On an exciting day filled with insightful presentations and engaging discussions, FinEst Centre’s first batch of pilot projects gathered to present their novel smart city solutions. The event, held on the 2nd of June in Tallinn, brought together cities, researchers, and industry professionals, all focused on bridging the gap between scientific innovations and real-world implementation, showcasing the novel smart city solutions piloted, developed and implemented on the city streets in collaboration with cities and municipalities.

From Estonia’s first Teaming grant to the Centre of Excellence

Demo day was guided by the founder and head of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities – Ralf-Martin Soe, and the day was opened with a warm welcome and introduction by Renno Veinthal, Deputy Secretary General at the Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia.

“First, as the Finest Centre was established in TalTech as the result of the first Estonian Teaming grant, the founding and starting of the Centre has been a unique experiment for Estonia, for TalTech and I believe also for the Finnish partners,” he opened the day by reminiscing the Centre’s start.

Mr. Veinthal thanked the researchers from all groups on both sides of the Finnish gulf and the municipalities and cities (Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Võru, Lääne-Harju ja Rae) and shared one of the possible definitions of ‘smart city’ to frame the day:

Pilot projects in the spotlight: Smart and sustainable energy, exploring the future of urban interaction, future transportation and well-being

The focus of the day was of course on the presentations carried out by pilot project teams and partnering cities, highlighting the impressive outcomes achieved through dedicated research and development efforts.

DigiAudit

Martin Thalfeldt from FinEst Centre for Smart Cities shared the results of their project, DigiAudit, which focused on creating a solution for real-time monitoring of energy performance and indoor climate.

This solution has been licenced to an Estonian IoT company Thinnect that will continue the development and service offering in wider markets.

RESTO

Einari Kisel and Diana Vene (Võru City) gave a presentation on RESTO, a comprehensive renovation strategy tool for local municipalities.

They shared Võru’s case and how the tool can analyse about 12,000 renovation options and find the best for certain buildings and areas.

Microgrids

Tarmo Korõtko and Jaanus Tamm (Tartu City) took the stage to discuss their pilot project on Microgrids and Energy Storage, emphasizing the importance of smart and sustainable energy in cities.

An open-source platform has been created to manage energy resources efficiently and take the maximum of renewable and community energy and create a readiness for crisis situations.

GreenTwins

Mai Andresson (Tallinn City) and Viktorija Prilenska introduced GreenTwins, an exciting project involving hybrid 3D interfaces for urban digital twin interaction.

In the project, 3D digital green twins were created for Tallinn and Helsinki, and a helpful tool built on that for urban planners to use 3D nature catalogue to consider urban greenery while making development decisions.

A collaboration hub ‘AvaLinn’ will also be opened in Tallinn at the end of August. It’s open for urban planners but also for city residents and enthusiasts who want to use collaboration as a way to create more livable cities.

Future Mobility Ecosystem

Raivo Sell and Tanel Tammela (Rae County) shared insights of the Future Mobility pilot, focusing on mobility as a service (MaaS) integration and the utilization of big data for future public transport.

A strong framework for piloting and utilising a self-driving vehicle has been created and can be used for various municipalities who would want to offer this novel comfortable service to their residents.

Well-Being Score

Ivo Fridolin, Viktorija Prilenska, and Kaie Enno (Narva City) unveiled their research on Urban Planning Well-Being Score, shedding light on the residents’ feelings and perceptions of the City of Narva.

Based on the pilot project methods they’ve created a tool to objectively assess the well-being of a person in various locations of the city.

Narva will use it for creating their new general plan of the city.

Most of the piloting has been completed in each project, and the smart solutions are now ready to engage new partner cities, businesses, and other collaborators to expand their reach to the wider market and contribute to making our cities more efficient and better living environments.

If you are interested in collaborating with a specific project, we encourage you to get in touch with the FinEst Centre or directly contact the pilot leads. They will be delighted to provide further information and explore potential collaboration opportunities.

Take a look at the moments from the presentations and discussions.
Click here to see the full gallery.

From vision to reality: Inspirational cases from Amsterdam, Dublin, and Jacksonville Florida

Dr. Rahul Razdan from the Advanced Mobility Institute at Florida Polytechnic University and a good research partner of TalTech’s future mobility lab, shared an inspiring case from Jacksonville, Florida, delving into their ambitious smart transport program. Attendees gained valuable insights into the vision, objectives, and challenges faced during the implementation of an effective transportation system in a rapidly growing state of 22 million people, with an additional 300,000 individuals moving there each year.

Leonie van den Beuken, program director for Amsterdam Smart City, brought interesting insights from Amsterdam, a city where “cars are guests”, as she said, and where bicycle rides are comfortably a part of everyday life.

A fascinating case-study from Amsterdam was presented on car sharing, highlighting its impact on quality of life and living environment.

It brought huge positive effects: better public space (1 shared car replaces 3 private cars), cleaner and safer city, and helped to tackle mobility poverty and congestion.

“It’s about creating a livable, sustainable, green, healthy and vibrant cities for all,“ Leonie van den Beuken emphasized.

Finalizing the day with a new call: Join the 3rd round of Smart City Challenge!

Külle Tärnov, Innovation Lead of the FinEst Centre, announced the upcoming Smart City Challenge round where we continue to tackle complex urban challenges. Cities give us their challenge – we find the team of researchers and developers, financing and manage the pilot projects.

Külle, who is also the Piloting Programme Lead at the Centre, commented on how it feels to have the first batch of solutions out there: “It is a wonderful feeling to see when our work bears fruit and our first smart city solutions have now seen the light of day. Starting from June, more serious work began to ensure that these solutions are implemented in many cities both in Estonia and many other countries. We are also excited about new ideas that help make cities even better living environments for people. Cooperation between cities and researchers has been challenging and certainly enriching for both parties.”

Smart Cities Demo Day was carried out in the framework of FinEst Twins project, which is supported by the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 856602. The pilot projects are funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.