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Innovatie Partners Amsterdam, Facilitating public-private collaboration and innovation at Gemeente Amsterdam, posted

Introducing Innovatie Partners for innovative entrepreneurs

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The City of Amsterdam launched a platform for entrepreneurs who want to collaborate on innovation with the public sector.

If you want to work with government and other large organisations, you need to apply for tenders and grants. These application procedures are often complex. Using clear information and useful checklists, Innovatie Partners makes tenders and grants accessible for small entrepreneurs, such as startups, scale-ups and MKB.

Find your project and apply!

On the platform

- Projects from organisations such as Gemeente Amsterdam, the Metropole Region Amsterdam (MRA) and Startup in Residence. Take a look at past and current projects (in Dutch).
- Road maps of how to apply for your tender or grant of choice.
- Explainers on what tenders and grants are and how they work, such as a glossary of unavoidable jargon (in Dutch).
- Detailed instructions and screencasts of how to fill out complicated forms (in Dutch).

Innovatie Partners Amsterdam's picture #CircularCity
Herman van den Bosch, professor in management development , posted

Barcelona and Madrid: Forerunners in e-governance

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Barcelona is one of the oldest examples of a city that deploys technology as part of its government. Sensor networks have been producing an array of data on transport, energy usage, noise levels, irrigation, and many other topics without having much impact on the life of citizens or solving the underlying problems.

In 2015, Francesca Bria, chief technology, together with mayor Ada Colau started to reverse the smart city paradigm: Instead of starting from technology and extracting all the data we started aligning the tech agenda with the agenda of the cityshe said.

One of the first challenges was using technology to increase ordinary citizen’s impact on policy. A group of civic-minded coders and cryptographers created a brand-new participatory platform, Decidem (which means We Decide in Catalan). For more information watch the video below.

Spain offers more inspiring examples. The city of Madrid has also created a participatory citizen platform, not for chance called Decide Madrid, which is in many respects comparable with Decidem, as this short video demonstrates.

The most important features of both platforms are:

Active participation in policy making
Citizens are stimulated to suggest ideas, debating them, and vote. In Barcelona, more than 40.000 citizens have suggested proposals, which form 70% of the agenda of the city administration. The most frequently mentioned concerns are affordable housing, clean energy, air quality and the public space.
The Municipal Action Plan of Barcelona includes almost 7,000 proposals from citizens. Decidem enables citizens to monitor the state of implementation of each of them to increase citizen’s engagement.

Debating
Decide Madrid and Decidem emphasize the value of being informed as starting point for deliberation. Citizens can start discussions on their own and participate in threaded discussions started by others.
As soon as citizens feel informed and have exchanged opinions voting can start. Both Decide Madrid as Decidemhave a space where citizens can make proposals and seeks support. Proposals that reach enough support are prepared for voting. These votes generally are advising the city council.

Policy preparation
Decide Madrid enables citizens amendment legislative texts. The public is allowed to commend any part of it and to suggest alternatives. This also might result in discussions and the suggestions are used to improve the formulations.

Data governance
Decidem and Decide Madrid are also data portals that show data that have been collected in the city, partly on citizens themselves. Decidem has the intention, because of its participation in the European project Decode to enable citizens to control the use of data of their own for specific purposes.

Hybrid solutions
As not every citizen has a computer or is skilled to use the Internet platforms, both cities combine virtual discussions and discussion in a physical space.

It is not only the traditional rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid that has inspired the development of two comparable systems, independently from each other. It is also the fact that the Spanish people had to fight for democracy until rather recently. Democratic institutions that have long existed in many other countries had to be reinvented, but with a 20th-century twist.

The community of Madrid has developed Decide Madrid together with CONSUL, a Madrid-based company. CONSUL enables cities to develop citizen participation on the Internet quickly and save. The package is very comprehensive. The software and its use are free. CONSUL can be adjusted by each organization to meet its own needs. As a result, Consul is in use in 130 cities and organizations in 33 countries (see the map above) and reaches out around 90 million citizens worldwide.

In contrast with e-Estonia, the topic of a former post, the footing of Decidem and Decide Madrid is enabling citizens to make their voice heard and to participate in decision-making. Both cities offer excellent examples of e-governance. e-Governance reflects the mutual communication between municipal authorities and citizens using digital tools to align decision making with the needs and wants of citizens. Instead, the intention of e-Estonia is to improve the efficiency of the operation of the state.  Both aims are complementary.

I will regularly share ‘snapshots’ of the challenge of bringing socially and ecologically sustainable cities closer using technology if useful. These posts represent findings, updates, and additions to my e-book Humane cities. Always humane. Smart if helpful. The English version of this book can be downloaded for free below.

Herman van den Bosch's picture #Citizens&Living
Beth Njeri, Digital Communications Manager at Metabolic, posted

How the public sector can use DLTs for good

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Distributed Ledger Technologies have a lot of potential "as a visible tool that improves the lives of citizens and their communities" and the focus should be on the concrete problems that the public sector faces in delivering services to citizens

“You’re going to have to say, it improves mobility, it improves the fight against climate change, affordable housing, a better city, better participation. It’s not going to be about DLTs.” - Francesca Bria, president of the Italian National Innovation Fund

Metabolic concluded the DLT4EU program in May with the goal to drive innovation in the public sector by connecting the expertise of top-notch entrepreneurs with real-world problems, to create new solutions.

