Address:
Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería de Gijón, campus de Viesques, edifício polivalente, módulo 1, segunda planta, CP 33203 – Gijón, Asturias

Telephone: +34 985 18 90 00 / 616 748 397

Contact: Beatriz García Fanjul, manager

Web: http://www.smartcityasturias.org

SMART CITY

CLUSTER SMART CITY ASTURIAS

The Smart City Asturias Cluster was created with the aim of positioning Asturias as a Smart City benchmark, becoming an alliance that works to develop better and smarter cities and territories using cooperation and co-creation as the main tool. The aim is to help the associated entities to build a bridge to the market, creating smart, sustainable, efficient and comfortable cities that guarantee a model of cooperation. Its members range from young companies that are experts in certain disciplines to large companies with global reach, which allows us to cover the entire spectrum of disciplines that a Smart City contemplates, as well as knowledge centres and the citizens themselves.

This Alliance of actors (large companies, SMEs, startups, cities, universities, …) has been created in Asturias to achieve efficient, sustainable, comfortable, innovative and attractive municipalities. The cluster works as a meeting point between cities, citizens and companies, connecting needs and opportunities with industry, providing knowledge, collaboration and help in the search for solutions and funding.

Cluster objectives:

  • Enable businesses, organisations and citizens to benefit from the advantages of digitalisation and the Smart City value chain.
  • Facilitating a growth-friendly legislative environment for Asturian companies
  • To be the meeting point for Smart City stakeholders.
  • Increase the number and size of Asturian companies and their growth opportunities.
  • Encourage the creation and consolidation of new companies.
  • To be an active agent that promotes and fosters talent and digital vocations.
  • Promote regional, national and international projects, wide-ranging tractors that enable the development of globally innovative solutions and that position Asturian companies in global innovation chains and, particularly, as a Smart City benchmark.
  • Providing advice and consultancy to both public administrations and other stakeholders in the implementation of smart territories and IoT, offering experience and expertise.
  • Analysing trends, identifying good practices and proposing new solutions and approaches to improve the quality of life of citizens.
  • Train and generate content for working professionals, for people in training and for digital literacy, reducing social gaps.
  • Organise awareness-raising and dissemination actions (events, workshops and awareness-raising campaigns) to inform the community about the benefits and opportunities offered by smart territories, as well as to promote citizen participation in decision-making related to the development of the territory.
  • Generate consortia to participate in funding calls for R&D&I projects in the field of smart territories and the Internet of Things.
  • Establish alliances and collaborations with public administrations, companies, academic institutions and civil society organisations to design policies, promote the adoption of smart solutions and foster innovation in the territories.

Development and application in key areas such as shared data spaces, smart destinations, sustainability, energy and water management, transport, security and infrastructure.

Activities:

Strategic lines and lines of action:

LE1: Promoting open and participatory innovation

  • 1. Promoting collaborative projects
    • 1.1. Opportunity identification and project management
    • 1.2. Promoting open innovation
  • 2. Promoting citizen participation in innovation
    • 2.1. Establishing citizen participation mechanisms

LE2: Industry representation and advocacy

  • 1. Improving the representativeness of the sector
    • 1.1. Knowledge sharing in cooperation networks of companies of all sizes, including start-ups and scaleups
    • 1.2. Motivating new avenues of specialisation within the Smart City value chain
    • 1.3. Identifying events and fairs of importance for opportunities
  • 2. Advocacy and promotion of the sector
    • 2.1. Participation in the design of public policies linked to sectoral promotion, in local, regional, state and international frameworks.
    • 2.2. Promoting communication actions to raise public awareness and promote the sector

LE3: Further training

  • 1. Critical review and proposal of training guidelines
    • 1.1. Collaboration with companies and training entities for the identification of new training needs and the elaboration of training programmes.
    • 1.2. Collaborative actions (courses, conferences, events, etc.) aimed at the critical review and proposal of training guidelines.
  • 2. Stimulating STEAM profiles
    • 2.1. Spreading STEAM benefits and attracting talent

LE4: Boosting business development in the sector

  • 1. Boosting entrepreneurship and new businesses
    • 1.1. Support for new business start-ups and spin-offs
  • 2. Supporting internationalisation
    • 2.1. Designing a plan for international missions
    • 2.2. Strengthening business positioning in global digital channels and markets
  • 3. Information of interest to the sector and to the general public
    • 3.1. Trend analysis
    • 3.2. Training and content generation for working professionals, trainees and for digital literacy bridging social divides
    • 3.3. Competitiveness improvement studies based on the results of Challenge Identification Days

LE5: Excellent Cluster

  • 1. Improving the cluster’s internal communication plan
    • 1.1. Continuous communication and feedback
  • 2. Improvement of cluster processes
    • 2.1. Development of manuals and practical guides

ASSOCIATED MEMBERS