrixlaan 2, The Hague, Room 1 (ground floor)

Program:
15:45 Registration
16:00 Opening by Jacobine de Zwaan, Smart Cities advisor at Netherlands Enterprise Agency
16:10 Presentation 'Doing Smart Business in Asia, Korean style' by Bas van Beers, Business Strategist on Sustainable Smart Service Innovation
16:30 Creating ecosystems of innovation: let’s start with starting (interactive session)
17:30 Plenary recap & next steps
17:45 Closing remarks by Robert Dijksterhuis, Head of the Spatial Policy Division, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
18:00 Networking drinks
18:30 End

Please fill in the online registration form to attend this seminar: https://english.rvo.nl/news/events/seminar-south-korea-and-smart-cities-collaboration

More information
For more information about Smart Cities or this seminar please contact Jacobine de Zwaan: jacobine.dezwaan@rvo.nl.

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Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Technical University of Eindhoven Experiences Amsterdam as a Smart City

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On August 29, Amsterdam Smart City hosted a large delegation from the Technical University of Eindhoven (TUe). A group of more than fifty professors, researchers and PhD students from the Urban Systems & Real Estate unit and Construction Management & Engineering group travelled to Amsterdam to learn about and experience innovations related to digitalization of the built environment.

Part I: Introduction to Amsterdam Innovation Ecosystem

The afternoon was co-hosted together with Amsterdam Metropolitan Solutions Institute (AMS) and the City of Amsterdam Chief Technology Office (CTO). Tom Kuipers (Program Developer Smart Urban Mobility, AMS) welcomed the group and introduced the AMS approach to developing metropolitan solutions to solve urban challenges for the city of Amsterdam as well as cities worldwide. The main case study presented was Roboat – a fleet of autonomous boats developed in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. The latest use-case proposed is that of a “dynamic bridge” created by autonomous roboats. This could be particularly helpful on the Marineterrein where a bridge is missing between the NEMO Science Center and the recently opened NEMO Studio. Kuipers briefly introduced the collaboration between AMS Institute, NEMO, Amsterdam Smart City, Amsterdam Economic Board and the Bureau Marineterrein which has the goal of transforming the Marineterrein into a living lab for innovation, experimentation and learning. While developments are in early stages, anyone can submit an idea for a pilot or test on the Marineterrein.

Leonie van den Beuken (Program Director, Amsterdam Smart City) emphasized the importance of working together to make and keep our cities liveable: “We are facing wicked problems. Solutions to these wicked problems can only be achieved by working together with different kinds of partners.” That’s why Amsterdam Smart City facilitates co-creation and innovation through a public-private partnership and a community platform that brings together proactive citizens, innovative companies, knowledge institutions and public authorities. Nevertheless, van den Beuken explained it remains a challenge for (governmental) organizations to share data, information and knowledge with each other.

Aik van Eemeren (Innovation Manager) and Daan Groenink (Innovation Officer) introduced the work of the City of Amsterdam Chief Technology Office. In March of 2019, the City launched its first Digital City Agenda laying out a vision for a free, inclusive and creative digital city. With this document the City of Amsterdam acknowledges that technology is never neutral and aims to ensure that everyone will benefit from digitisation and new technologies. Van Eemeren explained that a big challenge for the municipality is to keep an overview of the technology embedded in the different products and services the city procures. “We have to be able to ask the right questions to prevent us from procuring black-box technologies which are biased or can be hacked.” Van Eemeren also invited the delegates to share innovative solutions and technologies with the City of Amsterdam: “We are always looking for innovative solutions and technologies so please get in touch with us to share ideas and solutions of which we might not already be aware.”

Aik van Eemeren introduces City of Amsterdam's Digital Agenda and approach to digitalization

Aik van Eemeren introduces City of Amsterdam's Digital Agenda and approach to digitalization.

Daan Groenink introduced the Digital Perimeter project at the Johan Cruijff Arena, which is being developed in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam, the National Office and TNO in the lead up to UF2020. The project team is collaborating to develop and implement a number of solutions including facial recognition, bodycams (5G), blue-force tracking & smart sensors to detect weapons/fireworks. Gronink explained a big challenge for the team is to ensure that these solutions are ethically responsible and adhere with the TaDa principles adopted by the City of Amsterdam.

Part II: Site visits to Amsterdam North and Zuidas

For the second part of the program, the group visited projects in Amsterdam North and at Zuidas.

