Application Programming Interfaces in Governments: Why, what and how

Posted at 22 September 2020 in Innovation, Innovation ecosystems

This report presents the results of the European Commission application programming interfaces (APIs) for digital government (APIs4DGov) study, which aims to analyse the role of APIs in the public sector and, specifically, the motivations for their use and the way governments should implement them. This document provides a concrete tool for governments to determine the status of their API strategies and, eventually, how these strategies should be designed or adopted.

New York City: The Epicenter of Urban Innovation

Posted at 22 September 2020 in Innovative Cities & Regions

There are cities, and then there’s New York City. Love it or hate it, New York is a city’s city, serving as the gold standard of successful urbanization, one in which others try to follow. It wasn’t always this way. Thirty years ago, New York was considered by many to be nothing short of an urban hellhole. The city’s return to greatness and glory is a remarkable story that highlights New York’s role as the epicenter of civic innovation.

Raised Floor Systems, Data Analytics and Smart Building Design in a Post-COVID World

Posted at 19 September 2020 in Smart Buildings

Smart building design is a rapidly growing shift in how architects and engineers look to design buildings that can easily adapt to new technology. The buildings of today need to be able to easily accommodate the technology of tomorrow. Gutting and re-constructing buildings as newer and more efficient technology becomes available is not only inefficient — it’s not even feasible.
While building owners want to be on the cutting edge, there are still costs associated with adopting any new technology, and like any project, budget is at the center of every decision.

A Hyper-Connected Smart City Framework: Digital Resources Using Enhanced Pedagogical Techniques

Posted at 16 September 2020 in Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

The framework presented in this paper  highlights challenges within the smart city application, especially regarding the centralisation of knowledge to implement smart city services with a secure architecture, and synthesises the techniques feasible to solve them. The authors analyse the impact of a potential breach on smart city applications as well as state-of-the-art architectures available. The learning gathered for the framework is presented in the form of a purpose-built website with interactive resources.  

New Book: Democratizing Our Data

Posted at 3 September 2020 in Cities

In the book “Democratizing our Data: A Manifesto” Julia Lane discusses the topic of data democratisation in the context of the US, legislations that could support it and successful paradigms that can be followed. The book is a call to rethink the way that US collects and analyzes public data, in order to improve privacy, equity and the implementation of policy initiatives.

Selection of cities for the Intelligent Cities Challenge by the European Commission

Posted at 28 August 2020 in Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

The European Commission’s Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) has announced the 90 EU cities that have been selected to participate in the 30 months program. ICC participating cities will receive high quality and tailored guidance and expert support, access to advisory and city peer networks (European and international), and capability building tools, to drive priority policy goals and the uptake of advanced technologies.

SolarShare: P2P energy trading pilot project

Posted at 23 August 2020 in Cities, Platforms, Apps, Solutions

SolarShare is Singapore’s first peer to peer (P2P) energy trading platform. It is a pilot project that allows consumers to purchase renewable electricity produced by private solar panel owners, via an online marketplace from across the city. Prosumers with solar panels installed on their rooftops can sell their excess green energy. Consumers can use SolarShare to convert to green energy at competitive prices, supporting their local community.