#Digital infrastructure

Topic within Digital City
Liza Verheijke, Community Manager at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, posted

Official launch of the HvA Expertise Centre Applied AI during Month of the AAI

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Get to know the Expertise Centre Applied Artificial Intelligence (ECAAI) of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences! Launched in January 2020, ECAAI has turned November in the Month of the AAI, in which it will present itself and its labs officially.

We co-create to make AI work, that’s the motto of ECAAI. And together with you, the expertise centre will make its official launch work. You’re invited to join on Thursday the 5th of November. ECAAIs scientific director Nanda Piersma will tell more about the latest developments, there will be a keynote from Jann de Waal (founder of INFO & Chair Topteam Creative Industries) and ECAAIs advisory council will participate in a panel discussion. So if you want to know all about the expertise centre, please sign up via the event page.

Please note that the launch will be held in Dutch.

PROGRAM
16.00 | Start & Welcome by Frank Kresin, dean of the Faculty Digital Media and Creative Industries of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
16.05 | Introduction by Nanda Piersma
16.10 | Presentation labs
16.15 | Keynote by Jann de Waal
16.25 | Presentation labs
16.30 | Panel discussion with ECAAIs advisory council
16.50 | Conclusion by Geleyn Meijer, rector of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
17.00 | End plenary part + Possibility to have a chat with the experts of the labs in break-out sessions
17.30 | End launch

Curious about our experts? Please find the links to their break-out sessions here:
https://www.hva.nl/ecaai/gedeelde-content/evenementen/evenementen/2020/11/officiele-lancering-expertise-centre-applied-artificial-intelligence.html?origin=DIJGgOuoQ62GFFPyxqo2Ag?i

But that’s not all, a variety of activities is waiting for you in the Month of the AAI, where it’s all about applied AI, meaningful applications and different application domains. All activities will be listed here, including webinars with Amsterdam Data Science, live casts with Pakhuis de Zwijger and talks at SIAs congress and Gala van de Wetenschap. ECAAI even has the privilege to present its own Dutch Applied AI Award during the Computable Awards.

Don’t miss a thing and subscribe to ECAAIs newsletter

For questions, you can reach out to <appliedai@hva.nl>

About the Expertise Centre Applied Artificial Intelligence

ECAAI encompasses all of the HvAs AI research and education activities. This centre drives the development of applications of AI technology in a responsible and inclusive manner. AI technology and its implications for companies, organisations, governments and people can only be understood in context and through experimentation. Each faculty of the HvA has created a lab that brings research, education and practices together to solve short and middle term challenges in the application of AI.

Curious about these labs, where you can work together? Please find them at www.hva.nl/ai

Liza Verheijke's picture Online event on Nov 5th
Cristina Albesa, International Business Consultant at Integra Innovation, posted

CLTV Demo Week

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Are you wondering for how long will users and customers be with you?

INTEGRA is using Artificial Intelligence to move customer-oriented companies in the Netherlands to the next level of digitalisation with CLTV, a system to measure user experience and analyse customers’ behaviour.

Although Key Customer Indicators have been historically related to banks, finance and insurance companies, there is a growing number of companies from other sectors such as media, telecommunications, e-commerce, NGO's and even the public sector, among others, demanding them.

During this DEMO Week, our AI & Data Team will be delighted to show you the power of this tool.

Do you want to know how to increase your sales with CLTV? What is the information your company will get from CLTV?

Just send an email to <calbesa@integratecnologia.es> and we will ve delighted to show you a quick DEMO!

Cristina Albesa's picture Online event from Oct 11th to Oct 15th
Folkert Leffring, Digital Media Manager , posted

Amsterdam and Helsinki launch AI registers to detail city systems

The cities of Helsinki and Amsterdam have worked together to each launch a first-of-its-kind Artificial Intelligence Register.

“Together with the city of Helsinki, we are on a mission to create as much understanding about algorithms as possible and be transparent about the way we – as cities – use them,” commented Touria Meliani, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam (Digital City).

Folkert Leffring's picture #SmartCityAcademy
Frans-Anton Vermast, Strategy Advisor & International Smart City Ambassador at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Amsterdam and Helsinki first cities in the world to launch open AI register

The City of Amsterdam, Helsingin kaupunki – Helsingfors stad – City of Helsinki, in collaboration with Saidot, launched the first Public AI Register. The Algorithm Register is an overview of the artificial intelligence systems and algorithms used by the Cities of Amsterdam and Helsinki. Through the register, you can get acquainted with the quick overviews of the city's algorithmic systems or examine their more detailed information based on your own interests.

If you're interested in learning more, here's something for you. The new white paper that was co-written by Linda van de Fliert, Pasi Rautio and Meeri Haataja. They really hope this will part some conversation and most importantly, help other government organisations address #transparency and take their first steps in implementing #AI #governance.

You can also give feedback and thus participate in building human-centered algorithms in Amsterdam. The register is still under development.