In Amsterdam North, the group visited Buiksloterham, Amsterdam’s a living lab for circular and smart area development. Frank Alsema (Urban Labs) and Philip Gladek (Spectral Energy) led the group around the district starting with visits at the Ceuvel. This former shipyard has been converted into a circular community of entrepreneurs and creatives, implementing low-cost, decentralized and DIY (do-it-yourself) clean technologies. The land which is heavily polluted is being cleaned using plants through phytoremediation and grey water is being cleaned using low-cost bio-filters.

Philip Gladek leads the group around De Ceuvel.

Philip Gladek leads the group around De Ceuvel.

The next project visited was Schoonschip consisting of 40 floating plots for 46 households. The project aims to be the most sustainable floating neighbourhood in Europe. The houseboats are not connected to natural gas; instead they use heat pumps, solar panels and home batteries connected in a microgrid. Another unique feature of the neighbourhood is that is uses vacuum toilets, similar to toilets found on airplanes. In the near future, the sewage from Schoonschip will be processed into biogas and nutrients at a nearby neighbourhood bio-refinery.

Frank Alsema introduces the group to Schoonschip.

Frank Alsema, one of the pioneers in the area concluded his tour by reflecting that “a balance between top-down and bottom-up initiatives is needed to transition to a clean energy, circular city. Entrepreneurs and innovative people are needed to pioneer and come up with crazy solutions. Schoonschip and De Ceuvel are examples of the kind of bottom-up initiatives that are needed.”

Philip wrapped up his tour by telling about “ATELIER”, an exciting new project financed by an European Horizon 2020 grant and developed in collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). ATELIER will connect Schoonschip and a number of other buildings in Buiksloterham into an energy-positive neighbourhood using flexibility, network balancing and peer-to-peer energy trading.

From the bottom-up and creative living lab of Buiksloterham, the group travelled to Amsterdam’s financial district at Zuidas, or South Axis. In the middle of the district, the group visited ABN AMRO’s Circl pavilion -- a building constructed on circular principles.

One of the most important features of Circl is that is has a material passport which documents all the materials used in the building. Pablo van den Bosch of Madaster, the foundation implementing Circl’s material passports explained: “Waste is material without an identity. My identity is my passport. Why don’t we take this concept and use if for the most precious thing that the earth generates – our resources.”

The group wrapped up the program on the rooftop of Circl with great views of the Zuidas district and a discussion of key developments in the area. One of the most important features is the transformation of the district was the transition from being mono-functional to a multifunctional district through the construction of residential and commercial functions. The group could also observe the construction now underway on the Zuidasdok, which will place a portion of the A10 ringroad underground, making room for the Zuid Train Station to grow. The Zuidasdok is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country and its implementation over the next decade is expected to worsen congestion in an already congested district. This is the driver behind several smart mobility experiments at Zuidas, including bike and car-share initiatives and Amsterdam’s first pilots with Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

**
**The program concluded on the rooftop of Circl with a discussion about key developments at Zuidas. Photos by Thomas Schlijper.

We hope the various presentations and study visits will enrich the group’s research and studies! Are you a professor, researcher or students who participated in the program? Share your feedback and reflections from the expedition below!

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Amsterdam Smart City Delegations Program — Achieving Continuous Improvement & Growth

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The Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) delegations program continues to grow with 45 groups hosted during the first half of 2019.

These visiting delegations come most often from South Korea (11) with others coming from Japan (5), Germany (4), Bangladesh (2), France (2), Sweden (2), Singapore (2), the United States (2).

Delegations representatives come for various reasons and are from different sectors — public (21), private (8), academic (8), public-private (6) media (2).

Keeping in line with the ASC philosophy of sharing experiences in order to facilitate learning and knowledge transfer, delegates were asked to reflect on and share their thoughts after their visits. They shared their most important take-aways, asked questions on topics that they would like to address further, and presented opportunities for follow-up.

Overall Key Take-Aways of Visiting Delegations

1. Amsterdam is an example of an inclusive smart city. Many delegations find the ASC approach innovative in the way it brings together representatives from governments, companies, knowledge institutions, civil society and interested citizens. Whereas many other smart city programs are defined almost exclusively by governments and a few large corporations, in Amsterdam many other parties get a seat at the table.

