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Overcoming the innovation gap

There is a gap between the aspirations of cities and the true capabilities of smart city technology, writes Anders Lisdorf.

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Tallinn issues final call for smart city innovation

News17 Aug 2021

The Estonian capital wants to hear from companies registered in the country which have new ideas or ways to improve existing solutions to create a smarter and greener living environment.

Bloomberg names 50 finalist cities for 2021 Global Mayors’ Challenge

News16 Jun 2021

The cities chosen are considered to have come up with the boldest urban innovations emerging from the pandemic with the challenge aiming to spread the most promising ideas.

San Antonio opens call for entries to its residency and city civic challenge

News07 May 2021

The four main challenges are around sustaining business during construction, carbon footprint for energy retrofits, power outage emergency communication, and hand sanitiser refill.

Record-breaking entries for 2021 Global Mayors Challenge

News22 Apr 2021

The Bloomberg Philanthropies’ challenge was launched in January 2021 and will select 50 “champion cities” to test their ideas for several months this year.

£40m competition aims to encourage innovation for water and wastewater services

News29 Mar 2021

The Water Breakthrough Challenge is calling on innovators in the cities and transport sector to join forces with the water sector and together create solutions to deliver wide-scale change.

Start-ups take on the challenge of climate change and city living

News29 Jan 2021

Solutions in the ninth cohort of the Urban-X accelerator include platforms focused on disaster risk analysis in properties, carbon intelligence and forecasting and micro-mobility e-commerce.

Salt Lake City establishes innovation department

News26 Jan 2021

It was announced in mayor Erin Mendenhall’s state of the city address in which she shared her vision for a more resilient and equitable city and encouraged citizens to view a new report card of the council’s performance.

Ashden announces annual search for climate solutions

News07 Jan 2021

The climate solutions charity said it is looking for initiatives that can spark radical progress, adding that coronavirus and COP26 make green innovation more important than ever.

Initiative launched to help create trustworthy spaces for sharing data

News16 Dec 2020

Fiware, iShare and FundingBox have launched the i4Trust initiative to build the foundation for data spaces that facilitate trustworthy and effective data-sharing.

Nokia provides 5G connectivity for Leuven's digital pole project

News11 Dec 2020

The Digital City Pole project paves the way for future 5G connectivity across the Belgian city that aims to stimulate local innovation, drive productivity and create jobs.

Helsinki announces new domain names and access to its innovation testbed

News02 Dec 2020

The testbed is targeted at domestic and foreign companies that want to develop and test their products and services together with City of Helsinki.

36 cities chosen to chart a course towards the future

Demographic change18 Nov 2020

The World Economic Forum has chosen the cities to pioneer a global policy roadmap developed by its G20 Smart Cities Alliance for the ethical and responsible use of data and technology.

Verizon opens 5G innovation hub in Lake Nona

News17 Nov 2020

The living lab will provide opportunities to test 5G-enabled solutions in areas such as connected healthcare, autonomous mobility, smart communities, education, retail and others.

Port of Tyne sets up clean energy park

News09 Nov 2020

The park, which has already welcomed its first tenant, will play an important role in supporting the government’s goal to power every UK home with offshore wind electricity.

Singapore opens smart city co-innovation lab

News29 Oct 2020

The lab aims to bring together leaders in the smart cities space to co-create and test innovations with local built environment and technology companies in a live environment.

Chattanooga hosts Gig City Innovation Challenge

News09 Oct 2020

Energy companies and non-profits in the region are providing an opportunity for college students from across the nation to work together virtually to address energy sector challenges.

Indian university sets up Smart City Research Centre

News06 Oct 2020

The International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad will also establish the Living Lab to showcase new ideas and a place to co-create smart city innovations with start-ups.

European Commission names Leuven as capital of innovation

News28 Sep 2020

The Belgian city actively involves its citizens in the creation and testing of new ideas and was praised for its ground-breaking collaboration model.

Nicolas Keutgen, CIO Schréder and head of Schréder Hyperion

Talent Interviews21 Sep 2020

Nicolas Keutgen’s dual role sees him creating the future at a 113-year-old company as well as building a new organisation focused on innovation. He says having a 360-degree view is vital when running any organisation.