Frans-Anton Vermast's picture #DigitalCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

WeMakeThe.City RESET: Digital Rights

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After two successful editions, the WeMakeThe.City festival is heading for 2025 as a biennale: the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam. This year the uncertain future of our city and metropolitan region was discussed in a 12-hour livecast marathon on the 21st of September. The WeMakeThe.City theme ‘Reset’ brings together genius thinking, imagination and creativity to formulate alternative perspectives for action. How are we going to do things differently in the coming years? How do we work together to make our metropolis fairer, more inclusive, more sustainable, more climate-resilient, safer, more successful and happier? After all, together we make the city of, for and by everyone!

During last spring's lockdown, it became even clearer how much we depend on the digital world. We meet, chat and date in front of the screen. A solution to combat the spread of Covid-19 is also being sought in the digital domain. These developments have raised the privacy issue again: how can people's data rights be protected? Such as anonymity, transparency and control over data. Time for a good conversation about values and the importance of digital civil rights.

The session kicks off with Marleen Stikker, director of Waag and Ger Baron, Chief Technology Officer of the City of Amsterdam. Marleen explains what our digital human rights are. ‘These are the same rights just as in the analogue world. Where there is relatively much attention for analogue human rights, our civil rights in the digital domain have run wild, too little attention has been paid to this. Let's reclaim those rights! It is for example about the right to be forgotten, the right to be anonymous, but most important to me is digital sovereignty. Everyone should have the possibility to have insights in their own actions online.’

Ger agrees with Marleen. According to him, governments, and cities as well, collects too many data about residents and the public space without even knowing what they want to do with these data.’ The reason to collect them should be to learn something specific that you can improve or help people. Helping people with the collection of data also brings in new dilemmas. The city used to have a collaboration with energy providers for example. Once someone didn’t pay for the energy service, they sent out a message to the city administration. The City could then prevent someone get evicted from his/her home.

This example is not enough reason for Marleen to collect the data: ‘To me, this sounds as if we didn’t invest in our society. We could have helped these people as well if they had adequate supervision or guidance. In last years, we invested heavily in the digital domain and we made budget cuts on home care, debt counselling and community police officers. Digital solutions are not always the best solutions! Especially not when all kinds of companies have data without people knowing about this.’ Ger: ‘To a certain point I agree with this point. Digital rights also include rights to know about the data that is collected, why this is and what you can do about this. This is currenty not transparant at all, even though the City of Amsterdam is becoming more and more about about his.

Marleen: ‘I see the City of Amsterdam going in the right direction, by starting for example the Coalition for Digital Rights. However, the steps in this direction go really slow, especially in politics. This way, it remains unclear what rules companies dealing with personal data should obey. That’s why Marleen also calls on politicians in The Hague: guarantee digital human rights by imposing conditions on the market.’

Next up is Miram Rasch, researcher and teacher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and writer of the book ‘Friction. Ethics in times of dataism. Her book opens with a story about escaping the eyes of data collectors and algorithms. She states this is only possible at home. And even there, it becomes harder. ‘We have smart meters, smartphones, smart tvs. It is not clear why these devices need to collect data, with whom they share them. We don’t know now, but especially we don’t know in the future. Everybody has something to hide, because we don’t know yet what we should hide. Of course you have to inform yourself about the conditions you’re accepting. However, this is not easy at all. Try to read the Terms and Conditions of the services you use, the texts are too long and complicated. Unfortunately it can take a long before something changes. The few individuals who are conscious about the digital world, won’t change it. We need rules and regulations! But we know from the past, that maybe something heavy has to happen before people open their eyes.’

Jim Boevink, advisor Taskforce Digital Safety at the City of Amsterdam, starts an intermezzo about the right to be anonymous. Marleen Stikker: ‘People who want to abuse others, are free to hide themselves. This is because platforms are not responsible for the content their users post. They earn money with these users, they are their business models. But they they are not responsible for things happening on their platform. This is the first thing that has to change. The legal system is not in order. Make them responsible for the content on their platforms.’ M****arleen: ‘And good to emphasize: someone who is critical about the digital domain and the internet, is not necessarily against the digital world. We only have to make the internet safe and reliable!’

Want to watch the livecast (in Dutch) yourself? Check <https://dezwijger.nl/programma/reset-digital-rights>.

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #DigitalCity
Tom van Arman, Director & Founder at Tapp, posted

ModelMe3D - City Information Modeling !!!DEMO!!!

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Howdy - this Friday 25.09 @12h we'll be giving a demo to show you MM3D - a new “white board” for city information modeling that can empower you or any other project stakeholders to plan, collaborate & share projects. In this webinar we’ll show you what all these features and functionalities mean for your own real-world projects. We’ll be using the Marineterrein (former navy base) in the heart of Amsterdam as our user case. Interested? Grab a sandwich and sign up here: bit.ly/MM3D_MT

Tom van Arman's picture #DigitalCity
Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

A Successful Launch of the CityFlows Webinar Series — Crowd Management in Times of Corona

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On Tuesday, 8 September, forty-five participants gathered for the first CityFlows webinar on the topic of crowd-management in response to corona. Speakers came from three partner cities: Eelco Thiellier, Project Manager Crowd Monitoring System Amsterdam (CMSA); Valentino Sevino, Mobility Planning Director at City of Milan’s Environmental Mobility and Territory Agency (AMAT); and Aina Pedret, Mobility & Tourism Specialist at the City of Barcelona.

