smart-cities

Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy
The majority of Smart City initiatives have the potential to support innovative growth
and R&D. They are funded by a variety of sources, including government and private
companies, which share a common interest in progress in this area. To contribute to
the innovation and R&D target by further stimulating private sector R&D investment,
it is essential that projects are evaluated and lessons learnt from them to enable
further development.
In reality, a Smart City initiative aims to make improvements in relation to a number of the
Europe 2020 targets. For instance, a project that enhances mobility may make it easier for
individuals to travel to the most appropriate school or job (thus contributing to the
employment and education targets). This, in turn, can help alleviate location-based
problems of poverty and social exclusion, although the impacts are likely to be less than
the primary contribution to the energy and environment targets. Table 11 provides a more
nuanced view of the strength of contributions of Smart City characteristics (defined in
Section 2.3) to the objectives of Europe 2020.
The alignment of Smart City characteristics with Europe 2020 targets
R&D or
GDP
CO 22
Energy
consumpti
on
Early
leaving
Table 11:
Characteristics
or
targets
Employment
Renewables
Tertiaryed.
Poverty
risk
ECO 20.8% 20.8% 8.3% 4.2% 8.3% 8.3% 12.5% 16.7%
ENV 4.8% 4.8% 23.8% 23.8% 23.8% 4.8% 4.8% 9.5%
GOV 17.6% 11.8% 5.9% 5.9% 5.9% 17.6% 17.6% 17.6%
LIV 16.7% 5.6% 5.6% 5.6% 5.6% 16.7% 16.7% 27.8%
PEO 16.7% 5.6% 5.6% 5.6% 5.6% 16.7% 16.7% 27.8%
MOB 10.0% 10.0% 20.0% 20.0% 20.0% 5.0% 5.0% 10.0%
The values used reflect the stated objectives and details of the initiatives and the
recognition that Smart City initiatives, and the Smart Cities with which they are associated,
contribute to the Europe 2020 targets in different ways:
directly, by improving the target-specific performance of that city, and thus its
country
indirectly, by demonstration and knowledge transfer to other cities and areas in that
country, and to other cities and areas in other EU countries
collectively, by creating a ‘Smart City’ critical mass or community of interest capable
of further development, exploiting initiatives in broad deployment and realigning
business, government and civil society along ‘Smart’ lines.
The calibration of initiatives and cities to the severity of the challenges they face is critical.
The underlying assumption is that the importance of a characteristic comes from the
salience of the Europe 2020 performance areas to which it is linked.
5.1.1. What is the EU’s role in Smart Cities?
As illustrated in Chapter 4, many Smart City initiatives, especially those that span multiple
countries, are funded by the EU. This funding occurs predominantly through the CIP and
PPPs.
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