EIT Climate-KIC leads collective efforts to accelerate Madrid’s transition towards carbon neutrality

A cross- KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) initiative is working on bringing data into the Spanish capital’s decarbonisation activities. Cross KIC Sustainable Cities is a three-year activity funded by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) that brings together the communities and expertise of EIT Digital, EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility to support EIT Climate-KIC’s Healthy, Clean Cities Deep Demonstration methodology and work. The programme aims to help a cohort of cities across Europe, including Madrid, accelerate their transitions towards carbon neutrality and climate resilience.

In 2020, EIT Climate KIC and EIT Digital joined efforts in Madrid city to enhance its Healthy, Clean Cities collection of connected innovative products and services (or portfolio of experiments) with digital support. With the assistance of the Centre of Technology Innovation for Development of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ITD-UPM), the City Council of Madrid is working closely with EIT Climate KIC to design and implement a portfolio aimed at accelerating the city’s transformation towards carbon neutrality by 2030.

This cross-KIC activity is working with Madrid, Amsterdam and Leuven, three cities selected for prototyping the city functions and services necessary for an adaptive and resilient future. The activity addresses fundamental issues of citizen engagement and governance and aims to establish a framework to incorporate key elements for transition, which will enable cities to properly asses and understand the ecological and human value in cities, encompassing issues such as time value, health value, cultural value and social cohesion.

In close collaboration with “challenge owners” (the mayors, community leaders and other stakeholders involved in the Deep Demonstrations), the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) are focusing their efforts on City Data Space, which are cloud data and service marketplaces that allow for acquiring, storing, and publishing data. The uniqueness of City Data Spaces is that it brings together public, private, and social data on key decarbonisation activities, which is crucial not only to ensuring better resource use and less emissions, but also to striving for sustainability through smarter urban transport networks, upgraded water supply and waste disposal facilities, and more efficient ways to light and heat buildings.

The KICs issued a joint call for proposals last June for the design and implementation of City Data Spaces for Madrid, including the following aspects:  

• Architecture, model and design around:
  • Urban mobility and lifestyle.
  • Public space, building environment and neighbourhood retrofit.
  • Urban naturation.
• Master data management and integration with other spaces.
• Data management, including governance, quality and security.
• Running City Data Space.
• Apps or businesses opportunities on top of the City Data Spaces aiming at being introduced in the market as innovative product or service.

Four projects were selected for their quality and relevance of their proposals. Those projects are:

•       Madrid Green Data Space led by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
•       GREEMTA – Green Madrid Sustainability led by Foundazione Bruno Kessler.
•       MADAME – Madrid City Data Marketplace for Decarbonization led by Dedagroup Public Services SRL.
•       Data for Green Madrid led by Telefónica.

On 21 September, EIT Climate-KIC and EIT Digital held a kick-off meeting of the selected Madrid City Data Spaces projects. The meeting gathered representatives of the KICs, the City Council of Madrid, the ITD-UPM and the project partners. The four projects will work in a coordinated manner over the next months to explore synergies and maximise efforts towards their common goal of providing Madrid City Council with the necessary data to develop and support their portfolio of experiments within the Healthy, Clean Cities Deep Demonstration and contribute to their current sustainability and climate strategies. Madrid City Council will work closely with the four projects, as well as with EIT Climate-KIC and EIT Digital to ensure the projects’ development is aligned with Madrid City Council expectations and needs.

Further information on Madrid City Data Spaces selected projects are available here.