The participants were CityFlows project partners (37%), crowd-management researchers or academics (17%), crowd-management professionals working for public authorities (13%), crowd-management professionals working for companies or start-ups (10%), non-professionals interested in the topic (13%), and other (10%).

The meeting represented a successful launch of the EIT-KIC CityFlows webinar series which will continue with additional webinars in October, November and December.

Following a brief introduction to the CityFlows project, Eelco Thieller shared how the City of Amsterdam has quickly adapted its crowd monitoring infrastructure to respond to the corona crisis. Eelco showed the techniques that are used and how they are instituted throughout the city in crowded locations, or “hot spots”, such as shopping districts and market areas, the Red Light District, and in parks and at event locations. The focus is always on managing crowds or flows of people in the most privacy-preserving way with infrared sensors being a good example of how this is done in Vondelpark. Eelco also described the predictive models that were developed using the data which are helpful with determining what crowd-management actions should be undertaken by the City to ensure the health and safety of the residents and visitors.

Valentino Sevino shared a broader perspective on how the City of Milan has used data and modelling to respond to the corona emergency. Valentino showed how the modal-share in the city had drastically changed since the end of February through June as a result of the corona crisis. This shed light on levels on congestion throughout the city and showed a large reduction in all modalities during the lock down. Following the lock-down, public transport began operating at 25% which then required the city to undertake a complete rethinking of the mobility system with the goal of focusing on more temporal distribution, promotion of remote working, and promotion of active transport through street space reallocation to non-motorized transport. The data collected enabled them to predict and plan for different scenarios, especially considering the goal of abiding by social distancing guidelines during rush hours.

Aina Pedret from the City of Barcelona responded to the first two presentations by reflecting on the global challenge of ensuring confidence and safety for people in response to corona. To ensure this confidence and safety for both locals and tourists, the City of Barcelona is developing an application showing real time data of busyness at “hot spots”. And similar to the City of Amsterdam, the City of Barcelona is using cameras to monitor and manage occupancy and crowds at busy locations such as markets.

The webinar ended with an open discussion facilitated by Dorine Duives, CityFlows Principle Investigator at TU Delft.

Did you miss the webinar? It is possible to watch the recording via https://vimeo.com/460939134

___________________________________________________________________________________

CityFlows is an EIT-KIC project aims to improve the liveability of crowded pedestrian spaces through the use of Crowd Monitoring Decision Support Systems to manage pedestrian flows. The project is led by AMS Institute and brings together crowd-management and mobility practitioners and researchers in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Milan. The CityFlows project tests and evaluates various innovative crowd monitoring techniques in real-life settings where large crowds meet, such as mass events, tourist spaces and transfer hubs. The CityFlows project also prepares a CM-DSS for market launch which incorporates state-of-the-art monitoring techniques.
Join us for one or all of the next CityFlows webinars:
• Tuesday, 13 October, 2020 – 12:00-13:00 CET
• Tuesday, 3 November – 15:00-16:00 CET
• Tuesday, December 1 – 15:00-16:00 CET

Are you a practitioner or researcher working on a relevant crowd-management project and would like to share your work and findings with the CityFlows network? Send a short email explaining your project to CityFlows Communications Officer, Cornelia Dinca via cornelia.dinca@ams-institute.org.

Cornelia Dinca's picture #DigitalCity
Mathieu Dasnois, Communications Manager at Metabolic, posted

High-tech solutions to the circular economy and digital citizenship

How can Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and Blockchain contribute to a more transparent, sustainable and inclusive future?

As we launch the DLT4EU programme, we are having a panel discussion on the potential role and pitfalls of DLT in Europe. In the panel Indy Johar from Dark Matter Labs will join Piret Tõnurist, Innovation Lead at OECD - OCDE, and Ludovic Courcelas, Government Strategy Lead at ConsenSys. Together they will discuss how DLT and blockchain can encourage a more circular and democratic society.

Join us for this public online event on September 17th from 6pm CET.

More info on the DLT4EU programme: https://www.metabolic.nl/projects/dlt4eu/

Mathieu Dasnois's picture #DigitalCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Data Dilemmas: How to Get People to Use Contact Tracing Apps – event recap

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People around the globe are trying to fightCOVID-19 for months now and progress is made in developing ways to do so. While medicines and vaccines are being developed and testing facilities scaled up, we try to get a grip on the spread of the virus by doing contact-tracing. Up until now, the Netherlands have done so by tracing interactions of people who tested positive and informing them. To help determine the people who should be warned, several contact-tracing apps have been developed and introduced around the world. One more successful than the other.

What can we learn from these first trials of introducing country-wide tracing apps? What are the conditions under which people are willing to install and use them? On the 3rd of September, Amsterdam Smart City and Datalab organised an online edition of ‘Data Dilemmas’ in which an international expert panel shared their learnings while working with contact-tracing apps. One of the core values of Amsterdam Smart City is to put people in the center, a nice topic for the session.

Development and community engagement

A common theme in the success of the adoption and acceptance of the app by the public is community engagement. Both during the development stages and after the launch. This was first stated by Ivo Jansch*,* architect of the ‘Coronamelder’ for the Dutch Ministry of Health, but soon backed up by every member of the panel. Dutch, Irish and Swiss apps were developed publically through Github, where tech-savvy community members could gain insights on or even contribute to the production of the app. Although this approach laid bare all early missteps and shortcomings to the public and the press, our expert panel agreed that this was a key factor in the public acceptance of the app.

