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European Innovation Radar Names DITCOM Key Innovator - Twice!

Aarhus University’s Centre for Digital Transformation in Cities and Communities (AU DITCOM) is recognised twice as a key innovator by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar for its achievements in SynchroniCity, the European Large-Scale Pilot for smart cities and communities.

(Dansk version findes nedenfor)

The Innovation Radar, a platform for independent experts to review and identify high-potential innovations in Europe, recognises AU DITCOM for its innovations developed under the Horizon 2020 project SynchroniCity. The project represents an ambitious effort to build a market for digital services delivered by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for cities and communities in Europe and beyond, based on the principle that a simplified, open, and agile digital market can unlock new services and grow city economies. With large-scale technology implementations and community building as the core of the project, the European Commission highlights the project’s innovative development in two areas. 

AU DITCOM, together with the British Connected Places Catapult (CPC) and the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), are recognised for successfully running Open Calls within the Horizon 2020 programme. The centre draws on its experience in working with Open Calls from its experimentation-as-a-service facility, OrganiCity, where it was leading the Open Call with great contributions from CPC. The learnings from OrganiCity have helped lay a solid foundation for SynchroniCity, using the same financial scheme: cascading funding (micro grants). 

In addition, the European Commission recognises AU DITCOM for building city-cooperation through the Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) network, together with OASC and ENoLL. The centre, together with CPC, are founding members of OASC, a non-profit, international smart city network that has the goal of creating and shaping the nascent global smart city data and services market. The OASC initiative is based on the needs of cities and communities by connecting 150+ smart cities and communities globally and establishing the Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) needed to create a smart city market. You can learn more about OASC here, or watch the animation of how scaling digital solutions with OASC works.

Both innovations address the creation of a robust market targeting the needs of cities and communities, and can be further explored in the following reports produced by the SynchroniCity consortium:

AU DITCOM, building upon the learnings from the projects, offers masterclasses for Danish municipalities that are interested in being better equipped for the digital transformation that is affecting a broad spectrum of tasks within municipalities and the public sector in general. The masterclass is titled “Digital Transformation in Danish Municipalities and the Public Sector: Organisational Agility and Robustness in a Complex Digital World.”, and consists of lectures, case studies, group work and discussions. For more information, please contact Adriënne Heijnen at ahe@cc.au.dk.


SynchroniCity, coordinated by Aarhus University’s Centre for Digital Transformation in Cities and Communities (AU DITCOM), was the European IoT Large-Scale Pilot (LSP) funded by the European Commission, aiming to open up a global market for IoT-enabled services for cities and communities, where public authorities and businesses develop and deploy services using new technologies in agile partnerships to sustain and improve the lives of citizens, and to ensure sustainable local economic development. The SynchroniCity project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732240, and it was part of the 104m€ Large Scale Pilots Programme. 38 partners worldwide from business, academia, municipalities, and NGOs contributed to the project.

OrganiCity is a service for smart cities and communities to co-create IoT- and AI-enabled solutions to urban challenges, allowing citizens, businesses and city authorities to work together. The service was established through the H2020 RIA OrganiCity (2015-2018, 7.2m€ EC contribution), coordinated by AU DITCOM.

 

DITCOMs SynchroniCity-projekt er blandt førende innovationer ifølge Europa-Kommissionens Innovation Radar 

Aarhus Universitets Center for den Digitale Omstilling af Byer og Samfund (AU DITCOM) er blevet anerkendt som førende innovatører af Europa- Kommissionens Innovation Radar for sine præstationer i det europæiske stor-skala pilotprojekt SynchroniCity

 

Innovation Radar - en platform for uafhængige eksperter, der anmelder og identificerer innovationer med højt potentiale - har anerkendt AU DITCOM for sine innovationer udviklet under Horizon 2020 projektet SynchroniCity. Projektet udgør en ambitiøs indsats for at opbygge et marked for digitale services, som leveres af små og mellemstore virksomheder (SMV) til byer og samfund i Europa og globalt. Projektet er baseret på princippet om, at et simplificeret, åbent og fleksibelt digitalt marked kan åbne for nye services og øge byers økonomier. Med implementering af teknologi i stor-skala samt samfundsopbygning som projektets kerne har Europa-Kommissionen fremhævet to områder af projektets innovative udviklinger.

AU DITCOM er sammen med den britiske Connected Places Catapult (CPC) og European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) blevet anerkendt for succesfuldt at facilitere mini-udbud (Open Calls) i Horizon 2020-programmet. Centeret har trukket på sine erfaringer med at arbejde med mini-udbud fra det tidligere projekt OrganiCity. hvor centeret ledte mini-udbuddet med stor bidrag fra CPC. Erfaringerne fra OrganiCity har hjulpet med at danne et solidt fundament for SynchroniCity ved at benytte sig af den samme finansielle model, kaskadefinansiering (mikro-bevillinger).

Derudover er AU DITCOM blevet anerkendt for at opbygge samarbejde mellem byer gennem Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) netværket i samarbejde med OASC og ENoLL. AU DITCOM og CPC er stiftende medlemmer for OASC, som er et non-profit, internationalt smart city netværk med formålet at skabe og forme det spirende marked for globale smart city data og services. OASC-initiativet er baseret på by- og samfundsbehov ved at skabe forbindelser mellem 150+ smarte byer og samfund globalt og ved at etablere Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs), som er nødvendigt for at skabe et smart city marked. Du kan læse mere om OASC her, eller se denne animation, der viser, hvordan man skalerer digitale løsninger med OASC.

Begge innovationer adresserer skabelsen af robuste markeder baseret på behov fra byer og samfund, og der er mulighed for at læse yderligere om dette i følgende rapporter udviklet af SynchroniCity konsortiet (Rapporterne er på Engelsk):

Med rig erfaring og viden omkring den digitale omstilling fra ovennævnte projekter, tilbyder AU DITCOM en masterclass for danske kommuner, som er interesserede i at være bedre klædt på ift. de digitale forandringer, som præger store dele af kommunernes og den offentlig sektors opgaver. Denne masterclass har titlen “Digitale Forandringer i de Danske Kommuner og den Offentlige Sektor: Organisatorisk Agilitet og Robusthed i en Kompleks Digital Verden.” og består af undervisning, casestudier, gruppearbejde og diskussioner. For mere information om masterclass kontakt Adriënne Heijnen på ahe@cc.au.dk


SynchroniCity, som er koordineret af Aarhus Universitets Center for den Digital Omstilling af Byer og Samfund (AU DITCOM), var et europæisk IoT Large-Scale Pilot (LSP) finansieret af Europa-Kommissionen. Målet var at åbne op for et globalt marked for digitale services med sensorer (IoT) og kunstig intelligens (AI), hvor offentlige myndigheder og virksomheder udvikler og udmønter services ved brug af nye teknologier i fleksible samarbejder for at opretholde og forbedre borgernes liv og for at sikre bæredygtig økonomisk udvikling lokalt. SynchroniCity fik finansiel støtte fra EU’s Horizon 2020 forsknings- og innovationsprogram under tilskudsaftalen nr.732240 og var en del af et 104m€ Large Scale Pilots program. 38 partnere fra erhvervslivet, akademia, kommuner og NGO’er verden over bidrog til dette projekt.

OrganiCity er en tjeneste for smarte byer og samfund til at samskabe digitale services med sensorer (IoT) og kunstig intelligens (AI) for at tackle urbane udfordringer og som giver mulighed for, at borgere, erhverv og myndigheder kan samarbejde. Tjenesten blev etableret gennem H2020 RIA OrganiCity (2015-2018, 7.2m€ EC bidrag) og var koordineret af AU DITCOM.