Learn more from the link below.

Beth Njeri's picture #DigitalCity
Herman van den Bosch, professor in management development , posted

e-Estonia: A great example of e-government

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e-Estonia is currently the most ambitious project in technology-assisted policymaking in the world. It includes anybody involved with government and it has changed the daily life of citizens. Almost all public services are involved: Legislation, voting, education, justice, health care, banking, taxes, and police. These are digitally linked to each other via one platform. Only for marriages, divorces and real-estate transactions, a visit to the town hall is mandatory.

The country’s ICT-infrastructure has been developed by government, along with a few Estonian companies. The state has been the driving force behind this project and has attracted the best specialists of the country. Below, I mention some of the features of the project.

Infrastructure

Estonia has developed an ICT-infrastructure – the Government Cloud - that all government agencies and most companies use. This makes possible almost perfect interoperability in accordance with the highest level of IT Security Standards (ISKE).
To be protected against external cyberattacks, such as in 2007, there is a full back-up. This is in a datacenter in Luxemburg, which has an internationally accepted status as ‘embassy’.  It works under Estonian state control and can take over the most critical services seamlessly.

Data protection

Data is not stored centrally. Instead, the government data platform, X-Road, connects individual servers via end-to-end encrypted pathways. In the Estonian system any individual owns all information that is recorded about him or herand any use that is made of it is recorded.
This video explains how X-road works.

 The backbone of Estonia’s digital security is a blockchain technology called KSI. It is designed in Estonia and applied worldwide today.  It guarantees complete privacy and excludes anyone from manipulating the data. KSI blockchain technology documents all actions in the system and protects information without access to the information itself.
The technology has been developed together with Guardtime, a company founded in 2007 in Estonia, that has exporting the system globally and therefore has offices around the world.

The Dutch Judicial Information Service (Justitiële Informatiedienst) has chosen Guardtime’s KSI Blockchain technology for integrity assurance of new e-services. The blockchain integration ensures transparency, verifiability and security of the information that is processed in government systems.

Voting

Whereas most technology advanced countries still let people vote with pen and paper or use primitive voting machines, from 2007 Estonia applies e-voting for parliament election and elections at municipal level.
With e-Voting, voters can cast their vote from any computer with an internet connection anywhere in the world: During a designated period, voters log in to the system with an ID-card or Mobile-ID, and cast a ballot. To ensure anonymity, the voter’s identity is removed from the ballot before it reaches the National Electoral Commission, which counts the votes. Every system of remote voting, including traditional ballot papers sent by post, risks buying or enforcing someone’s vote. Estonia’s solution is the possibility to change his or her vote later with only the last vote counting.

Streamlining decision-making

Governmental bodies at all levels use a paperless information system – e-cabinet – that has streamlined decision making and reduced the time spent on meetings with 80%. Well before the start of a meeting, participants view the agenda items and determine their opinion. If they have objections or want to discuss the subject, they click on a box. The opinions of all participants are therefore known in advance. If there are no objections, decisions are taken without debate.
This video below demonstrates the operation of e-cabinet.

Residency program

Like many other European states, the population of Estonia is shrinking. Increasing the number of babies is complicated, so a digital residency program was launched in 2014, in style with the Estonian e-government project. Any foreigner can become Estonian resident without ever visiting the country and can participate in Estonian services, such as banking. Estonia has liberal rules for technological research and the lowest corporate tax rates in the European Union.
About 28.000 people have applied for an e-residency, including many owners of small businesses from the United Kingdom who want to be based in the EU.

The footing of e-Estonia is – according to the government – to facilitate and improve the life of citizens and to make the government more efficient. This goal certainly has been achieved. The total amount of savings is calculated at 2% of GNP.

Technology can play a role in improving the quality of the formal organization, decision making, the provision of services and the relationship with all stakeholders. In this context, concepts such as e-government (digital government) and e-governance are often used. Estonia offers a great example of e-government. For e-governance - the mutual communication between municipal authorities and citizens using digital tools - we better take Spain as an example, as I will explain in a next post.

I will regularly share with you ‘snapshots’ of the challenge to bring social and ecological sustainable cities closer using technology - if helpful. These posts represent findings, updates, and supplements of my e-book Humane cities. Always humane. Smart if helpful. The English version of this book can be downloaded for free below.

Herman van den Bosch's picture #DigitalCity
Cornelia Dinca, International Liaison at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

City Deal “Smart City, This is How You Do It” Connects to International Best Practices

How can we learn from international smart city experiences to ensure that we do not keep reinventing the smart city wheel. In the City Deal “A Smart City, This Is How You Do It” 58 public and private parties are working together to collect, validate and scale smart city solutions in the Netherlands.

On 10 June, Future City Foundation (FCF) and Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) brought together more than 30 Dutch and international colleagues to connect the City Deal to international experiences and best practices. The session consisted of short pitches sharing the tools and solutions developed in the City Deal Working Groups. For every pitch the international experts were asked to share their experience with similar projects, and reflect on what is needed to improve and scale the solutions abroad.