“What is most impressive about the ASC program is that no single party has control and that many, different parties are working together.” — Japanese Delegate

“It’s interesting to see the (NEMO) science museum is a core smart city program partner. It shows that we in South Korea need to think more broadly about who we involve in smart city projects, especially as local and national governments look for ways to engage citizens.” — South Korean Delegate

2. Technology is neither necessary nor sufficient. Some delegations were interested in high-tech projects such as Vehicle2Grid or the Roboat. Still, most delegates noted they were pleasantly surprised to learn that low-tech projects focused on social innovation are also included in the Amsterdam Smart City community platform.

3. Public-private partnerships and community platforms can help build innovation ecosystems. Many delegates appreciated the role of Amsterdam Smart City in bringing parties together to share knowledge, networks and lessons learned through a public-private partnership and a community platform.

“Helsinki and other Finish cities can benefit from the use of a community platform to support open innovation and strengthen our innovation ecosystem.” — Finish Delegate

4. Working closely but operating independently of (city) government is unorthodox but, effective. From a governance perspective, many delegates are inspired by the approach to running the Amsterdam Smart City program in collaboration with but independent from the City of Amsterdam. For some delegates this approach seemed unorthodox as they believed the government should lead smart city programs. Others noted the approach could help depoliticize smart city projects and help build trust between public and private stakeholders and citizens.

5. There is strong interest in showcasing and testing solutions in local living labs. Several delegates from South Korea, Japan and Finland expressed strong interest in showcasing and sharing their smart city solutions in open living labs. With the recent launch of the Marinneterrein Amsterdam Living Lab (MALL), that is now possible!

6. More work is needed to evaluate projects. Many visiting delegations wanted to know if Amsterdam Smart City uses a specific methodology to evaluate projects, capture lessons learned, and define success. While many delegations are inspired by the approach, which makes it possible for any party in the ecosystem to share their project on the platform, some delegates felt uncomfortable with the idea that there is no complete overview of smart city projects carried out by the city and that projects are often run without clear KPI’s.

A Sampling of Experiences

Honda, Japan

This delegation was interested in getting an understanding of e-mobility and renewable energy developments in Amsterdam, as well as the overall management of Amsterdam Smart City. An expert meeting was cohosted with Amsterdam Electric and Arcadis who shared developments related to smart and e-mobility in Amsterdam. Delegates were particularly impressed with Amsterdam's leadership on e-mobility and reflected that they would like to see the Japanese government take similar steps to facilitate the transition to clean mobility.

Embassy of Finland & TradeMill, Finland

This visit was part of a roadshow for Finish companies working on the energy transition. The meeting was cohosted with Alliander who shared smart energy projects such as the Vehicle2Grid and Virtual Power Plant pilots. The delegates were most impressed by how projects in Amsterdam have a social consideration and the way the ASC community platform helps built a smart city ecosystem. One participant suggested Finish cities could benefit from a similar approach. Other participants highlighted that they would be interested to showcasing their smart energy storage solutions in a living lab setting in Amsterdam or elsewhere in the Netherlands.

IED, Spain

A group of 12 international design master students based in Barcelona visited Amsterdam during the rEVolution event. Because the students are working on a design project for an automotive company, the students booked a smart mobility expert session. Participants were impressed with Amsterdam's leadership on e-mobility but, some struggled to see how this approach could be transferred to their home cities which are dealing with serious congestion and air quality problems.

“Amsterdam’s approach to e-mobility is inspiring but in most Indian cities we don’t even have sidewalks. It’s a risk that so many cities are focusing on high-tech solutions which they often can’t afford.” — IED Student

EU Project RESOLE, Czech Republic

This delegation consisted of municipal experts from Czech cities of Ostrava and Opava who are working together on RESOLVE, an EU-funded project focused on clean mobility and logistics. The delegates were surprised that the ASC program is independent of the City of Amsterdam and involves various stakeholders. The group would have liked to dive deeper into parking management, cycling planning and Intelligent Transport Solutions (ITS) used by the City of Amsterdam.

Le Syndicat Intercommunal de Gestion informatique (SIGI or Intercommunal Syndicate of IT Management), Luxemburg

This delegation was interested in exchanging experiences on e-government and digital transformation topics. The meeting was cohosted with Amsterdam Economic Board and City of Haarlemmermeer. Delegates were most impressed by the privacy-friendly identity platform I Reveal My Attributes (IRMA) and the smart parking pilot presented by City of Haarlemmermeer. There was a fruitful discussion about the possibility for Dutch municipalities to learn from SIGI’s experience and a suggestion that a group of Dutch municipalities should visit SIGI. SIGI delegates were also impressed with Edge Olympic where the meeting took place and would like to work with Edge Technologies to make their new office more data-driven and healthy.

