Newsletter #1

The transformation of our cities into more accessible, sustainable and efficient places is an important challenge our society has to face. In the Smart Cities project mySMARTLife, funded by the European Union, three Lighthouse Cities (Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki) and four Follower Cities (Bydgoszcz, Rijeka, Varna and Palencia) have taken on this challenge.

In the different demonstration sites, 150 Smart City actions will be deployed and the Innovative Urban Transformation concept will be tested and replicated.

It is an integrated approach comprising ICT, energy and mobility aspects in which the citizens remain at the centre of the transformation process.

The mySMARTLife newsletter will give you regular updates about the latest developments in the Lighthouse and Follower Cities. In each edition, a focus topic which is crucial for the project activities will be looked at in more detail.

In this first edition, we explain what is behind the Smart City strategy and present the mySMARTLife Lighthouse and Follower Cities at the heart of the project. In addition, we will inform you about news from the cities, the project and our Smart City Sister Projects. We will also announce future events where you can meet the mySMARTLife partners and get first-hand information.

We wish you an inspiring read!

On behalf of the project consortium,

Rubén García Pajares,
CARTIF Technology Centre
Project Coordinator

The Smart City strategy – an integrated vision of city planning

The sustainable development of urban areas requires new, efficient and user-friendly technologies and services, especially in the energy, transport and ICT sectors. However, an integrated approach which covers all these topics is vital, not only in the research and development stage of a solution, but also in its application. Therefore, the European Union promotes so-called Smart Cities Lighthouse projects that test new solutions in cities all over Europe.

mySMARTLife – Transition of EU cities towards a new concept of smart life and economy

mySMARTLife is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Under the coordination of CARTIF Technology Centre, 28 partners from 7 countries are collaborating to make sustainable cities with smart people and a smart economy a reality. Activities are taking place in the three demonstration cities Nantes (France), Hamburg (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland). The four Follower Cities Bydgoszcz (Poland), Varna (Bulgaria), Rijeka (Croatia) and Palencia (Spain) will learn from these experiences.

The Lighthouse Cities – Liveable places with a smart future

Nantes – Smart urban transformation for citizens

"The mySMARTLife project will contribute to the ambition of Nantes Metropole to promote inclusive innovation with and for all. It will accelerate its urban transformation through innovative energy transition, mobility and digital models thanks to the dynamics of local and European partners working together."
Benoit Cuvelier, Nantes Metropole project coordinator

Nantes is the sixth largest city of France offering its inhabitants a high quality of life. Facing a steady growth in its population, the city relies on creativity and innovation in urban planning and on sustainable development. In its demonstration site "Ile de Nantes", new solutions in district heating, retrofitting, mobility and infrastructure will be tested.

Hamburg – More liveable space for more residents

“By the approval of its digital strategy in 2015, Hamburg paved the way for an urban transformation process. The mySMARTLife project is one important element of this smart city development and enables local and tangible realisation of a smart district including an innovative energy and mobility concept embedded in a pioneering ICT environment and accompanied by stakeholder engagement.”
Christoph Lindemann, City of Hamburg, Borough of Bergedorf

The second largest city in Germany counts among Europe’s most liveable and economically strongest cities, making it attractive especially for young people. Therefore, Hamburg is undertaking great efforts to put its Smart City approach into reality by using smart technologies and implementing numerous interdisciplinary pilot projects in the borough of Bergedorf.

Helsinki – Where history and presence lead into a smart future

“The City of Helsinki takes major steps together with the residents and local companies and organisations towards the target to be carbon neutral by 2050. Energy renovations, urban mobility and ICT solutions are linked together in Smart City developments to provide better living environments and reduce emissions.”
Mikko Martikka, mySMARTLife Helsinki Lighthouse Lead

The capital of Finland is one of northern Europe´s major cities. It is continuously at the top of comparisons and evaluations of the European and global Smart Cities. Helsinki’s demonstration area Vanhankaupunginlahti (old Town Bay) is representing the history, present and future of smart energy systems in Finland.

In Lighthouse City Nantes, preparatory actions to integrate electrical buses (“E-Busways”) in the public transport network are in progress. The aim is to acquire 20 busways that are 100 % electric in order to respond to the high frequency of passengers and tackle climate change at the same time. Nantes will be the first city to use such E-Busways by 2018. The Swiss constructor HESS has been selected to build them. READ MORE

Besides this, Nantes Metropole has also evaluated first results of “The Great Debate on Energy Transition”, which took place from September 2016 to March 2017 in Nantes with the aim of including citizens and local actors in energy transition actions. This will form the frame for citizen engagement workshops organised within mySMARTLife.

The first months of mySMARTLife in Hamburg were very busy, as first infrastructure projects have already been realised. Ten new electric cars and ten intelligent charging stations for the electric fleet of the Municipality in Bergedorf were put into operation. Moreover, five wind turbines were raised. Additionally, much effort was spent planning the core actions such as the tender process of e-buses and related infrastructure. The planning of energy actions required a lot of attention, e.g. roofs

for thermal or electric solar use as well as the local heating network. The planning of the humble lampposts is almost finished and realisation will follow shortly. Finally, a first information event in May started off interactions with all relevant stakeholders. All efforts are framed by active participation at conferences worldwide and the organisation of excursions at the mySMARTLife intervention area in Bergedorf.

During the first months of the project, partners of the local Helsinki consortium presented mySMARTLife on different occasions, such as the Helsinki day event at Kalasatama school on
12th June and the EU Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels in collaboration with other project partners.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd together with other Helsinki mySMARTLife partners has also worked on a city audit and baseline report

which comprises a wide spectrum of the city’s characteristics (e.g. sustainable energy, mobility, public procurement, citizen engagement), analysed by summarising existing good practices and potential for improvements.
Moreover, the Helsinki partners have prepared several energy and mobility actions during the first months of the project that are going to be realised in the autumn of 2017.

mySMARTLife is one of nine European Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse projects, currently receiving funding within the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

“Smarter is Cleaner” policy session at European Sustainable Energy Week 2017 – Learning from the SCC1 smart city projects
This year’s European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) brought together the nine smart city Lighthouse projects in a special policy session entitled “Smarter is cleaner” on 22^nd June 2017 in Brussels. Representatives of the Lighthouse and Follower Cities exchanged on the environmental, financial and societal benefits of smart solutions. Mikko Martikka (Helsinki) and Gabriel Rubi (Palencia) represented mySMARTLife in the panel discussion during the policy session.

The mySMARTLife project aims at making the three lighthouse cities of Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki more environmentally friendly by reducing the CO₂ emissions of cities and increasing the use of renewable energy sources.

Other activities are focusing on "Inclusive cities", offering a high quality of life in the cities. 

Picture Sources:
Nantes: Nantes Métropole - Ville de Nantes, J. D. Billaud, Valery Joncheray, Benoît Cuvelier, Franck Tomps | Hamburg: www.mediaserver.hamburg.de, Jörg Modrow, Christian Spahrbier, Thies Raetzke, Christoph Lindemann | Helsinki: City of Helsinki, Mikko Martikka | Crowd of anonymous people walking on busy city street:  Shutterstock.com, BABAROGA | Hand holding a digital tablet with a contemporary smart city and apps icons: Shutterstock.com, elenabsl