1.     Open Urban Data Platform Tender

As more municipalities look to purchase urban data platforms, can we develop a generalized Program of Requirements? The Dutch cities of Rotterdam, Hilversum, and Helmond are working to develop such a flexible Program of Requirements, taking into account aspects such as scalability, flexibility and shareability of data, as well as privacy, cybersecurity, and data autonomy.  During the session, the city of Aahus shared the experience of Open Data DK, a collaboration of Danish municipalities and regions to not only tender, but collectively develop an open data portal, leading to improved collaboration and cost savings for Danish municipalities and their stakeholders.

2.     Model ByLaw Smart City in Public Space:

The public space is rapidly digitalization with many parties wishing to add sensors, beacons, cameras and other objects to enable various smart city applications. Local authorities need to find effective ways to regulate how this is done, so that the public space does not become a “Wild West” of smart applications. Within the City Deal, a model bylaw has been drawn and it is now being tested in Rotterdam. The question to the group was whether similar bylaws or initiatives been developed in other cities or jurisdictions? The city of Vienna shared its experience developing a Smart City Framework Strategy – a high level but binding document when it comes to designing bylaws related to various smart city domains.

3.     Citizen Measurement Initiatives:

Within the City Deal three Working Groups are exploring how to use citizen measurement to create smart, sustainable, and inclusive cities, and how to link these initiatives to policy. On this topic the group could learn from initiative like iScape and WeCount in Dublin’s Smart Docklands District, which focus on engaging citizens in measurement projects, and linking the results to city policy. And when it comes to engaging citizens in measuring their environment, city of Dublin had another suggestions for the Dutch colleagues: leverage the existing network of public libraries to engage and involve citizens and policy makers in citizen-measurement projects.

Second International Roundtable Planned
The discussion revealed there are a lot of shared challenges, for instance in scaling smart city projects, so it's necessary that we keep sharing approaches and lessons learned internationally.  Following the success of this first international roundtable, we are planning a second session on September 30.  Dutch and international experts who would like to participate, can send an email to Cornelia Dinca via cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com with a short explanation of how like to contribute to the session. For more information or any other questions about the City Deal please contact Wendolijn Beukers via wendolijn@future-city.nl.

Thank You to the Participants
ASC and FCF would like to thank all the Dutch and international colleagues who contributed their expertise during the session.

City Deal Working Groups Members
·       Noor van den Brink, Policy Advisor, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
·       Marcel Broekhaar, Smart City Program Management, City of Zwolle
·       Arjan Hof, CTO, WeCity
·       Daniel de Klein, Business Development Manager Digital City, City of Helmond
·       Anita Nijboer, Partner, Kennedy Van de Laan
·       Shahid Talib, Directeur Smart City, Heijmans
·       Simone Rodenburg, Advisor CIO Office, City of Enschede
·       Henri de Ruiter, Environmental Advisor, RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
·       Jeroen Steenbakkers, Owner, Agaleo

International Peers
·       Ulrich Ahle, CEO, FIWARE Foundation
·       Jamie Cudden, Smart City Program Manager, City of Dublin
·       Bo Fristed, CIO, City of Aahus
·       Gianluca Galletto, Managing Director, Global Futures Group
·       Lea Hemetsberger, Director Projects & Network, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC)
·       Jong-Sung Hwang, Masterplanner Busan Smart City, South Korea
·       Nigel Jacob, Co-Founder New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
·       Gabriella Gomez-Mont, Former Director of Laboratorio para la Ciudad, Mexico City & Founder of Experimentalista
·       Jonathan Reichental, Former CIO of Palo Alto & author of Smart Cities for Dummies
·       Florian Wollen, Coordinator, Urban Innovation Vienna

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Claire Gersen, Advisor Responsible Technology at Province of Noord-Holland, posted

Duurzaam, transparant en onafhankelijk: de nieuwe datastrategie van provincie Noord-Holland

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Provincie Noord-Holland heeft in mei 2021 een nieuwe datastrategie in concept vastgesteld. De wereld verandert snel en de strategie uit 2018 sloot steeds minder aan bij de huidige ambities. Het streven is om datatechnologie in te zetten voor optimale resultaten van onze maatschappelijke opgaven.

Hierbij zijn drie elementen van belang. Als eerste ‘duurzaamheid’. Wij willen profiteren van digitalisering op een manier die zo min mogelijk ten koste gaat van natuurlijke hulpbronnen. Het tweede element is ‘transparantie’. Wij zien in transparantie de kans om te innoveren mét het vertrouwen van onze inwoners. Het laatste element is ‘data-soevereiniteit’. Wij zien het als onze verantwoordelijkheid om onze onafhankelijkheid zo veel mogelijk te borgen. En misschien nog wel belangrijker: óók de onafhankelijkheid van de inwoners van Noord-Holland.

Om deze stip op de horizon te bereiken hebben we vier doelstellingen opgesteld:

Doelstelling 1
In 2023 zijn wij beter dan nu in staat om met data de maatschappelijke resultaten van onze opgaven te beschrijven, verklaren, voorspellen of optimaliseren.

