Emerging Strategies: Open Innovation

Krassimira PaskalevaManchester University and Karlsruhe

Institute of Technology

Objectives of this discussion

To explore the perspectives lying behind the question of whether the smart is a nexus of open innovation.

To discuss results of recent research on EU trends in smart cities and open innovation by: drawing from analyses of key EU programmes, latest

international projects and related activities, and

presenting an emerging new approach to open innovation linking technologies with people, the urban territory and other cities to reap the benefits of technological and social advance

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Why the attention?

Because open innovation and smart cities emerge as a focal cross-cutting theme and strategy in present discussions about the FI, Living Labs, and Innovation and Competitiveness-driven (Urban) Development.

We need to better understand the challenges and the pathways to the ‘smart-er city’ in the context of what Europeans have entrusted collectively in their ‘smart cities’ outlook

Respond to the quest of the research and academic communities to identify the defining components, critical insights and institutional means by which to get beyond the self-congratulatory ideas of smart cities….(Hollands, 2008)

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Globally, there are 3 types of approaches to the ‘smart city’ Level of exploitation of networked infrastructure to

improve economic and political efficiency and enable social, cultural and urban development

A vision and strategy for creating the competitive city through multi-actor, multi-sector, and multi-level urban development

An approach to sustainable and inclusive cities, placing weight on the social capital of urban progress

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But the topic remains controversial in both practice and research and as Hollands (2008) concludes

Cities often claim to be smart, without defining what this means to them or providing the evidence to support such claims.

Smart-er cities appear to be simply ‘wired cities’, disregarding the human capital side of the equation

Cities should recognize that the critical factor in their ventures is the people and how they interact…

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Current EU policies suggest a growing interest on smart cities

The main attention is given by the Future Internet Programme

- smart cities as a catalyst for FI because of the dense social ecosystems relying heavily on Internet technology which heavily influence social interactions in return

Yet, ideas and strategies are being strategically shaped across a number of EU programmes, including The Living Labs.

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The role of innovation in EUsmart cities(-relevant) policies is also increasing It is in the heart of i2010 – role of end-users in the Digital

Society in sustaining services, applications and content generation for scalability and mass-market

Bringing together Future Internet technologies with Living Labs methodologies and practices as a viable way forward

“2020 Strategy” emphasizes smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; innovation is where progress is mostly needed

Other EU programmes - Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies, Territorial Agenda, URBACT, Leipzig Urban Charter call for using all urban potentials to address all dimensions of SD at the same time and with the same weight through innovation.

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But “open innovation” in particular emerges as a focal point of strategic smart cities visions and approaches

Henry Chesbrough (2003) used the term first in context of the firm’s strive to advance technology

Recent debates suggest ‘open innovation’ should refer to also how government and other institutions work and collaborate with society

The emerging notion of open innovation, based on networking and inter-institutional relations appears highly relevant to the new paradigm of the ‘smart city’

- one that brings technology, people and places together for the benefit of the citizens and the urban locality.

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The benefits of using open innovation for the smart cities are to be found in many dimensions In developing collaborative processes between local ‘smart

citizens’, government and developer communities

In offering a new way for citizens to share not just in the design but also in the delivery of services and contribute their own wisdom and experience in ways that can broaden and strengthen services and make them more effective

In providing a viable agenda for a smart city system change

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The Living Labs approach and methodology provide a natural setting for open innovation

As a platform for implementing an open innovation model to pilot different initiatives towards the Europe 2020 perspective of well-being and sustainability.

As a user-driven innovation ecosystems based on a business-citizens-government partnership to enable users to take active part in the research, development and innovation process

As an ecosystem in which new products and services are created, prototyped and used in real-time environments

Where users are not treated as object in the innovation process or as mere customers, but as early stage contributors and innovators

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Four recently launched ICT PSP pilots projects in EU show some important trends1. SMARTiP: Smart Metropolitan Areas Realised through Innovation and People Builds on the premises that ‘smart citizens’ within a network of

‘smart cities’ are a catalyst for ‘smart growth’, which curbs the inequalities in smart citizens and public services.

Takes a holistic approach to e-government to tackle various inter-connected policy agendas simultaneously and address the need for smarter redistribution and service design as well as recognition of the role of people in achieving it in a sustainable and fairer way

3 Pilots: Smart environment, Smart mobility and Smart engagement

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2. EPIC: Delivering effective smart city services across Europe

Combines innovation ecosystem processes, e-government

service applications and new cloud computing technologies to create a scalable and flexible pan-European platform - The European Platform for Intelligent Cities for innovative, user-driven public service delivery through user-driven open innovation, connected smart cities and web-based advanced services.

Develops city applications leveraging Living Labs and Smart Cities service delivery innovations such as Relocation Service, Urban Planning Service, and Smart Environment Service.

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3. PEOPLE: Pilot smart urban ecosystems leveraging open innovations for promoting and enabling e-services

To accelerate uptake of smart cities through advanced deployment and uptake of innovative internet-based services to provide better quality of life for their citizens; by applying user-driven open innovation methodologies and processes.

Four Smart Open Innovation Urban Ecosystems Pilots

- Bilbao - public safety and living’s aspects of urban quality of life information services

- Vitry sur Seine - public safety and mobility information systems for the excluded ones

- Thermi - ‘Intelligent City Centre’ information system on commerce, leisure and tourism

- Bremen – new university campus life services

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4. Periphèria: Networked smart peripheral cities for sustainable lifestyles To deploy convergent Future Internet (FI) platforms and services

for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles in and across emergent networks of ‘smart’ peripheral cities in Europe

The Open Service Convergence Platform - ‘Internet by and for the People’ based on Social Information Architecture, integrates sensor networks, real time 3D and mobile location-based services with the FI paradigms of Internet of Things, Internet of Services, and Internet of People.

