Introducing six finalists of Smart City Challenge 2023

Published on 01.04.2024

Written by Külle Tärnov, FinEst Centre for Smart Cities

Smart City Challenge 2023 has reached an important stage, with six proposals now chosen to the finals. These innovative ideas, selected through careful evaluation, all promise to enhance urban living.

With the support of dedicated researchers and piloting cities, we will validate the need for the solutions and potential future customer segments. Finalists will refine their solutions to address complex urban challenges, and full project proposals will be prepared by August 22.

Top ideas for pilot projects will be chosen by our international evaluation committee, consisting of 10 members: Ralf-Martin Soe, our founding director, alongside 3 academic evaluators, 3 investors, and 3 public sector representatives.

Three new pilot projects are scheduled to begin on Nov 1, 2024.

Get to know the exciting lineup of finalists!

Buildings as power plants

Solution lead(s): Dr. Jaanus Kaugerand and Dr. Noman Shabbir from TalTech.

Pilot cities: Võru, Estonia; Derry City & Strabane, Northern Ireland and Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.

Initial challenge: How to provide green electricity

The solution enables surplus or deficit electricity generated in city-owned buildings to be brought to the market as part of a virtual power plant through energy consumption management.

This increases the consumption of green electricity, allows owners to earn income from the electricity market, and supports the stability, reliability, and sustainability of the electricity grid.

Wellbeing in virtual townscapes

Solution lead(s): Prof. Ivo Fridolin from TalTech.

Pilot cities: Narva, Estonia; Kuldiga, Latvia.

Initial challenge: Well-being in virtual townscapes

The solution is designed to assess a person’s stress level in an urban space. The service is intended for use in virtual and/or hybrid 3D reality.

The tool for physiological and psychological well-being estimation consists of the physiological signal sensors and psychological questionnaires that will be combined and optimized for virtual reality data space and environment.

In addition, the tool will include automated algorithms that can be used for fast processing and analysis of data, that lowers the costs to the service.

UrbanSplash

Solution lead(s): Dr. Ciprian Briciu-Burgh from Dublin City University, in close cooperation with Prof. Tanel Tenson from University of Tartu, and Prof. Yuliya Semenova and Prof. Sadok Ben Yahia from TalTech.

Pilot cities: Tartu, Estonia; Dublin, Ireland.

Initial challenge: Monitoring of Bathing Water Quality

UrbanSplash is a decision-making tool for urban bathing water that provides real-time water quality data and forecasting capabilities.

UrbanSplash uses sensors for near-real-time detection of E. coli bacteria, microbe source tracking, readily available meteorological data and other relevant data for decision-making and forecasting.

CitySense

Solution lead(s): Dr. Uljana Reinsalu, Prof. Raivo Sell, Prof. Sadok Ben Yahia, Dr. Jaanus Kaugerand and Prof. Olev Märtens from TalTech; Dr. Mozhgan Pourmoradnasseri from University of Tartu, and Prof. David O’Connor from Dublin City University.

Pilot cities: Tallinn, Estonia; Dublin, Ireland; Pula, Croatia.

Initial challenge: Urban Sensing Mobile Node Network

This solution targets challenges related to damaged or missing traffic signs, graffiti, and road conditions.

Additionally, it monitors various urban parameters, such as air quality, noise levels, and parking occupancy, addressing challenges related to sustainable urban planning and citizen well-being.

Thanks to its adaptability, this solution is flexible and adaptable for a variety of urban problems. The pilot project will focus on implementing a robust sensor network based on smart mobile sensing devices.

SmartWaste

Solution lead(s): Prof. Wolfgang Gerstlberger from TalTech.

Pilot cities: Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia; Neukirchen, Germany; Cesis, Latvia.

Submitted challenge: Waste management in urban area

Connections to transfer information to the waste-collecting service companies to optimize their routes and participate in tenders based on actual and retrospective bin fill data.

Proposed solution is a big data driven full-stack ICT-based system of Internet of Bins – including data hardware for wastebin level sensing and data collecting, back-end, front-end, and an Application Programming Interface (API) connection.

SafeSchoolWay

Solution lead(s): prof Dago Antov and dr Tiia Rõivas from TalTech; Jun Yang from Aalto University.

Pilot cities: Tartu and Valga, Estonia; Riga and Cesis, Latvia.

Initial challenge: Safe Way to School

The solution enables the analysis of road safety for students, teachers, and other daily school attendees on various routes leading to schools.

The goal is to develop functional tools for analyzing the current state of urban environments concerning various modes of mobility (such as walking, cycling, micromobility), assessing safety, and identifying mobility-related issues.

These tools enable the evaluation of road safety near schools, pinpointing crucial and effective measures to enhance safety.

The implementation of the pilot projects is financed by the “FinEst Centre for Smart Cities” project funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

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