May has been extra IRIS here in Gothenburg; with partners on stage and spreading the word of sustainable change and co-creation in many various situations and contexts. Katarina Nordstöm reports.
The month began with a delegation from Johanneberg Science Park/Sweden visiting Tokyo as part of the two countries celebrating 150 years of diplomatic relations this year. Their visit to Tokyo included a presentation of IRIS and the latest in Swedish research and innovation from IRIS site manager Eva Pavic for Michael Jacob at the Swedish Embassy.
And then came Europadagen 9 may – Europe in My Region. City of Gothenburg placed their 19 ongoing EU-projects on stage. . Eva Pavic represented IRIS with a short pitch and also participating in a panel with other innovative EU-projects in Gothenburg.
Next IRIS moment was at a Viable Cities-konferens and annual member meeting for contributors to the Swedish national strategic programme. Along with other Swedish Light House cities, Eva Pavic was there representing Gothenburg and IRIS project.
24 May part 1 – The Public Space 23-25 May was designed to inspire how digitization can contribute to a modern, collaborative and innovative public sector that creates the greatest possible benefit. Interest and expectations of IRIS was high.
IRIS are on stage May 24 11.00 – 11.45 with Eva Pavic, Noel Alldritt (Development Manager ICT Traffic Office) and Eric Jeansson (geo data strategist at the City of Gothenburg) entered stage to talk about IRIS within the digital context – the City Innovation Platform and FIWARE – and how it links to Gothenburg’s digital and innovation strategy. One related vision is the Gothenburg City’s “Digital Twin” of the city which is planned to be released in 2021. At the end our Chief Data Officer of Gothenburg Ante Baric explained that we cannot wait for standards and instructions, Gothenburg is acting now: “we prefer speed tickets to parking tickets”.
Audience was positive and the Innovation manager from Stockholm wanted to set up meetings and start co-working on the issues raised. A good sign for future Stockholm collaboration.
24 May part 2 At same time a very different event took place in Gothenburg as part of #gbgtechweek
IRIS was involved in two of the many events taking place: a Cleantech Matchmaking Event where 40 cleantech start-ups from the Nordic region will met 10 leading industry actors from across different sectors – with the start-ups will in charge of the matchmaking.
Quite a few IRIS partners were represented, for example Rickard Malm from HSB as a large company looking for startups and SMEs to come the HSB Living Lab, test ideas and help co-create a sustainable future. RISE were represented, connecting the institutes closer to the startup-scene and IRIS work package leader Björn Westling worked close with The Swedish Energy Agency helping them spot the gems among pitching startups to increase the deal flow our to Energy Agency’s different support and funding programs. Also Metry played a great part, being a venture company from Chalmers Venture and well-known actor in these events. It was fun and very rewarding for both big and small.
24 – 25 May IoT Bootcamp Smart City Gothenburg
A 2-day event with focus on Internet-of-Things (IoT) for smart cities in general, and creating a Connected Gothenburg in particular. The event offered a mix of inspiring keynote speeches as well as opportunities to try out ideas and concepts in the “Do Zone”.
The first day we had IRIS partner Chalmers on stage, represented by Anders Logg presenting their Virtual Cities programme, followed by the City of Gothenburg when Jonathan Mattebo Persson presented the intelligent mapping solution Smarta Kartan.
Next day Johanneberg Science Park colleague Evdoxia Kouraki presented HSB Living Lab the Interreg project Score which is about how to reuse Open Data and working towards common standards throughout Europe in that field, related to IRIS.Finally Kim Lantto brought us on a tour through Gothenburg’s digital development with all the challenges ahead, and what is most important to be developed for example. Minecraft and Min stad city app.
Parallel with the stage program, Ericsson who hosted the IoT Bootcamp also set up a “Do Zone” where some 10 teams worked hard to come up with new ideas and applications using the Ericsson tech knowledge and data provided.
So with that we close a truly eventful month of May in IRIS and focus once again on the technical, human, operational and legislative frameworks for our proposed smart city solutions to succeed. But first a weekend full of sunshine in Gothenburg, where we have been enjoying the same temperatures as our southern colleagues in St Cruz de Tenerife and Alexandroupolis with over 28 degrees.
30 May 2018