Presentation of the report ‘Italy of smart and sustainable cities’, prepared by the TIM Study Center with the CNR and the Digital Innovation Observatories of the Milan Polytechnic The winners of the ‘TIM Smart City Challenge’, the Open Innovation initiative in which 170 startups, scaleups and companies with innovative solutions for the cities of the future took part, were awarded
Smart Cities at the center of the digitalization process of the country system. The first report was presented today in Rome ‘Italy of smart and sustainable cities’ created by the TIM Study Center in collaboration with the ‘Smart City’ and ‘Startup Intelligence’ Observatories of the Milan Polytechnic and with the Department of Engineering, ICT and Technologies for Energy and Transport of the CNR.
Pietro Labriola, Chief Executive Officer, opened the meeting and together with Elio Schiavo, TIM Chief Enterprise and Innovative Solutions Officer, illustrated the development prospects of Smart Cities in Italy and the digital services that the Group makes available to the Public Administration and local authorities. The mayor of Assisi Stefania Proietti and the General Manager of Technological and Digital Innovation of the Municipality of Milan Guido Arnone also took part in the event to discuss what has already been achieved and the future of two different but very important cities.
‘Italy of smart and sustainable cities’
From the study presented by Giordana CastelliUrban Intelligence Project Coordinator of the CNR, it emerges that in Italy there are more and more municipalities that have started planning the Smart City and, according to estimates, by 2027 investments in ICT solutions for smart cities will grow to about 1.6 billion euros, while globally the total expenditure in Smart Cities will reach a value of over 1,000 billion dollars.
The motivation for these choices is clear. In the period ’23-’27, the smart city applications based on 5G, IoT and Artificial Intelligence in Italy will contribute to a total reduction of around 6.5 billion euros in city traffic costs and over 400 million euros in urban pollution costs thanks to better planning of public and private, and tourist flows. The new technologies will also allow for an annual reduction of approximately 650,000 tons of CO2 emissions, to direct the tourism industry and to optimize services for citizens.
The study analyzes various use cases also created by TIM Enterprise, the TIM Group business unit dedicated to companies and public administrations, which is supporting the projects of many administrations with the solution TIM Urban Genius, on the model already successfully implemented in municipalities, including Assisi and Cairo Montenotte, starting from Venice.
“There is so much confusion about Smart Cities, the word is often used as a container suitable for everything and so there is the risk of weakening the choices of mayors and administrators who have a fundamental role in the innovation of the territories they govern. We are giving cities something concrete, a platform for collecting and processing data useful for growing the economy, government and sustainability of cities; this is the Smart City”, underlines Elio Schiavo. “With TIM Urban Genius we have created the first urban intelligence platform that allows all Italian administrations to make their territories intelligent, as they are the primary source for collecting information useful for the lives of citizens”.
The digital transformation of territories also passes through TIM’s Open Innovation, which awarded i winners of the TIM Smart City Challenge, the scouting initiative launched to encourage the growth of the Italian Smart City ecosystem, in collaboration with some of the main players in this area, which involved around 170 startups, scaleups and innovative companies called to present solutions to make cities increasingly smart, safe and sustainable, through applications that can be integrated into the ‘TIM Urban Genius’ urban intelligence platform. Over 70% of the projects are Italian, with strong interest also from foreign companies (Israeli, French and Spanish).
In particular, the TIM prize was awarded to Mine Crime, for the solution that provides a source of geolocated data on urban crimes that can be used to increase security in cities. A collaboration agreement has already been signed with the company for the development and integration of solutions in this area.
Further awards awarded
• CNR – Department of Engineering, ICT and Technologies for Energy and Transport (DIITET) award to iMOI for the iCAM3D solution, a 3D metric detection system that simplifies assessment and measurement activities, obtaining digital twins of accidents, , specific areas and objects;
• Edison NEXT award to the UTwin project which enhances building data by creating digital twins to optimize asset, structure, energy and sensor management activities;
• eFM award to the Foot Analytics solution which allows for the monitoring of the use of spaces within offices, enabling effective management of buildings in real time;
• Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center award to G-move, a platform that provides attendance statistics to optimize the management of physical spaces, for example in shops, urban areas and means of transport;
• Bikeconomy Observatory award to Pin Bike, a patented system for monitoring and certifying urban journeys by bicycle which allows the issue of economic incentives to users who use this means of transport;
• prize from the Startup Intelligence Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic at Open Stage for its ‘technological totem’, which can be booked via the app, which provides street artists with a management platform and the technological equipment needed to perform live.
The full report ‘Italy of smart and sustainable cities’ can be found at the following link.