Amsterdam Smart City

Kun jij goed schrijven? Ben je een enthousiaste student die het leuk vindt om mensen te benaderen en teksten te schrijven? Heb je interesse in de regio Amsterdam, innovatie, technologie of duurzaamheid? En zoek je een stage op het gebied van communicatie en communities? Dan zoeken we jou!

Amsterdam Smart City is het innovatieplatform dat proactieve bewoners, innovatieve bedrijven, kennisinstellingen en overheden samenbrengt en vorm geeft aan de stad van de toekomst. Samen komen we tot innovatieve oplossingen en maken we betere straten, buurten en steden. Zo zorgen we ervoor dat de Amsterdam Metropoolregio leefbaar blijft voor iedereen.

Amsterdam Smart City richt zich op vier thema’s: mobiliteit, de digitale stad, energie en circulaire economie. We werken samen met 20 partners en een internationale community van meer dan 8000 leden. Amsterdam Smart City is een netwerkorganisatie die valt of staat met contact met het netwerk. We brengen mensen op verschillende manieren bij elkaar, o.a. via het platform amsterdamsmartcity.com. Communicatie is één van onze kernactiviteiten, waarbij we jouw hulp nodig hebben!

Wie ben jij?

Jij bent een student in de richting communicatie / media / marketing / journalistiek. Je hebt affiniteit met de thema’s duurzaamheid, technologie en innovatie. Je bent enthousiast en wil graag leren. Je bent initiatiefrijk en je kunt zelfstandig werken. Daarnaast kun je makkelijk schakelen en ben je flexibel. Je kunt je communicatief schriftelijk en mondeling sterk uitdrukken. Je kunt overweg met online platforms, vindt het leuk om te schrijven, samen aan de slag te gaan en je netwerk te vergroten. Je vind het leuk om een community te ondersteunen en te stimuleren tot meer interactie. Een goede beheersing van de Nederlandse en Engelse taal is een must. Ervaring met Photoshop, Indesign en videobewerking is fijn, maar geen must.

Wat ga je doen tijdens je stage?

• Je bedenkt samen met het team welke (interactieve) content interessant is voor het netwerk. Je vindt haakjes met de actualiteit, komt met creatieve ideeën. Daarnaast ga je op zoek naar relevante content uit de community.
• Je beheert en bewerkt de content geplaatst door de community.
• Je schrijft of, als je het leuk vindt, maakt video’s en plaatst deze op de website.
• Je activeert de Amsterdam Smart City community door contact met de leden te onderhouden.
• Je beheert social media kanalen Twitter en Linkedin en zet deze actief in om onze content verder onder de aandacht te brengen.

Wat bieden wij?

• Een uitdagende meewerkstage op het gebied van communities en communicatie voor minimaal 4 dagen per week.
• We bieden je een fijne werkplek op het Marineterrein in Amsterdam, met een informele en collegiale sfeer en voldoende ruimte. Uiteraard kun je ook vanuit huis werken.
• Jouw eigen inbreng en enthousiasme zijn erg welkom.
• Wij bieden de stageplaats aan tegen een nette vergoeding volgens de richtlijnen van de Amsterdam Economic Board.
• Het is mogelijk om vanaf september te beginnen.

Geïnteresseerd?

Vind je dit allemaal goed klinken? En past de stageplek goed bij je? Stuur dan je CV en een korte motivatie naar info@amsterdamsmartcity.com. Voor meer informatie over de functie kun je een mailtje sturen naar Francien via francien@amsterdamsmartcity.com. Hopelijk spreken we elkaar snel!

Demodays are part of our innovation process and intended to boost the progress of the various innovation projects, put requests for help on the table, share dilemmas and involve others in your projects or challenges. We host them every 8-10 weeks.

Invitations are sent but we're always open to adding a few new names to the list. The event is in Dutch.

During Demo days, community members pitch projects and ask for input. In small groups we work on concrete questions. We organize workshops with our partners to get a step further in the process. All in a very positive, open and cheerful vibe.

This time on the agenda:

Pitches:

Zoncoalitie
Originating from the Amsterdam Smart City network, the Zoncoalitie (Solar Coalition) exists for 6 years now. The Zoncoalitie, an association of providers, wants to ensure that every large roof in the Netherlands is used for generating solar energy. Where are they currently working on and what can they do for our network?

LEAP – Amsterdam Economic Board
The goal of LEAP is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable digital infrastructure, using existing and new technologies that contribute to energy efficiency. Essential are integration into the energy system and landscape and the use of circular materials. Here’s an update and news about upcoming events.

Smart City Expo Barcelona – RVO
Between 16 and 18 November there will be another Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. This year the event will be hybrid. The Netherlands is going on a trade mission with a small group of companies and governments to Barcelona. What are the plans?

Workshops:

Energy poverty and the role of data – MRA Bureau & TNO
The MRA Bureau is involved in an EU initiative that tries to get a better grip on the problem of energy poverty. The data shows who is vulnerable for energy poverty and which houses have a bad energy label for instance. Then the question is: How to help? With which intervention? What digitization solutions are there? Smart meters? apps? Think along!

