CNECT
The Living-in.EU meeting, held on April 6th, aimed especially to reach out to companies that wish to support cities in their green-digital transformation. Cities, companies and national authorities gave examples on how the Living-in.EU technical specifications and governance have been used in practice including concrete procurement.
The meeting also gave an update and outlook on the technical roadmap of the MIMs Plus (Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms).
Eddy Hartog, Head of the Technologies for Smart Communities unit at the European Commission, welcomed the participants. He took stock of the Living.in-EU successes, not only in terms of number of signatories (115 Signatories, including 3 at National Level and 7 at Regional Level), but also in terms of the quality of documents produced, influencing discourse on smart communities, and its impact at local and international level, with Living-in.EU mentioned in a recent UN Habitat report. Companies, associations and academia are becoming increasingly interested as well, with Living-in.EU currently counting 112 supporters.
Martin Brynskov, chair of the Living-in.EU Technical Subgroup and Chair of Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC), introduced the agenda, stressing the importance of bringing buyers and suppliers together in the same room.
State-of-play: Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities in Europe
Cristina Martinez, Deputy Head of Unit of the Technologies for Smart Communities unit at the European Commission, presented the political context. The launch of the Digital Decade provided a vision and targets for 2030 and also a number of policy instruments. The Commission has also generated legislation to support the Digital Transformation such as the AI Act, The Data Governance and Data Acts or the European Chips Act. The first calls of the Digital Europe Programme have been published,. This is how the Commission is providing financial support for the digital transformation. Three important messages from the presentation:
- Living-in.EU is shaped by its supporters and signatories.
- Important that the supporters contribute to the work that is being in done in the movement
- From vision setting to procuring and deploying.
- Scaling up existing solutions requires alignment on the principles and technologies.
- Technological sovereignty is key now more than ever
- The Commission wants to work on MIM-compatible EU-friendly standards and solutions
Rick Schager from OASC presented the status of the Minimum Interoperability Mechanisms Plus (MIMs Plus) Technical Roadmap. Schager gave us an overview of the creation of the MIMs and their development, and explained the different types of MIMs and their purpose (please find the presentation below attached). He highlighted how the final goal is to address societal challenges. From the business side, it is all about addressing business models and maturity/technological readiness levels (TRL). What we gain is not only data, but also insights for decision-making, simulation of scenarios and real time outcomes.
The Roundtable - Getting Practical with MIMs Plus in procurement There was a lively discussion with the roundtable participants: Andreja Lampe (Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Slovenia) Jan-Joost van Kan (Atos), Bart De Lathouwer (Rotterdam), Mikko Sierla (Vastuu Group), Ramón Ferri (Valencia), Mads Ockert Bonne (KMD) and discussants Anja De Cunto (Eurocities and Big buyers for climate and environment), Beatriz Barateiro (AIOTI) and Omar Dhaher (European Digital SME Alliance). All the parties highlighted the vital role of standardisation, interoperability and the MIMs Plus and the importance of avoiding vendor lock-in. On the table were also topics such as data sharing, pilots and scaling up, citizen engagement and local digital twins.
EU Mission for Climate Neutral Smart Cities
NetZeroCities aims to help Europe in its ambition to achieve climate neutrality by supporting the EU’s Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” and will provide cities with world-class expertise and services tailored to their needs.
Cornelia Dinca (OASC) presented the “Knowledge Repository – Role of Digital Solutions Enabling Climate Neutrality”. The platform aims to organise and make accessible available resources, expertise and capabilities, providing proven solutions to all cities that support them in achieving climate neutrality. It should be operational by September 2022. Dinca asked the Living-in.EU community to contribute to the platform and expressed a will for a collaboration between platforms.
Next steps
Michael Mulquin (OASC) The aim of MIMs is to enable cities and communities of all sizes to benefit from an open market. At the moment there are 10 MIMs at different stages of development. Compliance and conformance in the context of MIMs: citizens and communities choosing to build their ecosystems in a way they conform with the MIMs, and companies ensuring their products and services comply with the MIMs. There needs to be enough guidance on the MIMs, so that ecosystems can conform with them, and to allow certifying products and services as MIM-compliant. OASC sees that MIMs are not ready to roll out until the conformance and compliance requirements are clear. Requirements should enable for a company to check if their product is MIM-compliant, and this testing needs to be quick, easy and affordable.
Serge Novaretti (DG CONNECT) expressed European Commission’s intention to support compliance and conformance requirements and testing, for example by providing testbeds. In the upcoming months MIM-compliance validators are also being created.
Conclusion
Martin Brynskov (OASC) finds it very positive that there is a clear goal in developing the compliance and conformance requirements and the testing and validation of those requirements. He highlighted the relevance of the Proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC).This document clearly sets out the importance of smart cities and communities which is transversal to all sectors, such as mobility and transport, energy, safety and security.
Cristina Martinez (DG CONNECT) concluded by thanking participants for an intense and promising conversation. She called out for more people to actively participate in the Living-in.EU movement and for cities and companies to take part in the standardisation process.