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The new business models in the field of smart cities, to be debated at the XI APTE International Conference

By 11 de November de 2013No Comments
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Snapshot of the round table "Seed capital - the role it plays for start- ups of parks" Pihoto: APTE.
 11.11.2013

The new business models in the field of smart cities, to be debated at the XI APTE International Conference

Under the theme " Towards a smart city model with open data", the XI International Conference of the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain ( APTE ) was hosted in the city of Gijón between 6 and 8 November. The gathering brought together representatives from science and technology parks with other experts, who discussed and debated the phenomenon of smart cities, open data and the role of parks in this field. The Director General of the Barcelona Science Park, Salvador Maluquer, attended the conference.


The evolution of cities in the years to come will revolve around their transformation into smart cities, involving improvements for all citizens in sectors as diverse as e-administration, environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and quality of life.

Within this context, the release of public data (also known as open data) has become an essential element in recent government strategies. This reflects in a number of initiatives that are underway in many administrations at different territorial levels and that generate great business opportunities for companies and entrepreneurs. The XI APTE International Conference created a forum for the analysis, debate and reflection on the technologies that are under development in this area, as well as on open data management, including funding sources that exist for this type of projects.

The conference featured the participation as speakers of Pilar Conesa, Founder of Altenverti Founder and director of the Smart City World Congress; Andres Contreras, founder of the company Socialtech, and Ayman Moghnieh , of the company Bestiario, among other experts . Four panels were also offered on the new European program Horizon 2020, the seed capital, the reutilization of open data and the new challenges of big data, with the participation of representatives from Telefónica, IBM, Indra, Profitail and SocialTech.

Several projects already under progress in this area were announced at the conference, including municipal activities developed in the framework of the strategic plan “Gijón Smart City” as well as four initiatives of companies located in science and technology parks that are linked to the smart city project. These four initiatives included the LabCityCar project of ADN Mobile, the Savia project of Integra / EGS, the Smart City VyP project of the Cartif Foundation, and the Orama Channel of Contact Communication.

The event also celebrated the APTE general assembly that conducted an evaluation of the current state of science parks and the strategic plan of the association.