Smart City Solutions Articles

Introducing Europe’s newest urban mobility event: polisMOBILTY. polisMOBILITY is a forward-thinking conference and expo that focuses on the future of mobility and urban living, taking place between May 18 to 21 at the Koelnmesse and the City of Cologne. Strategically located in the heart of Europe’s largest economic area and a densely populated metropolitan region, the City of Cologne is the ideal place to showcase the innovations and solutions that will transform cities and solve the challenges of tomorrow. 

Open-source innovation is at the forefront of ensuring that software-based processes, operational models, decision-making, and end-user experiences happen in a sustainable and cost-effective manner, but how is it being used in Smart City applications? The topic has been explored in detail in the latest White Paper from the FIWARE Foundation and a selection of its members and partners.

When it comes to air quality, cities that attract heavy industry are often some of the biggest victims. For the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, just outside of Barcelona, air pollution is a huge problem. The area is an attractive place for industry, largely because of the region’s location: it’s sandwiched directly between the bustling Barcelona Airport on one side and the restless Port of Barcelona on the other. While industry often brings wealth to a region, it also brings its fair share of challenges.

As the world’s leading Smart City event, Smart City Expo World Congress 2021 was a unique platform for urbanists, city leaders, solution providers, private enterprises, and citizens to connect and share ideas. With cities facing bigger challenges than ever before, the need for idea sharing platforms like SCEWC has never been greater. SCEWC 2021 has already been and gone, but the memories of the event will leave a lasting impression until next year when SCEWC will return to Barcelona for its 11^th edition.

Ever since the event’s first edition in 2011, the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) has been at the forefront of Smart City innovation. As the world's largest Smart City event, the Barcelona-based Expo has been a major driving force of the Smart City agenda, empowering cities, promoting collaboration, and creating valuable partnerships between private businesses and public sector departments. All in the hope of bringing social equity, sustainability, resilience, and a brighter future for our cities and the citizens who live within them.

September 2021 brought something of a milestone to the smart mobility movement. Historically, Germany’s legendary IAA was a celebration of the automotive industry. Held in Frankfurt, it attracted petrolheads from all over the world who wanted a first-hand glimpse at the state of the industry. However, times have changed, and the IAA has evolved with it.

The impacts of climate change have already begun to cause damage to our planet. The Earth’s landscape has drastically transformed over the last century, and the natural world is under threat from rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and rapid urbanization. Our cities are growing, and their populations are swelling along with them.

Ever since the idea of a smart city was first introduced, Internet of Things technology has been a key pillar of smart city development. As technology advances and more countries embrace next-generation connectivity, IoT technology will continue to grow and have a bigger effect on the way we live.

According to numbers from the Improving Internet of Things (IoT) Security with Software-Defined Network (SDN) study, there will be more than 75.44 billion connected IoT devices by 2025. With a forecast of over 7.33 billion mobile users by 2023 and more than 1,105 million connected wearable devices users by 2022, the Internet of Things is expected to grow into one of the smartest collective and collaborative systems in history.

When used correctly, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence can improve our urban landscape for the better. Drawing from huge resource pools and using a combination of modern machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and more, artificial intelligence can be leveraged to drive efficiency and improve the quality of life for the smart cities of the smart cities tomorrow.

The current climate crisis is having a drastic effect on the planet. While it’s easy to place the blame on rapid deforestation and unsustainable industry, one of the largest contributors to the current climate change phenomenon is much closer to home: our cities.