A sustainable and responsible vision of digitization - Amsterdam Economic Board
There are currently data monopolies, the digital economy is not competitive and there is a lot of e-waste and CO2 emissions that come with digitization. Reason to get started with a new initiative: embedding principles about digitization and its influence on the world in an agreement or manifesto. Under what conditions do the parties want to participate? And why wouldn't they do that?

Communication for collective energy saving measures – AMS Institute and Superworld
AMS Institute and the Green Light District are working on a project to encourage residents to collaborate when they invest in energy-saving measures. Think, for example, of joint renovations in the built environment or joint investments. How can you best communicate these options to and with residents?

Want to join? Have a question? Let’s hear it in the comments!

Demodays are part of our innovation process and intended to boost the progress of the various innovation projects, put requests for help on the table, share dilemmas and involve others in your projects or challenges. We host them every 8-10 weeks.

Invitations are sent but we're always open to adding a few new names to the list.

During Demo days, community members pitch projects and ask for input. In small groups we work on concrete questions. We organize workshops with our partners to get a step further in the process. All in a very positive, open and cheerful vibe.

This time on the agenda:

Pitches:

Electric charging service hub – Beelen Mobility
There are more and more electric cars that also need to be charged. This growth cannot be fully accommodated with charging hubs in streets. De Beelengroep is developing a charging hub, a place where you can charge your car, and do other useful or fun things in the meantime. These hubs are well integrated into the energy system and do not place a greater burden on the grid. How do we make this even better?

A smart city, that's how you do it - Future City Foundation
Digitization and technology will fundamentally change our cities, regions and villages in the coming years. But what instruments do we need to make this happen in the best possible way? In the City Deal 'A smart city, that's how you do it' we develop, test and implement these instruments.

From Waste to Harvest – De Gezonde Stad
In Amsterdam we throw away organic waste together with household waste. The 'From Waste to Harvest' project takes a concrete step towards a circular and healthy city. More than 100 people have registered and deliver their organic waste to the neighborhood garden, which is used to make valuable compost. De Gezonde Stad tells how to involve people and let them experience the value of their 'waste'.

Workshops:
Robots and a liveable city – TU Delft / AMS Institute
In the near future, robots will most likely take to the streets to do their jobs. Think of robots that deliver groceries or medicines, or robots that support in keeping the city clean and pleasant. How can we design these robots in such a way that they can share public space with us in a harmonious way?

Supply of catering, by water – City of Amsterdam
For 20 years, efforts have been made to increase transport by water. There is still a lot of logistics space here. It can therefore relieve the road, and water transport can also be clean. Technology is available, but there is no business case yet.

Shared mobility – solution or annoyance?
We keep seeing forms of shared mobility; cars, scooters and cargo bikes. A nice development. But in many cities it also leads to problems. How do we ensure that we actually use these new forms of mobility to reduce problems, emissions and use of raw materials?

Want to join? Have a question? Let’s hear it in the comments!

We have created a little list for everyone that’s out and about in the Amsterdam region this summer and can’t quite let go of his or her love for Smart City concepts. Let us know what you thought of the experience.

1.NEMO Bits of You
This exhibition is for all grown ups that want to learn how the data trace they leave behind on a daily basis impacts their life. And it gives you the possibility to think of smart data solutions that are already running in the Amsterdam region or could be implemented. Doors are open from Wednesday until Sunday at the Marineterrein Living Lab area.

2.Worlds first 3D printed bridge
Be like the queen, glide over the world’s first 3D printed stainless steel bridge located in the middle of the red light district. The team behind the bridge claimed the technique showed how 3D-printing technology can lead to more efficient structures that use less material.

3. Walking towards the future #1: data walk
From Floppy Disks to USB-Sticks to data storage in ‘the Cloud’- a term that makes us stare into the distance with a dreamy look on our face. Data centres are rising and store everything from our cute cat video’s to personal medical records. Take the Interactive Data Walk (in Dutch) and learn about its effects on the climate, our water and maybe even rethink your online future.

4.Move Amsterdam – the Smart Mobility Experience
A car without a steering wheel, and a game that tests how fast you can brake. The Mobility Experience is a challenging exhibition about the future of mobility. You’ll discover what it’s like to ride in a self-driving car and calculate how far you can drive with an electric car. Slam on the brake pedal of a gigantic electric engine and bike through the city of the future. Bring inquisitive children. Open on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Have a question? Let’s hear it in the comments.

We share a quick overview of the mobility and energy projects that are on the minds of our partners and community half way through 2021. In another successful Demo Day we glided from Smart Energy to the first MaaS app. We learned about Code the Streets and easier ways to get projects subsidiest after Corona.

Our demo days are part of a series and are intended for Amsterdam Smart City partners to present the progress of various innovation projects, ask for input, share dilemmas and involve other partners in projects. We give you a recap.