EIT InnoEnergy chooses Boston as its US launchpad

News10 Sep 2020

The new office will help entrepreneurs develop their innovations and reduce time to market by providing direct access to more than 500 industrial partners in its ecosystem.

Global marketplace extends the reach of real-time road and weather data

News08 Sep 2020

RoadCloud’s road friction estimates, road condition data and weather data will be available on Here Technologies global location data exchange hub.

Smart city leaders are more likely to invest in projects using existing infrastructure

News08 Sep 2020

A survey conducted by Fotech Solutions reveals that the appetite for smart city progress remains strong and highlights the need for more practical approaches to creating smart systems.

UK local authorities to go live with smart energy project

News27 Aug 2020

Reading Borough Council and Wokingham Borough Council will be the first to connect to the smart energy platform, which forms part of the Thames Valley Live project.

Singapore continues its drive to build a pool of smart city innovators

News24 Aug 2020

The number of applications to the Smart Nation Scholarship scheme increased again this year with awardees undergoing rigorous training and taking on key roles in national projects.

MarTech city app rewards end-users and provides analytics to municipalities and businesses

News21 Aug 2020

The Go See the City smart city initiative is designed to encourage engagement and exploration of a municipality and will be rolled out in Orange County later this year.

Toronto expands its Digital Main Street programme as part of Covid recovery plan

News20 Aug 2020

It aims to help businesses in the city and across Ontario embrace technology in response to the pandemic with latest plans including a community collaboration and innovation programme.

CSG teams with Colorado Smart Cities Alliance to help advance innovation

News13 Aug 2020

Alliance members seek to improve quality of life within Colorado’s diverse communities by building relationships across sectors and jurisdictions to pilot and scale new technologies.

Smart cities accelerator to be launched in Osaka

News10 Aug 2020

Plug and Play wants to make the Keihanshin Metropolitan area one of the world’s leading start-up ecosystems as well as contribute to the Japanese city’s smart city progress.

Milton Keynes invites applications to 5G accelerator programme

News10 Aug 2020

Innovation challenges are based around exploiting 5G technology in the four areas of mobility data, health and wellbeing, low carbon energy and energy data.

Georgia Smart Communities Challenge winners announced

News07 Aug 2020

Georgia Smart welcomed communities of any size within the state to apply for technical and financial assistance that will help them to envision, explore, and plan for their smart future.

Enel launches crowdsourcing campaigns for open data smart city solutions

News07 Aug 2020

The multinational energy firm has set two challenges and will use the InnoCentive Open Innovation Marketplace to drive innovation and help reshape the global energy market.

Charity calls for financial support for innovation to beat coronavirus and climate change

News05 Aug 2020

Ashden is calling for more backing for sustainable solutions to help struggling communities around the world build back better and combat the duel impact of Covid-19 and climate change.

Charter to identify which emerging tech innovations are right for London

News31 Jul 2020

The mayor has tasked the UK capital’s chief digital officer and Smart London Board to set out the criteria that innovations must meet before being deployed in the city.

SmartCitiesWorld and Leading Cities announce partnership

News29 Jul 2020

Through a media partnership, SmartCitiesWorld will support Leading Cities’ initiatives such as AcceliCITY and AcceliGOV that seek to solve urban challenges.

Manchester to launch cybersecurity innovation hub

News23 Jul 2020

An operator is currently being sought for the Manchester Digital Security Innovation Hub, which will be based in Heron House, alongside GCHQ.

Climatetech organisations launch carbon-to-value initiative

News17 Jul 2020

The aim is to build an innovation ecosystem for the commercialisation of carbontech – technologies that capture and convert carbon dioxide into valuable end products or services.

Technology and innovation declared vital to London's recovery

News16 Jul 2020

The all-party group highlights how the London Office of Technology and Innovation helped councils identify the digital tools and processes they can use to adapt to the new challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hellobike unveils AI-based shared mobility technologies

News10 Jul 2020

The company has partnered with local governments to develop a non-motorised vehicle safety management system tailored to each city’s unique traffic conditions.

New York launches Covid-19 response initiative for public transit

News09 Jul 2020

The MTA and the Transit Innovation Partnership want to engage the private tech industry to evaluate and deploy technologies that make transport safer and more responsive to needs amid the pandemic.