Met datatechnologie dragen we bij aan de maatschappelijke resultaten die wij voor onze opgaven willen bereiken. Die resultaten verschillen per opgave. Daarom zullen wij voor elke opgave de datapositie in kaart brengen, zo kunnen we tegemoetkomen aan de specifieke behoeften. Voor een aantal complexe deelopgaven starten we bijvoorbeeld een experiment, waarbij we  de mogelijkheden van een ‘digital twin’ onderzoeken.

Doelstelling 2
In 2023 zijn de digitaliseringsbelangen van onze provincie adequaat behartigd op het niveau van de Europese Unie, de Rijksoverheid, de Tweede Kamer en de regio Amsterdam.

Digitalisering en AI vertegenwoordigen een steeds groter economisch en maatschappelijk belang. Zij hebben meer en meer politiek-bestuurlijke aandacht. Zowel op het niveau van de Europese Unie, de Rijksoverheid, de Tweede Kamer als de regio Amsterdam. Dat is relevant voor onze lobby.

Doelstelling 3
In 2023 is meer data van de provincie open en toegankelijk beschikbaar en weten de inwoners van Noord-Holland waar ze deze data kunnen vinden.

Open data is voor de provincie om twee redenen van belang. Allereerst draagt het bij aan transparantie, wat essentieel is voor het vertrouwen van onze inwoners. Daarnaast stelt open data externe partijen, bijvoorbeeld startups, in staat om applicaties te ontwikkelen. Hiervoor richten wij in 2021 een open dataregister in. En hebben wij in 2023 onze meest relevante open datasets gepubliceerd.

Doelstelling 4
In 2023 ervaren inwoners, bedrijven en onze partners dat wij inzet van data en datatechnologie afwegen tegen de Tada-waarden: inclusief, zeggenschap, menselijke maat, legitiem en gecontroleerd, open en transparant, van iedereen - voor iedereen.

We werken vóór onze inwoners en bedrijven. Dus zorgen we dat ons werk met data geen negatieve gevolgen voor hen heeft. Kortom: we gaan verantwoord om met data en datatechnologie. Om dit waar te maken experimenteren we in 2021-2023 met het toepassen van de Tada-waarden en werken we toe naar het publiceren van onze algoritmen in een register. Zo innoveert de provincie Noord-Holland mét het vertrouwen van haar inwoners en bedrijven.

Note van ASC: Wil je nog net iets meer weten? Laat het weten in de comments.

Claire Gersen's picture #DigitalCity
Christiaan Elings, Strategy & Collaboration for Sustainable Transitions at Royal Haskoning, posted

Gezonde stad: slim, samen en in samenhang

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Een gezonde stad is vitaal, veerkrachtig en toekomstbestendig – zowel maatschappelijk als economisch. Maar vanzelf gaat het niet. De druk op de stad is groot en de situatie is urgent, want er moet veel en liefst tegelijk: meer woningen, minder lawaai, schonere lucht, minder hittestress, een lager energiegebruik. Dit lukt alleen als we het slim, samen en in samenhang doen.

En er is goed nieuws: al die transities scheppen niet alleen verplichtingen, maar ook geweldige mogelijkheden. Zo biedt data science kansen om tot goede plannen en oplossingen te komen, om deze te visualiseren en communiceren én om participatie en besluitvorming te organiseren. In bijgaand artikel uit Binnenlands Bestuur geeft mijn collega Jan de Wit een overzicht van kansen.

Meer info: Gezonde stad: slim, samen en in samenhang

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Audrie van Veen, Director Strategic Partnerships at Amsterdam Economic Board, posted

Regional Green Deals presented at EU 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge and EU Blueprint for Local Green Deals published

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The Regional Green Deals of the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam were presented by Frank Weerwind, Mayor of Almere at the Mayor’s Summit of the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge. Together with the Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam Smart City, the Metropolitan Regio Amsterdam acts as a mentor region for the 100 European cities who participate in the challenge to work together on their ambitions for the digital and green transition.

For cities that want to work with their stakeholders on ambitious green deals the European Commission now published a practical guide titled Local Green Deals, A Blueprint for Action.

Find the speech by Mayor Weerwind below

22 June 2022

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honor to me to be invited to the Mayors’ Summit of the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge,  and I am very excited to share with you some of my thoughts on the green and digital – or  twin – transition in the cities and regions of Europe. I also would like to express my gratitude to the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions for organizing this event on Green Deals and for launching the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge. By doing this, you recognize the power of cities in the twin transition, you see the need for support for cities to make this transition happen and by this programme, you facilitate the network that cities can create.

My own city is Almere, a new town near Amsterdam and just 45 years old: it was created from scratch on reclaimed land from the sea, and is now a vibrant city with over 215.000 inhabitants. It is a city without ancient history and traditions, but a young city with a strong pioneering spirit, where there is space to experiment and to test innovative solutions in living labs. Our living lab approach has resulted in various circular and sustainable energy innovations in the city, for example: a smart thermal grid for the new Hortus neighborhood. The living lab approach has also led to the choice for Almere as the location for the World Expo on Horticulture in 2022, the Floriade, which will showcase innovations on greening, feeding, healthying and energizing cities, under the umbrella off Growing Green Cities.  The twin transition is evidently a core aspect in this event. I will take this opportunity to invite you all to visit the expo next year in Almere.