The Norwegian app Smittestopp was not successful in public adoption. The reason could be that the development of the app was put in the hands of a single company, mainly behind closed doors. The code was not made public for licensing terms, only for possible commercial interest. This created little trust in both tech experts and the population, Norwegian privacy expert and app evaluator Eivind Arvesen concluded. The app was soon removed from the app stores and cannot be used anymore.

There is, however, a thing as sharing things too early, project manager of the Irish COVID-tracker app Gar MacCríosta argued. When you are at such an early stage that there are still many options, ‘you open a door to chaos’ and the public could lose trust in the government being able to get to a good outcome. But as things moved on and the solution became more certain, the Irish became way more transparent about what they were developing.

Hilleen Smeets from the GGD Amsterdam zoomed in on the challenge of gaining outreach of the app in populations where testing is low, positive testing is high and health apps in general are not used as much. Think of poor people or overweight people. These are people do not go and test when showing symptoms. They are the ones that should be motivated to use the app, since they create the blind spot in the analogue contact tracing. Therefore, the app and the campaign should not only focus on gaining trust and understanding in general, but also pay attention to the motivators and barriers that influence app adoption in these populations specifically.

Provide options in data sharing and participation

Freedom of choice was another factor in public acceptance of the contact-tracing apps. In Norway, users were not given an option to decide how much data they were willing to share. The app gathered data to control virus spreading by contact tracing, it was a way for the government to evaluate interventions and provide insights in epidemiological models and public movement. To do this, the data was stored centrally, which allowed the continuous use of data from all devices, providing both user traceability and identification. People could either agree with the app collecting data for all these purposes or not use the app at all.

Something that does not suit a government, Gar MacCríosta noted. ‘If you are trying to be open and trying to protect privacy, decentralised data storage is your only option. Otherwise you are building up contact information and social graph information, something a government cannot do. People give their datafreely to Facebook and other social networks, but in the context of a government response this is different.’ The Irish app also features a symptom tracker,news and updates about COVID-19, and the possibility for people at risk to put in their phone number for a support team. Eventually over 80% of the app users decided to do this and are therefore contactable, improving the analogue tracing system that was already in place. The digital and analogue systems of contract tracing are fully integrated. The control of users in sharing their data and providing more ‘customer services’ to these users seems to improve the adoption by the population.

Hannes Grasegger, Swiss tech journalist, added that it is important that the choice not to use the app should not have restrictive consequences in everyday life. For instance, restaurants and other public areas where people gather could only allow people when they use the app. To prevent this, a legal process has started in Switzerland. In the same light, the Swiss have decided to determine when to phase out the app, so it does not become an eternal monitor.

Check out the stream of this Data Dilemmas event!

[

Livestream | How to get people to use contact tracing apps

How to successfully introduce contact tracing apps? *This is the livestream of the Data Dilemmas event of September 3 2020!* In smart city projects, technology is almost never the issue. Success is highly depended on whether people will actually need, use and understand technology. This also goe

amsterdamsmartcity YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dRq4dfxokE)

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #DigitalCity
Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

CityFlows Webinar #2 Big Data & IoT for Crowd Management

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The EIT-KIC project CityFlows aims to improve the liveability of crowded pedestrian spaces through the use of Crowd Monitoring Decision Support Systems (CM-DSS) to manage pedestrian flows. In three partner cities, Amsterdam, Milan and Barcelona, the CityFlows project tests and evaluates various innovative crowd monitoring techniques in real-life settings where large crowds meet, such as mass events, tourist spaces and transfer hubs. The CityFlows project also prepares a CM-DSS for market launch which incorporates state-of-the-art monitoring techniques.

To facilitate knowledge exchange between project partners and stakeholders, the CityFlows project is hosting a webinar series. Through four, one hour webinars you will get insights from project partners and engage in a discussion with crowd-management researchers and practitioners.

Please note: this second edition of the CityFlows webinar series previously scheduled for October 6 has been postponed to October 13.

CityFlows Webinar #2: Big Data & IoT for Crowd Management

  • 11:50 – 12:00 Zoom meeting room open
  • 12:00 – 12:05 Welcome & introductions
  • 12:05 – 12:20 Best practices & lessons learned from Barcelona by Jordi Ortuño, Maziar Ahmadi & Chloe Cortés
  • 12:20 – 12:35 Data source integration for tourism flows governance and safety in Milan by Mauro Annunziato & Piero De Sabbata
  • 12:35 – 12:40 Reflection from Amsterdam
  • 12:40 – 13:00 Q&A with the audience
  • 13:00 Program end

To join this webinar, please register in advance via: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclceqtqTopEtZ0cP35pYUMxda6Wu1wqDbK

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Save the date!

Two additional webinars are scheduled through the end of the year. Topics and speakers will be announced closer to the date:

• Tuesday, November 3, 15:00-16:00 CET

• Tuesday, December 1, 15:00-16:00 CET

Are you a practitioner or researcher working on a relevant crowd-management project and would like to share your work and findings with the CityFlows network? Send a short email explaining your project to CityFlows Communications Officer, Cornelia Dinca via cornelia.dinca@ams-institute.org.

