Digital technologies are generating massive streams of data at dizzying speeds in European cities. This information offers incredible opportunities for entrepreneurship.
City authorities can use it to improve the quality of life for citizens through more efficient planning and better policies. The EU already recognises the value of digitalisation and its importance in creating smart, sustainable cities.
Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 aims to channel EU investments into building a ‘smarter Europe’ through innovation, digitisation and economic transformation. The European Data Strategy outlines a vision of data-enabled sustainable development.
The New Leipzig Charter recognises that digitalisation and management of city processes, including data flows, are vital to sustaining urban development.
EU initiatives such as Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) and the Urban Agenda for the EU are turning these policies into reality with projects that tap into the power of city data.
Empowering citizens
The MesInfos (MyData) pilot project ran in the French city of Lyon from 2016 to 2018. The aim was to give residents access to and control over data collected and stored by public and private organisations, including power utilities.
When the pilot ended in 2018, Lyon partnered with a cloud services provider to set up and test technological infrastructure for two initiatives. Ecolyo lets people visualise their gas, water, and electricity use and identify where they can reduce their consumption, while the Pilote dashboard helps make day-to-day administrative tasks easier.