But this morning I represent not only Almere but the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam, a region consisting of 32 municipalities and two provinces. An economically strong region in Europe with a high quality of life, an international hub with a huge amount of talent, knowledge, innovation and businesses. The Metropolitan Region Amsterdam is one of the so-called mentors in this programme, because we believe in sharing our vision with other cities in terms of knowledge and innovation, but, please, let me assure you that our ‘success’ story has been established, due to knowledge and innovation coming from the cooperation between cities. My aim for now is to continue the dialogue with you on the issues that we are sharing together.

As many of your regions, our region, with an economy highly defined by tourism and services industries, was hit hard by COVID-19. Therefore, we decided at an early stage to investigate, together with knowledge institutions and the business sector, how we could aim for green recovery. We felt more was needed, besides the required regional energy strategies, investing in our energy backbones, which nowadays also include a hydrogen-infrastructure, and ongoing European energy transition projects such as Atelier. We asked the Amsterdam Economic Board to organise this investigation, since they act independently and aim for connecting the companies, research and education institutes and governments in our region. Facing such an unprecedented crisis, we did not want to do this as governments alone, but together with all relevant stakeholders. And, my fellow Mayors, that is a lesson I want to share with you: don’t do it alone.

Based on interactive stakeholder sessions and scenario-planning, we started a trajectory towards green recovery, resulting so far in 3 Regional Green Deals and with these deals, extra focus on skills for sustainable jobs. The Green Deals are: making the textile value chain circular, developing the region as a innovative bicycle hotspot and -for the Netherlands this is really innovative- increase the amount of new-build houses in timber to 20% of the total of new residential building activity.

As a result of those Local Green Deals, we invest faster and more effectively in the economy of today and tomorrow. The aim is to anticipate on changing jobs and the necessary skills, to fill existing and future vacancies and to achieve greater well-being and prosperity in the long term. And that is what we wish for the whole of the European Union.

To conclude, I would like to compliment you with your efforts in the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge. And please feel free to take a closer look into the work of the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam and to learn, copy the elements that would benefit you, but also to bring your knowledge to us, for example via our online platform Amsterdam Smart City. That way, together we advance in the European twin transition. And move forward to the digital, inclusive and sustainable future of our cities.

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Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

De extreem ambitieuze missie van Amsterdam Smart City: Bruto Menselijk Geluk voor 2030

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Onze inzending voor ‘Missie Nederland’ van de Volkskrant (wat kan eigenlijk niet, maar wil je toch voor elkaar krijgen), oftewel een “Moonshot”, is het creëren van Bruto Nationaal Geluk met digitale sociale innovatie. In 9 punten de missie die we samen met Future City Foundation, het G40 Stedennetwerk, BTG Branchevereniging ICT en Telecommunicatie Grootgebruikers hebben ingestuurd.

Om dit te bereiken, moeten we zorgen dat íedereen kan meedoen in onze maatschappij, onze democratie. Ook de groep mensen die we nu niet horen. Met digitale technieken maken we nieuwe verbindingen mogelijk. Zodat je mee kan doen, bij kan dragen, ook als je de deur niet uit kunt, verbaal minder sterk bent of amper tijd hebt. Zo kan iedereen bijdragen aan het eigen geluk én aan dat van een ander.

In 2030 ...

… is geen enkele Nederlander meer digibeet, in plaats daarvan is elke Nederlander digitaal vaardig.

… heeft elke inwoner van Nederland toegang tot hoogwaardig internet. Dat betekent dat elk huis wordt aangesloten op snel vast en mobiel internet en elk huishouden in staat is om apparaten te kopen waarmee toegang mogelijk is. Een goede laptop is net zo belangrijk als een goede koelkast.

… wordt het internet op een nieuwe manier gebruikt. Toepassingen (software en
hardware) worden vanuit de gebruikers gemaakt. Met als uitgangspunt dat iedereen ze kan gebruiken. Programma’s en de daarvoor benodigde algoritmen worden zo geschreven dat ze ten dienste staan van de samenleving en niet van het bigtech-bedrijfsleven.

… heeft elke inwoner van Nederland een ‘self-sovereign-identity’ waarmee ze vrij, binnen de context van hun eigen grenzen, digitaal kunnen opereren en acteren.

… is nieuwe technologie ontwikkeld die de inwoners en bedrijven de kans mee te
denken en beslissen over en mee te ontwikkelen en handelen aan welzijn regio’s,
steden en dorpen.

… hebben alle Nederlandse politici verstand van digitalisering en technologisering.

… is het Nederlandse bedrijfsleven leidend in de ontwikkeling van deze oplossingen.

… zorgt dit alles voor meer welzijn en niet alleen voor meer welvaart.

… is het internet weer van ons.

Laat ons weten wat je ervan vindt in de comments. Lees ook de hele  moonshot.

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Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Data Dilemma recap: Focus on the right data when measuring Circular Economy

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As a city Amsterdam has ‘ambitious ambitions’ Jorren Bosga (city of Amsterdam) stated in his opening, as he was referring to Amsterdam’s Circular Economy (CE) Monitor. He did this in another edition of Data Dilemma’s. Here - in collaboration with Datalab Amsterdam - the biggest data-related hurdles of the great public transitions get addressed in a discussion between a panel of (international) experts and the audience.

