Murcia – II Congress of Smart Cities, IFEMA Madrid

The Councilmember for Government Modernization, Urban Quality & Participation, José Guillén, attended the Second Congress of Smart Cities, held in the Madrid IFEMA Exhibition Center and with the presence of representatives of the most important cities in Spain.

“We want new technologies to serve the public, giving better service, improving the quality of life and facilitating their relationship with the local government, being able to do so from the comfort of their own homes.” Councilmember Guillén said.

Murcia has published two project abstracts in the book of Congress papers, one on the TuMurcia project and another on the Roadmaps for Energy Project (R4E), specifically the City Energy Map.

The goal for this national congress is the exchange of knowledge and experiences on Smart Cities in Spain, with the use of technology and innovation based development tools. To do so, the main issues related to the Smart City are treated during two days on a transversal, multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral level, sharing initiatives that are currently being developed in our country without losing sight of internationally relevant trends.

As for the part concerning the Roadmaps for Energy Project (R4E), the project was introduced as an initiative under the European “Horizon 2020”, paying special attention to the characterisation and the model of citizen services cities and municipalities should offer, the main areas of focus of the R4E project being, smart buildings, smart mobility and smart urban spaces, with the Smart City approach.

Key factors of the process being innovativeness in approaching and encouraging citizen participation, the project is based on participatory workshops attended by technical experts in municipal policy, municipal policy makers, private companies, universities, local associations, etc. Being the development of a Municipal Energy Map, which was the subject of the abstract submitted, the perfect illustration of what can be accomplished.

Whilst participating in the Second Congress of Smart Cities, held in Madrid, we were able to informing representatives of other cities, and stake-holders, about the R4E project, a dissemination activity which is vital to creating awareness and obtaining future support. The Spanish Network of Smart Cities (www.redciudadesinteligentes.es) was founded in June 2012 with the aim of exchanging experiences and work together to develop a model of sustainable management and improve the quality of life of citizens, focusing on aspects such as energy saving, sustainable mobility, eGovernment, interaction with citizens and security. It currently consists of 60 Spanish cities.