The Triangulum Lighthouse Cities have tested and evaluated countless methods, measures and tools on their way to become more green and sustainable cities. But how could the Follower Cities (FCs) choose from this wealth of experience and benefit from good practices?

Within the project, support is given by means of the so called “Follower City Training Mission”, consisting of FC days, workshops and webinars which are tailored to the specific needs of Follower Cities, and of the Triangulum Replication Tool, a database interlinking city needs with possible solutions.

On 13^th and 14th November, stakeholders met in Sabadell to discuss the goals and the next steps for Follower City Sabadell.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the City of Sabadell, the City of Eindhoven, with its Mayor John Jorritsma, as well as members of the Fraunhofer research institute as coordinators of the Triangulum project. 15 entities of Sabadell were represented at the workshop that consisted of two parts.

On the first day, the training was closely related to the interventions carried out in the Triangulum Lighthouse Cities in the fields of ICT, mobility, energy, financing, public space and governance. Also, the replication approach of Triangulum with its two pillars – the FC Training Mission and the Replication Tool – was explained. This “double-approach” enables the Follower Cities to identify the areas of smart city activities, suitable technologies and solutions to be implemented and the costs of the measures. At the same time, possible funding and business models are checked, timelines are generated and appropriate partners identified by taking into account risks and local governance and coordination structures.

“The challenging goal is to design tailored solutions adapted to local needs, but standard enough to be applied to a significant array of European cities…”, stated Miquel Soler i Antolí, Councilor of information and communication technologies of Sabadell.

The 2^nd part of the workshop consisted of a day of group work focusing on co-designing Sabadell’s the urban implementation strategy including the following elements:

• Green last-mile urban delivery of goods
• Recharging points for electric vehicles
• Renovation of the municipal fleet with non-polluting vehicles
• Environmental sensors
• Instruments for the acceleration of start-up companies
• Maker spaces linked to the circular economy
• Digital platform for space and resource sharing
• Measures for energy efficiency in the refurbishment of existing buildings

During the workshop, the participants from Sabadell and Eindhoven made comments and suggested improvements, applying various methodologies for designing and prototyping ideas, especially the “business model canvas”.

The draft implementation strategy of Sabadell is focusing on energy sustainability, electric mobility, the opening, exploitation and sharing of data and the creation of new entrepreneurship and employment linked to the sectors of urban innovation.

“For Sabadell, the main goal is that our strategy improves the quality of life of our citizens, social inclusion, democratic quality and leverage for equitable economic progress with new job creation, especially for small entrepreneurs and the social economy sectors”, summarised councilor Soler i Antolí. Sabadell’s implementation phase will start in 2018.

Sabadell’s strategy is the result of the Triangulum efforts following the Morgenstadt methodology of matching the identified city needs with the innovative solutions implemented in the Lighthouse Cities by, at the same time, taking low risk business models into account with fewer burdens on public finances.

The SCIS (Smart City Implementation Strategy) is a key deliverable of each Follower City within the Triangulum Project.  It is an instrument which helps the cities to respond to policy challenges and to structure implementation and investments. The content and format varies depending on territorial context, on policy challenges and on the planned measures.

Replication workshop sessions in Sabadell with city representatives and stakeholders.

This activity counted on the economic support of the Barcelona provincial council (Diputació de Barcelona), under the framework of the 2017 Service catalogue of the 2016-2019 Local government network.

The official launch of Manchester-I, Manchester’s portal for city-related data, was held on the 29th November at the Manchester Central Library. There was a good turnout of data professionals from across the Manchester Triangulum partner organisations, as well as the City. Attendees were invited to explore the system to understand the datasets available.

(Picture: Manchester-I)

Triangulum partner Clicks and Links also demonstrated the virtual reality possibilities they may be able to develop for the project. As well as learning more about the potential for virtual reality, attendees were able to put on the headset and enter virtual reality train tunnel!

The Manchester data can be viewed and downloaded at www.manchester-i.com. Manchester will also be hosting a series of ‘Innovation Challenges’ over the course of 2018-19, to enable developers to exploit the data to perform useful functions for the City and our partners.

In 2017 the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan marks its 10th year anniversary. For this occasion, a conference, taking place in Bratislava from 29 November to 1 December 2017, reviewed the progress achieved in the last decade in the energy transition and the key role played by the SET Plan as the technological pillar of the EU energy policy.

On 29 November 2017, the conference also featured a Smart Cities and Communities focused side event, including a presentation of Triangulum Coordinator Damian Wagner.

(Picture: Fraunhofer IAO)

The session was opened by Andreea Strachinescu and Jens Bartholmes, of the European Commission’s DG Energy, that presented current funding opportunities for Smart Cities and Communities within Horizon2020. This was followed by the smart city challenges in Bratislava and the smart city activities of Brno within the project RUGGEDISED. Triangulum Coordinator Damian Wagner presented tested solutions and good practices of the Triangulum Lighthouse Cities Manchester, Stavanger and Eindhoven, such as the ICity Tender. He showcased some of the solutions and underlined the great wealth of tested solutions ready for replication that the group of Lighthouse projects has to offer. The specific replication approach of Triangulum was also in the focus of the presentation. Good practices were also shared by the coordinators Nathan Pierce (project SharingCities) and Albert Engels (project RUGGEDISED). The three coordinators explained and showcased the important work done by the lighthouse projects and the entire Lighthouse group, consisting of currently 12 Lighthouse projects. They shared their Lighthouse project experiences and insights with the audience. Over 250 people signed up for this event on Smart Cities and Communities.

The 10th annual SET Plan conference conjoined with the 11th Central European Energy Conference (CEEC XI) is held under the auspices of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference examined the implementation process of the Energy Union with a special focus on the role of its Research and Innovation (R&I) dimension. In particular, it assessed the role of innovative low-carbon technologies in boosting European competitiveness, progress in developing new technologies and smart energy systems for efficient use of energy as well as growing share of renewables in the primary energy consumption of EU member states. In addition, it also evaluated the current trends in electro-mobility, safe utilisation of nuclear energy, enhanced energy storage, and many other topical issues for the transformation of the EU energy system. Finally, the conference paid special attention to the evaluation of the role of Central European member states, including their contribution to the implementation of the goals of the Energy Union and the Integrated SET Plan.

The SET-Plan target under the present Action 3.2 – Smart Cities and Communities – aims at Positive Energy Blocks/Districts that will strongly contribute to COP21 targets. The dedicated Temporary Working Group 3.2 of the focuses on the technological roadmap, transition guidelines for Positive Energy Blocks, Public sector innovation, standards and capacity building.

Further information:
https://www.setplan2017.sk
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/technology-and-innovation/strategic-energy-technology-plan

From 11th to 13th October 2017, the entire Triangulum consortium came together in the project’s Follower City Leipzig for a Steering Committee meeting and its 3rd General Assembly.

After an official welcome by Leipzig’s Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung and Dr. Norbert Menke of Leipziger Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft, the consortium members discussed the project progress and the next upcoming activities. During an excursion the project partners could also discover Leipzig’s public transport mobility stations and an innovative heat storage station.

Triangulum consortium (Picture: Fraunhofer IAO)