This time, our experts talked about their experiences, plans and struggles on monitoring the circular economy. Jorren shared the cities ambition to reduce the use of primary abiotic resources (not derived from living organisms) by 50% in 2030 and by 100% in 2050. To gain insights into the progress towards the city’s top-level circular economy targets, Jorren expressed the need for both high coverage, as well as high detail of the data collected. Characteristics that seem almost mutually exclusive.

Data with high coverage and detail

A top-down approach, like Amsterdam’s collaboration with the Central Bureau of Statistics, leads to a broad general insight, but lacks detailed data of materials and is
subjected to assumptions. Working bottom-up will grant you more detailed data, but only on a small part of the system. To do the latter, Amsterdam partners with sector-wide reporting organizations or large companies, for instance in monitoring company-level waste processing.

What’s being reused and repaired?

Next up was Nina Lander Svendsen from PlanMiljø to talk about their multinational
collaboration study on the state of the circular economy in the Nordic countries. Like Amsterdam, she urged the need for more data on the ‘inner circles’ of CE, containing the reuse and repair of products and materials. Being able to influence the lifetime of materials will be most interesting to policy makers. Political strategies on stimulating the circular economy allow more specific collection of data and monitoring, in contrast to just generally gathering data. Having a stronger correlation between the circular transition and the expected impacts, will increase the influence of policy changes.

Focus on measuring what you really want to know

The call for focus on the things you really want to measure was underlined by Luc
Alaerts, researcher at the KU Leuven and Leuven 2030. It is easy to look at what you can do with the data that is available, but it contains the risk of creating a false sense of control. If policy makers only look at a small portion of the system, that portion will get a disproportionate amount of influence. It is therefore important to also focus on the data that is not available yet. A city can aim for a high amount of registered users of a car sharing-app, but if that means that people are grabbing a car instead of a bike
or using public transport, it’s debatable if it has had the effect they were
aiming for.

Importance of dialogue with stakeholders

Also, Luc touched upon the importance of dialogue with stakeholders in collecting data. Lowering reluctance by making them part of the project, focusing on the value
it creates and gaining trust before you ask for data seems the way to go. In
Leuven, they showed this in their materials bank - a project where construction
materials get a second life.

Wanted to join the session, but couldn’t? Or do you want to rewatch that one particularly good part of the discussion? Check out the recording anytime you like.

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #CircularCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Meet the speakers of Data Dilemma’s event: “Measuring the Circular Economy”

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A tool that gives strategic insights in the materials that are being used in the city and how we use them. That’s what the Monitor Circular Economy - created by the city of Amsterdam - does. And it doesn’t stop there.

What we buy, build & throw away has significant social and environmental impact abroad. And since the city has adopted the Doughnut Economics framework, these impacts need to be quantified and addressed.

Introducing Our Speakers

We’re looking forward to discussing different ways to include this information in the data during this session with our three talented speakers on June 3rd, 16:00 - 17:15. It’s in English and (also) aimed at (inter)national city-to-city knowledge exchange & collaboration.

Jorren Bosga – City of Amsterdam
Jorren has quite recently begun working at the city of Amsterdam, but has quite a background in data science in sustainability and monitoring the impact of sustainability interventions. At the city of Amsterdam, he is now working on the development of their Circular Economy Monitor and dashboard.

Nina Lander Svendsen – PlanMiljø
Nina has a master in Political Sciences and is specialised in Environmental and Climate policies. Since she has joined consultancy platform PlanMiljø, she has worked on policy analyses and strategies for topics in the Circular Economy and UN Sustainability Goals, where she also focuses on monitoring systems.

Luc Alaerts – KU Leuven / Leuven 2030
Luc works at the KU Leuven in the department of Sustainable Material Management. He’s also part of the expert group of Leuven 2030, which is focused on making Leuven a climate neutral city. Luc works on the knowledge and monitoring of both sustainability pilots as well as evaluating and optimizing organisational practices.

Get your (free) ticket

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #CircularCity
Noëlle Koomen, Communications Intern , posted

Amsterdam Smart City Program director on Smart Societies

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Program director Leonie van den Beuken joined the SmartCom Summit a few weeks ago to share her thoughts on Smart Societies. We give you a short recap on what came up and added a few interesting insights on the biggest challenges we face working from home and some possible solutions.

Due to the pandemic, we discovered that technology can lead to new opportunities. It also raised a lot of questions on ownership of data, privacy and autonomy. Technology needs not only to be trustworthy, but also to be perceived as trustworthy. Next to that it needs to me available and accessible. Let’s make sure that everyone can have access to hardware, wifi and understandable software. So every kid can join an online class and even older people are able to understand a mobility app.

“Climate change does not wait for us to decide who is in charge”

Used well, technology is an indispensable part of creating sustainable cities. Mobility and energy transitions need the use of data. That way we can create smart grids for example. But who is in charge of creating these smart sustainable societies? ‘A pack of leaders is in charge’,  Leonie says. ‘I like to compare it to the Tour de France. In different stages of the race, different cyclists take the lead. All aiming to support the star: sustainable society. And again, trust between parties is the most important thing when working together.’