Electricité de France (EDF) & Enedis

This public-private delegation consisted of high level representatives from France’s largest utility company (EDF) and its subsidiary Enedis who wanted to learn from Amsterdam-based innovations related to smart energy and e-mobility. The delegation was cohosted with Alliander and the City of Amsterdam who provided an overview to smart energy and smart grid developments in Amsterdam and on a regional level. The delegates were most impressed by Amsterdam's leadership on e-mobility and the hands-on experience of visiting EV-Box’s showcase of electric vehicle changing infrastructure. One of the delegates shared EDF would like to play a leadership role in transitioning Paris and other French cities to e-mobility.

Chungbuk Research Institute, South Korea

The delegation was impressed with ASC's role as a convener and facilitator, and with ASC’s focus on smaller social initiatives instead of new cities and large projects, as is often the case in S Korea.

Skellefteå Science City, Sweden

Visit by two delegates who work to stimulate open innovation between larger corporates and SME’s. Delegates were impressed with ASC’s approach to facilitating innovation by building a community platform and thought this approach could help Swedish companies innovate more openly by sharing knowledge and lessons learned, and by connecting ecosystem members to one another.

l’IPAG Business School, France

This group of business students was interested in the role of smart cities in stimulating economic development and innovation. The students wanted to know what motivates corporations to participate in public-private partnerships such as Amsterdam Smart City and shared that the main reason companies join such initiatives in France is in exchange for lower taxes.

City of Leverkusen, Germany

Amsterdam Smart City hosted a full day Smart Mobility Experience for a municipal delegation from Leverkusen which included their Mayor. The delegation met with representatives from the City of Amsterdam, Royal Haskoning, BYCS and EV-Box and followed a bicycle tour. You can read the full visit report here.

Panasonic, Japan

This small delegation of Panasonic representatives was interested in entering the smart energy / smart home market in the Netherlands and Europe. The purpose of the visit was to connect to the right expertise and explore opportunities for collaboration. Delegates would like to follow-up about the possibility of showcasing and testing their smart energy devices in new districts and living labs.

AffaldPlus, Denmark

AffaldPlus is a joint municipal waste company owned by six Danish municipalities. Company representatives and members of their Board participated in an expert session which focused on Amsterdam’s progress on circular economy. This session was cohosted with Metropole Region Amsterdam (MRA) and Metabolic. The delegates would like to bring back to their municipalities the Metabolic’s material flows analysis.

Smart Mobility Trade Mission, Singapore

This delegation visit was organized by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO in Dutch) during the ITS European Congress in Eindhoven. The Singaporean delegation visited Amsterdam to learn about smart and e-mobility developments and opportunities for collaboration. Participating startups and governmental representatives were enthusiastic to hear about MRA’s upcoming Startup in Residence program which will focus on mobility topics and is open to international startups. The delegates reflected that they would like to learn more about Mobility as a Service (MaaS) pilots and opportunities in the Netherlands.

Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)

This delegation visit by policy makers was part of a program entitled “Data-based Local Policy Making For Sustainable Cities” and was funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The goal of the visit was to learn from best practices related to data governance for data-driven policy making. The delegation was first introduced to the Amsterdam Smart City program and to key digital initiates such as the TaDa manifesto and Cities for Digital Rights. Then the delegation met with Open State Foundation for an in-depth discussion about the way governments are opening up their data and the importance of digital transparency.

NIKKEN SEKKEI Research Institute & NTT Urban Development Corporation, Japan

Delegation visit focused on learning from Amsterdam’s experience as a leading citizen-centric smart city. Delegates were most impressed by the ASC approach to building and facilitating an open community of innovators, and they thought the approach could be transferred to Japan.

Get Involved!

Are you a local or international delegation interested to exchange experiences with Amsterdam Smart City? The Visits page provides an overview of programs coordinated and hosted by Amsterdam Smart City, our program partners and other community members.

Are you a local ASC expert or stakeholder interested in sharing your experience with local and international delegations? Or do you have suggestions for how we to improve the ASC delegations program? Get in touch with cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com or share your ideas in the comments section below.

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