Cornelia Dinca's picture Online event on Oct 13th
Linda van de Fliert, Innovation officer , posted

Next Generation Internet Policy Summit

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What kind of future internet do you want to see? Join us on 28 and 29 September for a free and immersive digital event, The NGI Policy Summit.

Organised by Nesta and the City of Amsterdam, the NGI Policy Summit is the flagship policy event of the Next Generation Internet initiative, the European Commission’s ambitious programme, which seeks to build a more democratic, inclusive and resilient future Internet by 2030.

The Summit is free to attend online. It caters to policymakers at all levels of governance, as well as leaders in public sector innovation, academia and civil society. Together, we will set out an ambitious European vision for the future Internet and explore some of the long-term policy interventions and technical solutions that can help get us there. This year’s event will explore a broad range of issues from digital identity to internet sustainability, and puts a particular emphasis on the role of local initiatives to tackle the challenges of digitalization.

Whether you’re interested in attending the full two-day conference experience or just joining an individual session, we would be delighted to welcome you to the NGI Policy Summit.

Check out the detailed programme and register today at https://summit.ngi.eu/.

Online event from Sep 28th to Sep 30th
Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

CityFlows Webinar Series Shares Crowd-management Innovations

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The EIT-KIC project CityFlows aims to improve the liveability of crowded pedestrian spaces through the use of Crowd Monitoring Decision Support Systems (CM-DSS) to manage pedestrian flows. In three partner cities, Amsterdam, Milan and Barcelona, the CityFlows project tests and evaluates various innovative crowd monitoring techniques in real-life settings where large crowds meet, such as mass events, tourist spaces and transfer hubs. The CityFlows project also prepares a CM-DSS for market launch which incorporates state-of-the-art monitoring techniques.

To facilitate knowledge exchange between project partners and stakeholders, the CityFlows project is hosting a webinar series. Through four, one hour webinars you will get insights from project partners and engage in a discussion with crowd-management researchers and practitioners.

During this first edition on Tuesday, September 8, project partners will share how they are repurposing crowd management tools to contribute to social distancing research and policy recommendations in times of corona. Crowd-management researchers and practitioners are encouraged to join this interactive webinar and to share their best practices and lessons learned.

CityFlows Webinar #1: Crowd-management in times of corona - 8 September 2020

14:50 – 15:00 Zoom waiting room open

15:00 – 15:05 Welcome and introduction to CityFlows webinar series, Cornelia Dinca

15:05 – 15:20 Experience from Amsterdam, Eelco Thiellier, City of Amsterdam, Traffic & Public Space Department

15:20 – 15:35 Experience from Milan, Valentino Sevino, City of Milan, Environmental Mobility and Territory Agency (AMAT)

15:35 – 16:00 Q&A with audience

16:00 Program end

To join this webinar, please register in advance via: <https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclceqtqTopEtZ0cP35pYUMxda6Wu1wqDbK>

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Save the date!

Three additional webinars are scheduled through the end of the year. Topics and speakers will be announced closer to the date.

• Tuesday, October 6, 15:00-16:00 CET

• Tuesday, November 3, 15:00-16:00 CET

• Tuesday, December 1, 15:00-16:00 CET

Are you a practitioner or researcher working on a relevant crowd-management project and would like to share your work and findings with the CityFlows network? Send a short email explaining your project to CityFlows Communications Officer, Cornelia Dinca via cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

Cornelia Dinca's picture #DigitalCity
Jacqueline Bij de Vaate, Marketing Manager Eurofiber NL at Eurofiber, posted

We moeten beter nadenken over toekomstbestendige digitale infrastructuur

Artificial Intelligence (AI) en blockchain zijn geavanceerde technologieën die al enige tijd sterk in de belangstelling staan. Het worden langzamerhand belangrijke bouwstenen in tal van omvangrijke en complexe projecten, zoals smart cities. Marloes Pomp, internationaal bekend expert op het gebied van AI en blockchain, spreekt met Vincent van Mierlo, strategisch accountmanager bij Eurofiber Nederland, over deze twee technologieën en de behoefte aan solide digitale infrastructuur.

Jacqueline Bij de Vaate's picture #DigitalCity
Wendolijn Beukers, Project manager , posted

Webinar India & The Netherlands: accessing Urban Data - Co-creating Livable Smart Cities

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The use of data in urban areas is becoming more and more important in reaching Sustainable Development Goal 11: making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. During this webinar, we will look at the world of the Urban Data in both the Netherlands and India.

3 speakers will teach us more about how to use urban data in the urban planning process. How do you manage data, and how do you standardise it? This webinar focuses on innovation in the field of Urban data. The speakers are:

Professor Inder Gopal, visiting professor – Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Indian Urban Data Exchange;
Mr Bert Beentjes, senior strategist at the Netherlands' Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster); and
Mr Albert Seubers, Director of Global Strategy Smart Cities at Atos and member of the Board of Directors of the FIWARE Foundation.

Reserve your spot
Register for the accessing Urban Data webinar now! After registering, you will get more information.