Swedish municipality launches sustainable energy accelerator programme

News18 Jun 2020

Skellefteå Kraft and EIT InnoEnergy are offering applicants from across Europe the opportunity to grow their businesses in Sweden as part of a green economic recovery post-Covid-19.

Overcoming the innovation gap

Opinions15 Jun 2020

There is a gap between the aspirations of cities and the true capabilities of smart city technology, writes Anders Lisdorf.

City of Helsinki and Aalto University collaborate to build a sustainable city

News10 Jun 2020

The agreement is based on the two parties’ shared view that we must prepare for major changes and use this to build a more functional and safer world.

CivStart and Govlaunch team to bridge gap between start-ups and local governments

News05 Jun 2020

To help navigate the challenging public sector marketplace, start-ups entering CivStart’s accelerator programme will receive 24 months of customer and product development, network building and expert guidance.

Texan innovation alliance pledges to address immediate and core priorities

News28 May 2020

The North Texas Innovation Alliance, which has also joined the City Possible network, will focus both on immediate challenges related to Covid-19, as well as look ahead to establish core priorities.

Call for global start-ups to help increase urban resiliency

News13 May 2020

QBE AcceliCity programme will recognise and support innovators which leverage smart city solutions that help cities manage and respond to physical, economic and social risk.

Sacramento asks its innovators to respond to Covid-19

News04 May 2020

The Californian city has created an online portal to find the best ideas for how it can use technology and innovation to meet the challenges brought by the pandemic.

Cleantech start-ups address climate change

News24 Apr 2020

Participants in the Urban Future Prize were challenged to develop productive and equitable solutions in a number of areas, including smart cities.

Houston accelerator places new focus on resilience in the face of Covid-19

News07 Apr 2020

The Ion Smart & Resilient Cities Accelerator wants to support start-ups to create solutions to help in everyday lives, but also in situations that require urgency like the coronavirus outbreak.

Smart city start-up challenge launches in Ruhr Metropolis

News04 Mar 2020

The German cities of Bochum, Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen and Hagen and their business partners are seeking innovative solutions for their individual problems and development projects.

Start-ups chosen for City of 2030 accelerator programme

News02 Mar 2020

Arcadis and Techstars have identified 10 companies which they believe can develop the solutions that will have a transformative effect on life in the cities of the future.

ICF names 2020's top 7 intelligent communities

News20 Feb 2020

Cities from the US, Canada, Australia and Estonia make the 18th annual list by the Intelligent Community Forum. The 2020 winner will be announced in June.

London works with start-ups to counter online extremism

News12 Feb 2020

More than 125 entrants were whittled down to the eight finalists in the second round of mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s Civic Innovation Challenge.

Itron invites entries for smart community challenge

News28 Jan 2020

The company has collaborated with three utilities to identify key challenges which focus on electric vehicle charging as grid resources and resiliency.

Moscow Agency of Innovations launches open database of smart city solutions

News31 Dec 2019

Smart city solutions ‘map’ is intended to be a large interactive platform that will enable any organisation in Russia find an innovative product according to its needs and expectations.

San Francisco’s Office of Emerging Technology gets the green light

News17 Dec 2019

Applications will be judged on whether they “ultimately result in a net common good” as well as on costs and benefits.

UK on track to find smarter waste solutions

News31 Oct 2019

Two companies in the UK’s GovTech Catalyst Waste Tracking challenge have been awarded funding to build prototypes of a comprehensive digital waste solution.

Bristol hosts inaugural technology festival

News29 Oct 2019

The festival, which takes place 4-10 November, has crowdsourced events from across the city and will also feature a showcase to highlight emerging technologies.

Interactive map shows cities' commitment to innovation

News28 Oct 2019

Report found that cities’ ability to drive innovation depends most on bold leadership, dedicated staff with the right skills, and a strong focus on data to set targets and measure outcomes.

San Francisco could set up Office of Emerging Technology to reduce disruption

News23 Oct 2019

The office would assess new technology deployments on whether they “ultimately result in a net common good” as well as on costs and benefits.

The wider benefit of incubators to their surrounding areas

News22 Oct 2019

Research has found that on average over five years, an additional £48 million was invested in UK regions where an accelerator had been based.

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