The bottlenecks of Smart Energy - Alienke Ramaker from Royal Haskoning DHV

We want Smart Energy and make use of it in a flexible matter. So it’s not a surprise that pilots and projects pop up to make charging more efficient. But for some reason these projects don’t grow. Tom van Loon from Royalhaskoning DHV (commissioned by TKI Urban Energy and RVO) not only presents the 5 bottlenecks with the help of 40 experts but also gives us action points. The next step is to make these points land. How can we do that?

Amaze - Edvard Hendriksen from Overmorgen/Arcadis

Amaze is the first Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app in the Netherlands. It gives you access to public transport, shared mobility (cars, bikes) and taxi’s with one app. To scale up employers need to be convinced so employees are easily triggered to make use of shared mobility. In September 500 companies will join the launch event. Do you know any employers that should join, or are you one? Let us know in the comments so we can connect you to Edvard.

Code the Streets – Sander Oudbier & Lilian Leermakers from AMS Institute

Creating an app that makes cities less busy and saver, that’s what CODE the Streets is doing. Our region keeps growing and the same goes for our streets, neighbourhood’s and cities so we constantly need to come up with smart ways to organize mobility. Lilian Leermakers explains that the streets of Amsterdam are coded and added to navigation software. This can be used to avoid small streets around schools for instance. They’re looking for 200 users in Amsterdam and Helsinki so they can gather good feedback. The pilot starts at the end of August. Would you like to be part of the test team?

Innovation partners - Eefje Smeulders from City of Amsterdam & Dave van Loon from Kennisland

To give the region an economic and sustainable transition boost, the city of Amsterdam has extra funds available. A chance for our network to get a subsidy for the plans they work on.

Dave van Loon from Kennisland is working on a Dutch subsidy request himself: “energietransitie als vliegwiel voor een leefbare buurt”. An area oriented plan in which co-creation will connect multiple transitions. The idea is to work together with all the parties that are involved; residents, government, companies, energy suppliers, housing corporations and knowledge institutions. The end goal would be a Fieldlab. Would you like to know more and work with Dave on this? Let us know in the comments and we’ll connect you.

On June 21, under the flag of RVO’s 100 Climate Neutral Cities Mission, Amsterdam Smart City hosted the 200 Intelligent & Climate Neutral Cities Jam, bringing together stakeholders of the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) and 100 Climate-Neutral Mission, to create synergies between these two initiatives and help amplify their impact. In this post we provide a short recap of the session.

To kick-off the session, participants were asked to reflect on what will it take to achieve the so-called “twin” green and digital transitions. Some of the key ingredients indicated by the participants were: strong leadership, sense of urgency, good policy, collaboration, innovative thinking, shared ambition, funds and imagination.

After that ASC program director Leonie van den Beuken introduced the work of Amsterdam Smart City, which started in 2009 with a focus on engaging citizens and entrepreneurs in small-scale projects that could accelerate the energy transition through digital and social innovations. Reflecting on the situation 12 years later, Leonie noted the work is far from finished: “The world is in transition and people often say everything is changing too fast. But the opposite is true; we are not changing fast enough”.

100 Intelligent Cities

Next, Dana Eleftheriadou, European Commissions’ Head of Advanced Technologies and Digital Transformation provided an introduction to the Intelligent Cities Challenge – a programme launched in 2020 that is helping more than 100 small and medium European cities on their way to sustainable growth through the use of digital technologies. The programme is delivering tailored strategies and boosting capacity of municipal authorities and their innovation ecosystems on five themes: citizen participation & digitalization of public administration, green economy & local green deals, upskilling & reskilling, green & digital transition in tourism, and supply chains, logistics and the economics of mobility.

100 Climate Neutral Cities

The following pitch came from Harry Tuinder, representative of the Directorate General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, who introduced the Climate Neutral Cities Mission which aims to achieve at least 100 climate-neutral European cities by 2030, and ensure that all European cities build the right foundation to become climate-neutral by 2050. The programme will be one of five missions inspired by the Apollo 11 programme that sent the first man on the moon. The idea is to create bold yet realistic targets to address key societal challenges by inspiring bottom-up innovation and solutions. The mission is expected to be published in October 2021.

The session wrapped up with short contributions by Christiaan Norde, Policy Advisor International Affairs at the City of Amsterdam and Jacobine de Zwaan, Smart City Advisor at Ministry of External Affairs, who reflected on the role of learning in city networks and public-private collaboration to achieve climate-neutral and smart cities.

The Intelligent Cities Challenge and Climate Neutral Cities Mission are inspiring examples of how the European Commission is mobilizing resources to accelerate the twin green and digital transitions. As Mariana Mazzucato, special adviser on research and innovation for the Commission points out, the collaborative, mission-oriented thinking resulted in putting a man on the moon. We can use the same approach to solve our most “wicked” problems – including climate change – closer to home and improving the lives of all Europeans.

Check out the recording of the event below.