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The European project CitCom.AI TEF celebrates in Las Naves the Technical Review event in front of experts from the European Commission. The project develops artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions for smart and sustainable cities and offers innovators to test and validate them in real environments. València coordinates the Super South Node that addresses issues such as pollution and noise management, sustainable urban development and smart tourism management. - See the CitCom.ai intro video and photos from the meeting in Spain below the text.
València becomes the epicentre of technological innovation with the celebration in Las Naves of the Technical Review event of CitCom.AI, a European project focused on the development of solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) for smart and sustainable cities. The coordinators of each phase of CitCom.AI TEF present to reviewers from the European Commission all the details of the project and the progress made. The event also provides an opportunity for all partners to share lessons learned and establish roadmaps for the next phases of the project.
Five reviewers from the European Commission and the entire CitCom.AI consortium are meeting in Las Naves for two days to review and analyse the work done and objectives of the project, a project that sets the path for Europe to position itself at the global forefront in innovation in artificial intelligence (AI).
The València City Council's innovation centre was the setting for this meeting of AI experts from the eleven European countries that make up the project, which was attended by Paula Llobet, València City Council's Councillor for Tourism, Innovation and Investment Attraction, and the Head of the Innovation and Digital Agenda Area of València City Council, Ramón Ferri.
Paula Llobet pointed out during the event the value of València as an innovative and smart city:
"We have the infrastructure and a great cohesive ecosystem. Las Naves and La Harinera, the buildings that house the headquarters of the project in València, together with La Marina and the university area make up the innovative district of our city".
She added: "We have been working for years on the green and digital transition. As a result of this work, this year our city has been recognised as the European Green Capital. Now, with the València Innovation Capital innovation strategy, we aim to turn València into the innovative technological hub of the Mediterranean.
Ramón Ferri stated that "CitCom.AI is a fundamental part of València's evolution towards a smarter and more sustainable future. It is also perfectly aligned with our València Innovation Capital strategy, which focuses on areas such as sustainability, the gaming and eSports sector, smart city and GovTech, and innovative and sustainable tourism. Ferri also added that "València will be one of the first cities to offer urban Sandboxes, public spaces for the innovative ecosystem to test their projects in real environments".
One of the objectives of CitCom.AI is to strengthen the European AI ecosystem and promote collaboration between member states.
Martin Brynskov, Coordinator of CitCom.AI, said during his speech that one of the project's missions "is to help artificial intelligence innovators (SMEs) to win customers. These can be administrations, municipalities, public services, but also private companies."
He added: "Another of our missions is to reduce risk for investors and consumers and to understand how we can improve policies and regulations.
A key part of CitCom.AI is its portfolio of services for AI innovators and cities, ranging from virtual and physical installations, algorithm creation and validation, and legal and ethical compliance assistance, to impact, opportunity and scoping assessment.
The project operates through three 'supernodes' in eleven countries across Europe, each with a thematic focus and developing specific use cases that demonstrate the potential of AI to address urban problems and promote sustainability. These use cases, as well as the entire CitCom.AI operation and workstreams, are presented and discussed during the Technical Review event.
The Nordic Supernode, consisting of Finland, Sweden and Denmark, focuses on urban energy management and optimisation. This includes the acquisition of energy data through sensors to monitor consumption in buildings and infrastructure, analysis of energy consumption to identify patterns, optimisation of electricity grids and prediction of energy demand.
In the Central Supernode, comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France, the focus is on urban mobility and logistics. They develop testbeds to analyse and predict multimodal transport, improve road safety, integrate electric mobility and address connected and autonomous urban transport.
In the South Supernode, which includes Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany, and which has the City Council of Valencia and Las Naves as coordinators of the group, they address issues such as pollution and noise management, sustainable urban development and smart tourism management. Sensors are used to monitor air quality and noise, data analysis and AI techniques are applied to understand tourism patterns and geospatial data are used to assess the environmental impact of urban projects.
These use cases represent real-world situations where AI can deliver significant improvements in quality of life, efficiency and sustainability in cities.
CitCom.AI represents a crucial step towards the creation of a strong and sustainable European AI ecosystem. With its focus on collaboration, ethical innovation and social impact, the project is poised to lead the way towards a future where AI contributes significantly to the improvement of our cities and communities.
About València Innovation Capital
The València Innovation Capital strategy of the City Council's Department of Innovation aims to foster a dynamic, diverse and creative city that is the technological innovation hub of reference in the Mediterranean. This strategy promotes public-private collaboration, catalyses the city's innovation and technological entrepreneurship ecosystem and seeks to generate quality, highly qualified employment in València.
Technology is the how, and human beings are the why. València Innovation Capital is committed to solving the city's real problems with innovation that is effective and has a direct impact on people's lives.
Watch the new intro video for CitCom.ai TEF - hosted on YouTube.
See photos from the meeting in Spain on March 7 and 8, 2024. Credit: Las Naves. Click to enlarge.