This webinar is organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom relations, the Future City Foundation (Fiware) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

Wendolijn Beukers's picture Online event on Sep 8th
Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

CityFlows Webinar #1: Crowd management in times of corona

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The EIT-KIC project CityFlows aims to improve the liveability of crowded pedestrian spaces through the use of Crowd Monitoring Decision Support Systems (CM-DSS) to manage pedestrian flows. In three partner cities, Amsterdam, Milan and Barcelona, the CityFlows project tests and evaluates various innovative crowd monitoring techniques in real-life settings where large crowds meet, such as mass events, tourist spaces and transfer hubs. The CityFlows project also prepares a CM-DSS for market launch which incorporates state-of-the-art monitoring techniques.

To facilitate knowledge exchange between project partners and stakeholders, the CityFlows project is hosting a webinar series. Through four, one hour webinars you will get insights from project partners and engage in a discussion with crowd-management researchers and practitioners.

During this first edition, project partners will share how they are repurposing crowd management tools to contribute to social distancing research and policy recommendations in times of corona. Crowd-management researchers and practitioners are encouraged to join this interactive webinar and to share their best practices and lessons learned.

CityFlows Webinar #1: Crowd management in times of corona

14:50 – 15:00 Zoom waiting room open

15:00 – 15:05 Welcome and introduction to CityFlows webinar series, Cornelia Dinca

15:05 – 15:20 Experience from Amsterdam, Eelco Thiellier, City of Amsterdam, Traffic & Public Space Department

15:20 – 15:35 Experience from Milan, Valentino Sevino, City of Milan, Environmental Mobility and Territory Agency (AMAT)

15:35 – 16:00 Q&A with audience

16:00 Program end

To join this webinar, please register in advance via: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclceqtqTopEtZ0cP35pYUMxda6Wu1wqDbK

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Save the date!

Three additional webinars are scheduled through the end of the year. Topics and speakers will be announced in September.

• Tuesday, October 6, 15:00-16:00 CET

• Tuesday, November 3, 15:00-16:00 CET

• Tuesday, December 1, 15:00-16:00 CET

Are you a practitioner or researcher working on a relevant crowd-management project and would like to share your work and findings with the CityFlows network? Send a short email explaining your project to CityFlows Communications Officer, Cornelia Dinca via cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

Cornelia Dinca's picture Online event on Sep 8th
Tom van Arman, Director & Founder at Tapp, posted

ModelMe3D - city information modeling WEBINAR 04.09.2020

One very exciting smart city initiative we’re working on is called ModelMe3D - a brand new city information modeling platform for future city makers. As a virtual white board, MM3D empowers designers and stakeholders to plan, collaborate & share. Since its entirely web based you can create your first project in seconds, and each scene comes with data rich 3D context of real city locations. Interested? Grab a sandwich and join us Friday 04 September @12:00 for a live demo here: https://bit.ly/MM3D_Webinar

Tom van Arman's picture #DigitalCity
Sander van Lingen, Innovation Manager at Dell Technologies, posted

Blue Force Tracking

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Testing medical certified body sensors to detect unexpected behaviour, triggering an alert, which allows the command & control room to act and better support their fellow officers in the field.

[

Blue Force Tracking - Nalta Experience #1

How to improve the protection and safety of the Dutch Blue Force using smart Technology?
Nalta built a new innovative Internet of Things solution solving just that. In partnership with the Netherlands Police, the municipality of Amsterdam, Johan Cruijff Arena, Dell Technologies and Dell Boomi we cre

Nalta YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyFp_XGLFA)

Sander van Lingen's picture #DigitalCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Where is the European tech sector? Tech for Society recap

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In our daily lives, we became dependent on just a few tech companies, usually located in the USA or in China. Should we become independent and develop our own tech sector? Last Friday, the 19th of June 2020, the fifth edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: a livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is currently under pressure of the Covid-19 crisis. The central theme of this edition: ‘the European Tech Sector’.

Why is it so important to have a tech sector ‘of our own’? Sander van der Waal, Future Internet Lab Lead of Waag explains the role of technology. He uses the metaphor of an iceberg. At the top, there is the technology people see in their daily lives. Phones, wifi, internet, they are there and work fine. Beneath this citizen perspective are a lot of layers we can’t see. There is a technology stack, in which you’ll find the infrastructure, the internet cables, GPS, datacenters, operating systems and more. Below the stack you find the development process, the choices companies made. After that is the foundation. This is the part with assumptions, values and peoples’ rights. The figure shows that technology is a lot more than we think. It has a lot of layers and what to put in the layers, makes sense.

Zooming in on the stack, you can define three variations. 1: a private stack, dominated by tech companies driving by profit and the people as consumers. 2. A state stack, closed tech, dominated by states and surveillance of citizens. 3. A public stack, putting European values into practice, make technology open, with a participating role for citizens. Sander doesn’t think it is necessary to develop a European tech sector. There would be risk we would develop a European private sector and one can doubt if that is really a step ahead. Maybe a little one because we won’t be dependent on US companies, but in this case people still don’t play an active role.

