The CitCom.ai-UV team took part in the penultimate review of the European project in Stockholm

From 11th to 13th May, six members of the CitCom.ai-UV research team (Rafael Magdalena, Andrea Bonetti, Adrián Salcedo, Emilio Fernández, Javier Valero and Sergio Daly) attended the penultimate periodic review of the European project in Stockholm on behalf of the whole team. It was undoubtedly a key meeting to assess the current status of the project and coordinate the next steps as we enter the final stretch.

The meeting, organised by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden — to whom we would like to extend our special thanks for their hospitality and the excellent organisation of the event — brought together consortium partners from various European countries over three days, alongside representatives from the European Commission and experts tasked with evaluating the technical and strategic progress made over recent months.

Three days of intense work focused on the future of the project

This review took place over three working sessions. The first was devoted to a series of internal workshops aimed at analysing the project’s future in both the short and medium term. During these meetings, issues relating to the project’s future financial sustainability and new opportunities for collaboration between partners and external organisations were discussed.

These sessions provided an opportunity to address one of the main challenges facing European innovation projects: turning technological experiments and pilot schemes into useful, sustainable solutions that can be transferred to other real-world cities, businesses and public administrations.

The main day of the review took place on Tuesday and focused on the presentation of results and progress from the project’s various Work Packages. During these presentations, the different super-nodes (North, Central and South) shared developments, experiments and use cases deployed over recent months in real-world environments.

One of the highlights for the Southern supernode, which our research team is part of, was the presentation of the progress made within it, where some of the participating partners, such as Libelium and Nunsys, showcased various very interesting use cases.

This day allowed us to see the significant progress made during the last work period, particularly in other supernodes, as we are not as closely involved in their day-to-day operations. In their presentations, we saw that they have achieved interesting integrations of artificial intelligence solutions applied to real urban contexts and have validated technologies within experimental scenarios.

In addition to attending these technical and strategic sessions during the event, the CitCom.ai-UV team also took part in the demonstration area set up during the review, where one of the use cases developed in Valencia was presented, in the presence of some of the reviewers and representatives from the European Commission. The demonstration focused on one of our most recently developed use cases: an AI-based system for detecting abnormal water consumption, designed to identify potential leaks, faults or irregular behaviour in the water supply network of the city of Valencia.

The presentation of the experiment to European reviewers and institutional representatives allowed us to demonstrate how the technologies developed within our laboratory can be transferred to real-world scenarios with a direct impact on the sustainability and urban management of our city.

The final day saw the participation of institutional representatives and organisations linked to the Swedish ecosystem of urban management, artificial intelligence and technological innovation. These presentations gave us a first-hand insight into how the city of Stockholm and Sweden as a whole are working to integrate advanced technologies to improve areas such as mobility, sustainability and the management of public services.

To conclude the meeting, the European reviewers and representatives gave a positive assessment of the progress made since the previous review and identified new areas to focus on during the final phase of the project.

Beyond the official programme, the review also served to strengthen collaboration between consortium partners in a more intimate and relaxed setting. During the event, participants were able to engage in conversations, share experiences and take part in activities organised at various locations across Stockholm, including a visit to a former nuclear reactor converted into an events venue, where one of the meals included in the official agenda took place.

With this latest review, CitCom.ai continues to make progress in the development and validation of AI-based solutions applied to smart cities and communities across various European settings. If you’d like to stay up to date with all the latest project news, check out our news and events sections!