About the
Smart City Day
"The 19th century was a century of empires, the 20th century was a century of nation states. The 21st century will be a century of cities.”
- Wellington Webb
Why the Smart City Day?
The Smart City Day brings together, for the municipalities and cantons of Switzerland, all the players in the “smart city” field. The organization of the day allows everyone to share thoughts and strategies, to highlight good practices, to raise awareness and inform local and international actors, to offer a platform for transversal exchange.
Each year, the event brings together decision-makers from municipalities and cantons, economic and academic circles. The success achieved since its creation in 2014 has made it a benchmark event in Switzerland.
The objective is to support and build together, in good understanding, the municipalities and cities of tomorrow.
History and development of the Smart City Day ecosystem
Digitalization affects all the structures of our societies, especially cities. This technological revolution has given rise to the concept of “smart” cities, more efficient and more comfortable, with the aim to increase the well-being of citizens.
Innobridge, an innovation consultancy firm that has been active for over 15 years, launched the Smart City Day in 2014. This city-to-city event aims to catalyze smart city developments in Switzerland. The Smart City Hack and the Smart City Boost process are also part of this dynamic.
"Out of chaos, stars are born"
- Charlie Chaplin
Why the
Smart City Boost?
Smart City Boost is a process to support cities and help them accelerate the implementation of their smart city strategies. It is based on 3 phases:
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Exploration with all the partners (city, canton, transport, energy, etc.) of the challenges that cities will want / be able to address.
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The organization of a co-creation event, for example a hackathon, to find solutions to these challenges. This event brings together the bearers of the challenges, experts, citizens, users, etc. to define sets of possible solutions.
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Support, if necessary, of defined solutions, to turn them into demonstrators.
This program, which lasts for several months to one year, brings together an entire ecosystem, creating and catalyzing innovation in the service of the community and the citizen. We believe that it can promote the development of smart cities in Switzerland, in line with the goal of the Smart City Day. The federation of the ecosystem over time, as well as the co-creation generated, are clearly beneficial for all the players involved in the process.
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Unifying approach : it allows ecosystem players to meet for a long enough time to create or strengthen a network around a smartcity approach and vision. It also makes it possible to bring together complementary profiles around the challenges, and to create new links.
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Participatory laboratory : digitalization also involves hands-on experience, in particular for citizens; it is an excellent tool open to any person and institution that feels concerned.
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Thinking about the future, a lever for innovation at the service of the city : the approach enables the city's stakeholders to come together and meet, share their vision, and target specific challenges to be solved. In an open approach, it generates innovation, creates links, and identifies new players and talents.
Why the Smart Cities Observatory?
The field of Smart Cities is constantly evolving and the monitoring of its rapid developments is at the heart of our activities. In order to make the information we collect available to you, we have set up a digital magazine, the Smart Cities Observatory , which collects examples of smart cities, news in the field, discussions and ideas regarding mobility, energy, sustainability, citizenship, art, architecture, and all the elements that make up our cities. It allows you to learn more about the smart city in all its aspects, with the regular sharing of articles from several publications. Do not hesitate to tell us of other Smart City articles and events that would be good to share!
Innobridge Services: creator and organizer of Smart City Day
Innobridge is a consulting partner specializing in innovation management, business development, partnership building and financial engineering. Across many areas such as smart city, industry 4.0, medtech, mobility, telecommunications, cleantech or agritech, we adapt to the context and specific challenges of our customers to accelerate their innovation. Our multidisciplinary team combines and shares with you its experience as innovators, entrepreneurs and investors to establish an efficient and sustainable organization.