Source: Waag

The big five

The biggest companies we are depending on, are called the big five. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft dominate the tech industry. Most of them collect our data and make them into a business model. According to Jochem de Groot, director Corporate Affairs, Microsoft does search for the societal debate about technology. They are talking about the public value of their technology. For example in AI, Microsoft calls for more rules and regulations. This way they also hope that it is easier for citizens to hold sovereignty. Microsoft also launched an open data campaign.

Sander: ‘Open data can be a step in the right direction. However, be careful with it. Data are often relatable to people. There is more open data available, but we have to be careful if we can find out to whom te data belong. Once leaked, data never go back. When it comes to tech, Europe is mostly known for the GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation. This is a standard and also important in the USA. More current technological developments put the citizen central. And also the developments of open source are getting bigger. Open source helps to decrease the dependency of individual companies.’

Paul Tang is member of the European Parliament for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). He just came back from a demonstration at the office of Facebook against personalized adds. In the European Parliament a majority says these personalized adds should be forbidden. Paul: ‘Someday this is should be a law, because the European Parliament has legislative power. Sometimes these decisions can take a long time, because of member states, lobby organizations and various interests. The good thing of this power, is the influence it has on Europe, but also on the rest of the world. However, sometimes I am shocked by all the work that still has to be done. We set up criteria for the usage of algorithms a while ago, but they are not yet put into practice. When it comes to the digital playing rules, we have a lot of work to do.’

Opportunities for Europe

If the lack of tech giants in Europe is an issue and we want to create a European tech sector as a solution to our dependency on American tech giants, are there developments going on that might be opportunities that might contribute to a European tech sector? ‘Quantumcomputing’, Jochem from Microsoft says. ‘Here we really have an opportunity to create an ecosystem and be unique. As Microsoft we would like the Dutch government to invest in this.’ According to Paul Tang, ‘the market for personalized data is fully dominated by the American giants. There are possibilities in the EU for non-personalized data. For example, in the Internet of Things. Bianca Wylie, open government advocate and Tech Reset Canada co-founder: ‘When I advise companies about their future, I always tell them to get away from behavioural data. Go for clean tech, robotics, infrastructure or health tech, but don’t make your business depend on the surveillance economy. Grow other sectors with an alternative vision.’

Bianca also spoke about the opportunities Covid-19 bring to the tech sector. ‘There is an opportunity but a threat as well’, she says. ‘We have to watch the emergency that is taking place now when it comes to procurement. Keep an eye on the democratic process. But this time is also an opportunity to get rid of the tech that is not successful but costs a lot. Check the existing infrastructure. Not working? Let it go! And value human capital. We need teachers, doctors, people who do contact tracing. Build tools that help them.’

Paul: ‘The personalized ads ask for the collection of more data. We have to ban this. I think that selling products is a different business model. It shows a clear relation between producer and consumer. The system in which the people give data, get free products with advertisements is vague and manipulative. Skip this business model and make space for new ones.’ Jochem (Microsoft) doesn’t want to comment on this, because this is mainly about his competitors. He does stress that is important to create space for a market in tech, there have to be possibilities to compete. The government has to set the framework. For example with GDPR. Values for AI could use such a framework as well.’

Data sovereignty is a long lasting wish of a lot of countries. GAIA-X could play a role in this. GAIA-X is an initiative by France and Germany to strengthen the digital sovereignty of Europe. It will make Europe less dependent on China and the USA. Sander is also critical: there is a risk of copying existing models. But we need a completely different data strategy, the system is no good.

About the steps we have to take, the three men agree: we need more influence of Europe, all from another angle. According to Paul, Europe has to win back soeverignty and call a halt to their development. Jochem wants European unity to become a powerful block that can set a framework. Sander: ‘Only with the cooperation in Europe we can build alternative data models’.

According to Amsterdam Smart City, the discussion of this evening is exactly the discussion that needs to take place. Collecting data is very useful to work on the challenges in our cities. But we have to be aware that these data are in the hands of the private sector. And that free usage comes with a price. Can we work on public values with the data? This asks for a collaboration between the public and

private sector, something we work on every day. Amsterdam Smart City always puts public value first: innovating together and transparent, using each other’s expertise, with the resident at the centre.

Do you want to watch the full episode? You can watch it here (in Dutch):

[##### Tech for Society #5: Waar is de Europese techsector?

Waarom zijn er geen Europese techreuzen meer?

Pakhuis de Zwijger](https://dezwijger.nl/programma/waar-is-de-europese-techsector)

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Jacqueline Bij de Vaate, Marketing Manager Eurofiber NL at Eurofiber, posted

5G-Blueprint

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The 5G-Blueprint project is an international consortium of 28 parties. Together, these partners will be researching how real-time data exchange to and from vehicles, between terminals and vehicles, and between vehicles and distribution centers can contribute to increased efficiency in the supply chain, and help to resolve driver shortages by providing remote control of and support for vehicles and vessels. These developments are expected to improve accessibility of a key logistical corridor between the Netherlands and Belgium (Vlissingen – Ghent – Antwerp), as well as creating more jobs and strengthening the competitive position of the region. New 5G telecommunication technologies can be deployed as a useful resource in this area.

