The Smart City is the current talk of the town in urban planning and city branding. All over the world, cities are trying to embrace this new approach where sharing of data and information is used to create sustainable growth. In this interview, Ger Baron and Joost Brinkman, two of the leading profiles in the Amsterdam Smart City project, discuss the possibilities with Smart Cities, and give advice to other cities in the same position.
What is Amsterdam Smart City?
Amsterdam Smart
City is, according to Joost Brinkman, mainly about cooperation; about
city, citizens and companies working together to reduce CO2-emissions.
The Amsterdam Smart City project started with a small organization and
the goal to start new Public Private Partnerships, but has quickly grown
in cooperation with a multitude of partners.
Amsterdam Smart City´s main tool is an information platform, where
small and medium sized entrepreneurs can initiate innovative solutions
and test them on a larger scale. The main focus of the project,
according to Ger Baron, is making better use of the existing technology,
not necessarily creating new.
As an example on where the Smart City can make a difference, Ger
Baron brings up the energy market in the Netherlands. Here, 90% of the
market was owned by four energy companies, and there where therefore was
no incentive from the companies’ side to make changes. A platform with
information creates opportunities for the city, as well as citizens and
companies, to make more informed choices when investing in the city.
What makes a Smart City different from a Sustainable City?
In
answering this question, Joost Brinkman makes it clear that the basis
of the Smart City is sustainable thinking. According to Brinkman, the
Smart part is the intelligence, how you collect your data and how you
choose to work together to reach your goals. One of the basic thoughts
behind the Smart City is that there is a consumer force that, if enough
good products are in place and enough information available, will demand
better products.
Ger Baron means that sustainability now is widely accepted as an
essential basis, and that we now have to focus on finding the
innovations and the ideas that need to be enabled in order to change our
cities.
What types of challenges can Smart City thinking solve?
Joost
Brinkman argues that a Smart city might not be solving challenges, but
accelerating innovations and creating possibilities. As an example,
Brinkman tells us about a person who had an invention to make swimming
pools less energy demanding, but had gotten stuck in bureaucracy.
Amsterdam Smart City made the process easier by providing a possibility
to test the product, and show a broader public that it worked.
On a more abstract level, Ger Baron means that the project is
inspired by Jeremy Rifkin, and his thoughts on a third industrial
revolution. Baron argues that projects such as that of Amsterdam Smart
City could help changing structures through communication and
technology.
Ger Baron poses the financial sector as an example of a market where
Smart City thinking could bring change; that we now have the technology
to make more informed choices about where our money is located and what
we are financing. He sees opportunities for changes like this in all
economic systems, based on the idea that people want a broader insight.
Based on your experience; what can other cities learn from
Amsterdam Smart City?
Joost Brinkman believes cities can
truly learn from the approach in the project: To work more from a
platform perspective than a top-down system. Ger Baron elaborates on
this, and remarks that there are many Smart City programs throughout the
world that do not focus enough on collaboration. He points out that is
it crucial to think about your city as an ecosystem instead of separate
parts; to make use of your intelligence by being inclusive.
Joost Brinkman adds honestly that there are a lot of examples of
failures in the Amsterdam Smart City project that other cities can learn
from as well. Ger Baron believes that it is important to embrace the
fact that you are going to make mistakes, and adds that the mistakes
made in the Amsterdam Smart City Project has also been the best lessons
learned. Both Baron and Brinkman mean that if you are not willing to
accept the risk of making mistakes, you will never change; and never get
started.
About Amsterdam Smart City:
Amsterdam Smart City is an ambitious Smart City project in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Amsterdam Smart City project started in
2009, with a small organization and the goal to start new Public Private
Partnerships, but has quickly grown in cooperation with a multitude of
partners.
Amsterdam Smart City´s main tool is an information platform, where
small and medium sized entrepreneurs can initiate innovative solutions
and test them on a larger scale. The main focus of the project is to
make better use of the technology in the city to create green growth.
Amsterdam Smart City Experts:
Ger Baron
Ger Baron is the Cluster Manager ICT at Amsterdam Innovation Motor.
Baron started working for the Amsterdam Innovation Motor in 2007 as a
project manager, and has been responsible for the creation of several
projects and public-private partnerships. In 2009, Amsterdam Innovation
Motor was a co-creator of Amsterdam Smart City, and Ger Baron is now one
of the leading individuals in projects associated with the growth of
Amsterdam Smart City.
Joost Brinkman
Joost Brinkmanis Senior Manager at Accenture. Brinkman was
responsible for the Amsterdam Smart City program since 2009 to 2011. He
has been a part of shaping the project from early on. Along with the
ASC-team, he has been involved in the creation and management of the
many projects, as well as a frequent expert speaker in Smart City
conferences around the globe.