Social interaction occurs at the ‘run-time’ moments in which the infrastructures and services are jointly and dynamically discovered, invoked and composed

User-generated content is main driver of social interaction, occurring in different urban settings and conditions.

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Periphèria's five pilots are developed in specific “Urblets”

user-generated media for inter-cultural dialogue and civic interaction (Malmo, Sweden);

traffic and transportation-related information (Bremen, Germany)

strategic planning (Athens, Greece);

cultural and natural heritage (Genoa, Italy);

e-government services to citizens and businesses (Palmela, Portugal)

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Periphèria's Future Internet concept is also novel

Key belief is that convergence of Future Internet platforms occurs through social interaction in concrete situations, in an ‘Internet by and for the People’ which is a discovery-driven, not functionalities-driven centripetal aggregation of the main Future Internet paradigms:

Periphèria’s Future Internet Concept16

Peripheria integrates technological with social innovation to build the smart-er city In a Living Lab context, through a ‘re-negotiation’ of specific city

infrastructures (named ‘Urblets’) and patterns of behaviour (named “Behavlets”) driven by Future Internet possibilities (serious games)

Five archetypical ‘Arenas’ – specific urban innovation playgrounds with defined social features and infrastructure requirements; spaces where co-design and service integration processes unfold:

• Smart Neighbourhood: where media-based social interaction occurs

• Smart Street: where new transportation behaviours develop

• Smart Square: where civic decisions are taken

• Smart Museum and Park: where natural and

cultural heritage feed learning

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Several main directions for moving forward are emerging as viable

- Social interaction is in the heart of the smart city model, in which the infrastructures and services are jointly and dynamically discovered, invoked and composed by providers and users alike.

- Creating open ‘digital citizen-developer’ communities and establishing private-public-people partnerships (PPPPs) to find dynamic and imaginative ways to interact and create, drawing inspiration and experience from open innovation and sustainable urban development.

- Building new collaborations and networks so cities can understand innovation, innovators understand cities, citizens to become effectively engaged and users to become content and service producers and deliverers.

- Deploying convergent Future Internet platforms and services for the promotion of sustainable life and work styles in and across emergent networks of ‘smart’ cities.

- Creating Smart Open Innovation Urban Ecosystems – specific urban settings or innovation playgrounds which combine innovation and social and commercial activities to enable open innovation and showcase the benefits for localities of growing smarter and more sustainable.

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As regards open innovation in the smart city, the key insights are It is strongly embedded locally in spite taking the advantages of networking with

other cities and communities.

Capturing the true values of the territory and its total capacity that is consciously and strategically geared towards improving urban sustainability, governance and the urban quality of life stands up as the greatest challenge ahead

One working definition that comes out is that

“open innovation in smart cities means using ICT for delivering more sustainable and inclusive cities with better quality of life for their citizens through delivering better services and goods in a mutual and creative relationship between local officials, professionals, and the people, supported by the right set of strategic policies” (Paskaleva, 2011).

Which implies that open innovation is not only a mindful but also strategically-driven collaboration between the stakeholders, which leads to a systematic change in the way cities grow smart.

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The human capital is in the heart of the process of transformation

Whether people are currently defined as users, clients, or citizens, they all provide the vital ingredients which allow innovation to flourish and to be more effective.

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Public service policy Smart city service policy

Target

Decision

DesignDelivery

Evaluati-on/or not

Co-evaluation

Co-concept

Co-decision

Co-design

Co-delivery

Co-use

Open innovation

But transforming the traditional

model of public service

development is also necessary

Towards an ‘outward’ looking service development where

the adequacy and the viability of the urban services is

safeguarded by the people’s involvement in all stages of the

process and the relevant activities.

The overall conclusion, however is that

Using open innovation for building the smart (-er) city can be effective, efficient and sustainable but consistent frameworks, principles and strategic agendas are necessary to optimally bind these elements together.

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But there is a more fundamental problem which is barely addressed by current debates: the policy of building the smart city

With most efforts focusing on smart cities activities without understanding the key constructs and principles, it is clear that open innovation can be stalled if a new and cohesive policy approach is not built.

Collaboration too is to be re-organised in ways that are more effective and lasting, yet the models and the policies are still not there for what cities are trying to achieve. Dealing with the linked challenges across the stakeholders can affect their ability to change.

But making a policy choice towards open innovation around or within a specific urban territory, termed by Peripheria as ‘Arena’, where it all comes together and as a self-organised system of people, is also necessary.

Evidently, this new territorial approach to open innovation in the smart city has to become part of the Living Lab approach too and in the methods, processes and developments it uses.

These hand in hand with a new trust in co-production and co-delivery, and enthusiasm about the role of mutual collaboration, social networks and PPPPs.

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On the EU level this translates into the need of

Understanding and addressing the key issues of open innovation strategically, by embracing a common definition of open innovation in the smart city and defining the strategy, mainstreaming the policy integration and identifying the areas of urban development where it can have the most profound effect.

Embracing the culture of open innovation and the means for utilizing the appropriate measures by the cities is a prerequisite

First and foremost establishing new communities of city officials, active citizens and professionals whose aspirations for smarter and more sustainable cities can be equalled by their grasp of current and strategic developments as well as their practical skills and knowledge s a must.

Thank you.24