<https://eurofiber.com/press/eurofiber-partners-with-international-research-project-5g-blueprint/>

Jacqueline Bij de Vaate's picture #DigitalCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Tech for Society recap – vital networks

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Last Friday, the third edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: the livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is under pressure of the corona crisis. In this edition the panel discussed about various aspects in vital networks in our society. Because one thing the corona crisis made clear, we are depending on a lot of networks: electricity, heating, internet. And what happens if they disappear or break down?

Martijntje Smits, technology philosopher kicks off the livecast by explaining how there are a lot of vital networks in our society. We are not even aware of the amount. People only realize this when they disappear. In history we set up our own networks, such as heating our houses or growing our own food. However, humanity decided to outsource these systems and make a big system. At the end of the 19th century we decided to give governments control over these systems, so that they would be accessible for everybody.

Democracy of networks

Pallas Agterberg, strategy manager of grid operator Alliander and part of the steering committee of Amsterdam Smart City: ‘This decision is still visible in our energy grid. The electricity grid is owned by public organizations, provinces. However, data networks have private owners. For smart metering an exception was made, and there are more exceptions, for example the police and defence have their own non-public networks. However, to set up a separate organization for every vital connection is way too expensive.’

But the fact remains that we are fully dependent on the private sector when it comes to the digital infrastructure. For example, there are no optical fiber connections in Amsterdam because this is commercially not interesting. Why wouldn’t we make the government owner of the hardware and cables in the ground? Then we have democratic check. All the data traffic can be done by private companies, just like the energy networks. Alliander, a utility company, controls the grid and other companies such as energy suppliers, can arrange data services. This way the stability of the grid is guaranteed and people can choose the suppliers they want.

Limitations to the network

Very often, we didn’t know we needed an innovation until it was developed. We didn’t know we needed cars and now we can’t imagine the world without a car industry and traffic jams. There are limitations to the infrastructure. Physically that is very clear, with the traffic jams and the impossibility of cutting more trees to build roads. Pallas: ‘In the energy grid, the same developments are going on. The grid was designed in 1870. If we install too many solar panels, the system will be stuck. Expanding the grid is possible, but not unlimited. Therefore it is more wise to install solar panels on your roof instead of making big solar fields. Then the grid doesn’t have to expand to these fields (which costs a lot of time and money).’ In technology however, the situation is different. It seems as if digital networks don’t have any boundaries. Martijntje: ‘There is this utopia of setting up a digital world, a belief in arranging everything digitally. But we pay a price for this, we need an enormous amount of energy and natural resources. Networks cannot grow uncontrolled, even though they seem to.’

Joshua Serrao, of the taskforce Digital Safety of the City of Amsterdam, explains how the city is preparing for the limitations of the digital network: ‘We think about the limitations and vulnerabilities of the networks and anticipate on the risks. We even developed a simulation game, in case our systems get hacked. We have to take into account the possibility of not being able to use electricity for a while, data from citizens can get stolen or communications layers will be switched off.’ We are often not aware of the vulnerabilities because we cannot see the crucial infrastructures. Joshua: ‘It is really important for Amsterdam to collaborate more with the private sector and set up a basic level of security, maybe set up security by design in all kinds of processes.’ Martijntje: ‘To have a robust infrastructure, means we also need alternatives. We cannot control everything and manage all risks. So to protect vital networks, we basically need two things: 1. prevention, set up independent networks and 2. Risk management. Set up back-ups or think of (analogue) alternatives. And a robust systems needs a vision on democracy. Big, efficient systems are vulnerable, what does society need from these systems?’

Zoom in on policy

Marietje Schaake, president of the The Cyberpeace Institute and former member of the European Parliament has this vision. According to her, digitalization and privatization led to new vulnerabilities. A lot of organizations in the public sector, for example hospitals, use old versions of commercial software. They don’t update these because that is not their priority. And it usually costs a lot of money. But this makes our public sector defenceless and weak. And certainly in these times, they are extremely important. We have to strengthen them. Marietje: ‘We discussed this often in the European Parliament, but member states usually don’t want to share these responsibilities. They want a digital market with good connections, but take decisions on risks and safety on a local level, because this is their national security. We need more collaboration on cybersecurity. But this will take a long time, if capital cities don’t want it, the EU can’t do anything.’

‘In the European Union we are looking for laws and regulations to protect the states in the digital domain. We need a vision on the collective interest, on digitalization and AI. And hopefully we will see this in the policy as well. Today it is not clear how to apply existing laws and regulations on digitalization and what new laws should do. How to control AI? Who is in the end responsible for developments in the digital domain? And which vital networks should be into the hands of the public sector? This should be more clear. Start with transparency’, she concludes.

According to Amsterdam Smart City, the discussion of this evening is exactly the discussion that needs to take place. We are all so dependent on vital networks, the owners of these networks should be transparent about them. This asks for a collaboration between the public and private sector, something we work on every day. Amsterdam Smart City always puts public value first: innovating together and transparent, using each other’s expertise, with the resident at the centre.

Do you want to watch the full episode? You can watch it here (in Dutch):

[##### Tech for Society #3: Vitale netwerken

Van wie is de technologie waar we op vertrouwen en is dat wel terecht?

Pakhuis de Zwijger](https://dezwijger.nl/programma/vitale-netwerken)

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #DigitalCity