Smart Communication

Covid has shown that with the support of technology we can meet anywhere online. But technology also comes with difficulties. The biggest challenges for the audience to work from home came out during a poll:
- 62% said ‘Not being around people’
- 24% said ‘Management’
- 100% said ‘Straining our Human Minds’

How can smart communication tools be of help within a company?

During the pandemic, employers manage 100 “offices” instead of one because everyone is working from home. There’s lots of technology available to monitor employees. Even though everyone agreed that trust is always better, camera’s and software to track activities on a device could stimulate and motivate.

Want to know more? Check out the talkshow.

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

Update Intelligent Cities Challenge & Opportunities To Get Involved

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The 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) is a European Commission (EC) initiative that supports 136 cities with using cutting-edge technologies to lead the intelligent, green and socially responsible recovery. The goal is to accelerate ICC cities and their local ecosystems as engines for post-pandemic recovery, creating new jobs and strengthening citizen participation and wellbeing.

The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, represented by Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam Smart City (ASC), has joined the ICC as a mentor region. A key task for ASC is to connect and share best practices from the Amsterdam region with the ICC network.

Here are a few of the upcoming opportunities for ASC partners and community members who would like to get involved in the ICC:

  1. Sharing best practices during the 3rd ICC City Lab, May 18 – May 21: During this four day event, ASC partners have the opportunity to contribute to various knowledge and working sessions across a range of topics including: circular economy and Local Green Deals (LGD’s), energy efficient renovation, digitalization of government services, digital twins, and citizen participation.
  2. Contributing to Tech4Good Marketplace:Within the scope of ICC, the EC is developing a digital platform where cities can share their experience and recommendations for validated and deployed smart city solutions.  During the April - June timeframe, ASC will collect transferable solutions and best practices from the Amsterdam Region which will be shared on the Marketplace.
  3. Advise on the development of the European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC): Acknowledging the importance of interoperability for smart cities and communities, the EC contracted Deloitte and KU Leuven University to develop a proposal for a European Interoperability Framework. The aim of the EIF4SCC is to provide European local administration leaders with definitions, principles, recommendations (including practical use cases) and a common model that enables public service delivery across domains, cities, regions and borders.  The first draft of the Framework is open for stakeholder consultation via the following survey until April 12.

For more information about ICC or any of the above points, please contact Cornelia Dinca, ASC International Liaison via cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com

Cornelia Dinca's picture #DigitalCity
Roelof Hellemans, posted

Siemens Mobility bouwt landelijk MaaS-platform Rivier NS, RET en HTM zetten in op digitale ontsluiting van heel Nederland

NS, RET en HTM laten
hun landelijke MaaS-platform bouwen door Siemens Mobility. Het platform maakt het mogelijk om een reis met verschillende vervoermiddelen in één keer online te plannen, boeken en betalen. RET-directeur Maurice Unck namens Rivier, de joint venture van de drie partijen: “Na de pandemie verandert ons reisgedrag.

We reizen, werken en leren flexibeler: in tijd, plaats en keuze van het
vervoermiddel. Daarom investeren we juist nu in de beste reismogelijkheden voor de consument. We willen de drempel verlagen om een reis met meerdere
vervoermiddelen eenvoudig digitaal te plannen, boeken en betalen. Daarom roepen
we alle Nederlandse mobiliteitsaanbieders op om zich aan te sluiten.”

 Naar verwachting zien
in het najaar de eerste apps van MaaS-providers het licht waarmee consumenten
hun multimodale reis in heel Nederland kunnen plannen.

Stel: je wil
graag bij een vriend, een klant of iemand anders op bezoek en gemakkelijk weten
hoe je daar het snelst bent en hoeveel dat kost. Hoe krijg je dat voor elkaar?
Je kunt kijken of er files zijn, een deelauto boeken, uitzoeken of het OV goed
werkt, nadenken over de fiets als alternatief en meer. Maar een reis
samenstellen waarbij deze verschillende vervoermiddelen van
mobiliteitsaanbieders optimaal worden ingezet, moet je nu nog helemaal zelf
doen. Dat is best een complexe puzzel die veel mensen liever overslaan. Terwijl
juist de combinatie van vervoermiddelen je als reiziger veel tijdwinst en
bewegingsvrijheid oplevert. Daarnaast helpt zo’n combinatie onze infrastructuur
zo goed mogelijk te benutten.

 Reisopties in één
keer zichtbaar, één keer afrekenen

Met het nieuwe platform
is het straks voor consumenten veel makkelijker om gebruik te maken van
beschikbare vervoermiddelen. Het platform kan verbonden worden met al bestaande
apps van MaaS-providers zoals de NS, RET, HTM. Maar het platform kan ook andere
bestaande apps en nieuwe apps bedienen. De snelheidswinst zit ‘m erin dat alle
afzonderlijke vervoersmogelijkheden op de route in één keer inzichtelijk
worden. Maak je bijvoorbeeld graag gebruik van een deelscooter of reis je
liever per trein of metro? De app houdt rekening met ieders persoonlijke
voorkeuren en past het advies daarop aan. Bovendien is er geen gedoe met
verschillende vervoersbewijzen en de betaling ervan: ook dat regel je heel
makkelijk vanuit je favoriete app of website.

