IOTXchange

About

Connecting Cities For Better Life

IoTXchange is an URBACT Action Planning Network with focus on the crucial role that Information Technologies and in particular Internet of Things (IoT) will inevitably play in urban development in the forthcoming years, and that alone makes it extremely relevant within the framework of Urban Strategies in Europe. The Network is made of 8 partners, all representing small and medium sized cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and, most importantly sharing a common interest to place IoT as a policy instrument for the sustainable development of small and medium-sized cities, capable of increasing the competitiveness of the local economy, promoting quality of life, sustainable environments, and the delivery of connected services to citizens and visitors. URBACT methodology based on transnational cooperation between cities and local groups engagement offers our network the conditions to each partner develop an Integrated Action Plan that will guide us through a new age of digital transformation. The Network focus its work on the following 7 thematic areas, which are common to the context and challenges of each European partner:

Public Services

Health and Quality of Life

Agri-Tech

Tourism and cultural heritage

Education

Energy

Mobility

The Network

OUR Partners

The Network is made of 8 partners, 7 cities and 1 University:

Fundão is located in the Centro region (NUT II) of Portugal, occupies an area of approximately 700km2 and has 26.521 inhabitants. Fundão has been implementing a strong and determined strategy focused on increasing the territory’ competitiveness and attractiveness and today has a creative ecosystem of open innovation.

Fundão, Portugal
Lead Partner

Razlog is located in the Southwestern Bulgaria, occupies an area of 221,1km2 and has 19 967 inhabitants. The IoT sector for the Municipality becomes increasingly important and is emerging as a central element for the region’s development. The Municipality puts efforts to boost the IoT sector and gives the opportunity to SMEs to invest in the territory.

Razlog, Bulgaria

The municipality of Dodoni covers an area of 658,880 acres and has a population of 10.130 inhabitants.

Dodoni, Greece

Åbo Akademi University operates in Turku and Vaasa, Finland. Based at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at the Vaasa Campus, Experience Lab is a R&D unit in the field of digital content and user experience. Experience Lab has been involved in R&D projects on national and European level, focusing on user experience and HCD in different contexts, including co-creative innovation processes and IoT applications.

Åbo Akademi University, Finland

Nevers Agglomération is a conurbation of 13 towns and nearly 70,000 inhabitants located right in the middle of France. It is a territory that has taken the digital turn for a few years now, both to improve its citizens’ life and to boost its economical development.

Nevers Agglomération, France

Jelgava Local Municipality is located 40 km from Capital Riga, Latvia and it borders with Lithuania in the south. The Municipality with 33686 inhabitants and 1600 km2 has positioned itself for sustainable future in its long-term development strategy and aims to offer well-organized living environment for each family.

Jelgava Local Municipality, Latvia

Ånge is located in the geographical centre of Sweden. The municipality covers 3 295.56 km2 with a density of only 3 inhabitants per square kilometres. Ånge is on a digitalization journey and is currently exploring digital operations through various IoT projects.

Ånge, Sweden

Kežmarok is located in the eastern part of Slovakia, occupies an area of 24,83 km² and has 16.381 inhabitants. The goal of Kežmarok is to be modern, dynamic and eco-friendly, -based upon the concept of Smart City and Action plan for adaptation to climate change.

Kežmarok, Slovakia

Case Studies

During Phase 2 of the project, each city was asked to further detail their best practices with the support of the Lead Expert and share it amongst the network. From the knowledge exchange that occurred, two main best practices where benchmarked, resulting in two Case Studies:

Case Study: Jelgava City Municipality Operative Information Center (MOIC)

Case Study: ServaNet – Regional Open Fiber Network

Pilot Projects

starting to test small before planning big

Small-scale Actions (SSA) are a novelty within URBACT Action Planning Networks. SSAs allow a city to test a new idea or a concept before adopting within their Integrated Action Plan (IAP), for future upscaling. This can be particularly relevant in technology-oriented networks such as IoTXchange and all partners were quick to embrace the possibilities open by the new Small-Scale-Actions mechanism, resulting in 8 different SSAs: