Topic: smart-cities

Smart cities are always looking for ways to make their neighbourhoods greener and more liveable. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of 15-minute cities, an idea that is particularly visible in Paris. Now, C40, the global network of mayors, has launched the Global Network of Sustainable Proximities. What is hiding behind this somewhat cryptic name and what can cities learn from it?

Muelheim/Ruhr, September 17th 2023. bee smart city is delighted to announce its continued collaboration with the Smart City Expo World Congress in 2023. Smart City Expo World Congress (#SCEWC23), the leading international event on cities and smart urban solutions organized by Fira de Barcelona will hold another record‑breaking edition in 2023. From November 7-9 and under the theme “Welcome to the New Urban Era” the show and congress will register a 55% growth in its exhibition floorspace and 20% more attendees, reaching over 1,000 exhibitors, 25.000 professional attendees and representatives from more than 800 cities and 140 countries, making the upcoming edition the biggest to date.

Building cities from scratch to make them smart has become a trend in urban planning. Examples such as Masdar City outside of Abu Dhabi, The Line in the Emirates, or The Parks in South Africa show that planners in some countries crave a fresh slate – but does that actually work? Read more about the opportunities that a new city offers, but also the challenges it brings.

Artificial Intelligence or AI is without a doubt part of future cities – in fact, many of today’s cities already rely heavily on artificial intelligence to predict the weather, traffic, air pollution, demographic developments, and many other factors. Chat GPT is the most famous AI around. What can it do for cities? Which cities are already using it? And what role will AI play in the future city?

The digital association BITKOM has presented the results of the Smart City Index 2022. The Smart City Index highlights the progress of major German cities in terms of digitization. This makes it the most comprehensive digital ranking of German cities.

Once again, all German cities with 100,000 or more inhabitants were under the microscope for this year's Index. A total of approximately 11,000 data points from 81 major cities were collected, reviewed, and analyzed.

The main evaluation process focused on five key urban categories: Administration, IT and Communication, Society, Mobility, and Energy and Environment. Each category included 36 indicators, which in turn were subdivided and categorized by 133 parameters.

As 2019 drew to a close, the travel and tourism industry had reasons to celebrate. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), IBTM Events, and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) all announced the good news. But then the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a serious blow to the tourism sector.

As part of the BBSR-funded project #connectedinEurope, six smart city peer-learning partnerships between German and European cities are being set up to promote knowledge transfer in smart city development and digital urban development to foster peer-to-peer learning. European and German cities can express their interest until 25 February 2022.

“Interoperability” is a popular buzzword in the innovation space. But what does it really mean, and why is it particularly important in the world of innovation procurement? To help separate the fact from the fiction and bring some clarity to the process, we spoke to innovation procurement specialist Olaf-Gerd Gemein, to learn more about this important but also challenging topic. 

On the 15^th of July, 2021, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs (BMI) announced the winning cities of the third season of German “Smart Cities Model Projects”. This exciting scheme provides funding to assist selected cities with their digital transformation strategies and smart city projects. The scheme first began in 2019, where 13 German cities were selected for funding. In 2020, the project expanded to provide funding to 32 selected cities, to a total of 820 million Euros.

If you plan on providing your services to a government agency, there are a number of things you need to know. Depending on the size, scale, and cost of the project, there are different routes that prospective companies will have to navigate.

Tendering is a form of government procurement or purchasing that involves an authority inviting bidders to submit applications to provide their services. It’s a bidding process that involves government decision-makers selecting the most appropriate bid that provides the best and most cost-effective solution to a problem.