Toegankelijk voor alle mobiliteitsaanbieders:

De initiatiefnemers
willen de mobiliteitsdiensten van zoveel mogelijk aanbieders in Nederland
samenbrengen. Of het nu gaat om taxibedrijven of deelfietsen, e-scooters of
zelfs particuliere automobilisten. Hoe meer partijen hun diensten aanbieden,
hoe beter het écht mogelijk wordt om heel Nederland digitaal te ontsluiten.
Aanbieders profiteren van het gemak van eenmalig laagdrempelig aansluiten en
hebben direct een landelijk bereik te met een platform dat doorontwikkeld is om
de klantbeleving te optimaliseren. Daarom roepen de initiatiefnemers alle
aanbieders op om zich aan te sluiten.

Roelof Hellemans's picture #Mobility
Eline Meijer, Communication Specialist , posted

Metropolitan Mobility Podcast met Maurits van Hövell: van walkietalkies naar het Operationeel Mobiliteitscentrum

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“Voorheen werd er gewoon rondgebeld: ‘Wij zitten in de instroom van de ArenA. We hebben nu 20.000 man binnen. Hoe gaat het bij jullie op straat?’” In de achtste aflevering van de serie A Radical Redesign for Amsterdam, spreken Carin ten Hage en Geert Kloppenburg met Maurits van Hövell (Johan Cruijff ArenA). Hoe houdt je een wijk met de drie grootste evenementenlocaties van het land, bereikbaar en veilig? Ze spreken elkaar in het Operationeel Mobiliteitscentrum over de rol van de stad Amsterdam, data delen en het houden van regie. A Radical Redesign for Amsterdam wordt gemaakt in opdracht van de Gemeente Amsterdam.

Luister de podcast hier: http://bit.ly/mvhovell

Eline Meijer's picture #DigitalCity
miep eisner, communications officer , posted

Advies Digitaal duurzaam - Overheid moet sturen op duurzame digitalisering

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Digitale technologie en datagebruik veranderen onze samenleving ingrijpend. Dit heeft grote gevolgen voor de duurzaamheid van onze leefomgeving. Hoewel digitalisering en duurzaamheid onlosmakelijk met elkaar zijn verbonden, is hiervoor onvoldoende aandacht in het overheidsbeleid. In zijn advies ‘Digitaal duurzaam’ concludeert de Raad
voor de leefomgeving en infrastructuur (Rli) dat de overheid veel krachtiger
moet ingrijpen in en gebruik maken van de digitale wereld om duurzaamheid te
bevorderen.

#DigitalCity
Julie Chenadec, Relationship Development Manager at Aknostic, posted

Green IT Amsterdam and SDIA join forces to make digital infrastructure even more sustainable

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AMSTERDAM, 21 JANUARY 2021 - Green IT Amsterdam and Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance are joining forces.

Both organisations have a strong focus on making the digital infrastructure more sustainable. Together they want to initiate or join innovation projects focused on sustainability. Additionally both organisations will work together to make the knowledge and technology they develop commercially available to the market as quickly as possible. For example by creating startups that develop and sell software, cloud services and other tools that can be used by data centres and others to green their digital infrastructure.

Julie Chenadec's picture #Energy
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Check the recording of our event 'Data Dilemmas: Digital twins - hype or necessity?'

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With the growing availability of data and technology, digital versions of objects or systems are getting more interesting. Pairing the virtual and physical world, it is possible to continue critical physical processes while digitally experimenting and looking for improvements. The ‘digital twin’ therefore is an interesting feature, also in urban development.

In a discussion with a number of digital twin projects, we addressed opportunities and barriers. Are current projects more than 3D models? What are the key enablers and challenges in starting digital twins for urban applications? Which steps are the most difficult to implement? Do we fully trust on the system and will reality be handled by a computer? How are decisions for further development made?

Speakers:
- Wietse Balster - geo information advisor at City of Amsterdam
- Eric Jeansson - project manager at City of Gothenburg
- Paolo Pileggi - IT program developer & Walter Lohman - project lead at TNO

Moderator:
- Leonie van den Beuken - program director Amsterdam Smart City

Catch the presentations here:

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #DigitalCity
Jeroen Sipman, Liaison of the Province of Noord-Holland at Province of Noord-Holland, posted

Interessant Volkskrant-artikel over de groeiende beweging van citizen-sensing

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De provincie Noord-Holland is twee jaar geleden in samenwerking met het RIVM, de Waag Society, Tata Steel en lokale overheden het project Hollandse Luchten gestart om de luchtkwaliteit op zwaarder belaste locaties rondom het Noordzeekanaalgebied fijnmazig in kaart te brengen. Hierbij worden inwoners begeleid en opgeleid om de sensoren in elkaar te zetten en de uitkomsten van de metingen te begrijpen. Vervolgens kan er een discussie worden gehouden over het gezamenlijk ontstane beeld van de omgevingskwaliteit.

De Volkskrant schreef een artikel over hoe het meten van de omgevingskwaliteit door inwoners met de jaren is ontwikkeld en wat voor een invloed dit heeft op de discussie rondom leefbaarheid van gebieden.

Jeroen Sipman's picture #Citizens&Living