Barcelona launches global award for technologies and solutions to automate urban services

BARCELONA, SPAIN — Barcelona and Living Labs Global announced an award which seeks technologies and solutions that can revolutionize the way urban services such as parking, waste management, electric vehicle charging, water management, information systems, and lighting are delivered.

International companies and research centers are invited to present their products and solutions to automate its urban services through sensors and other technologies to secure the city’s sustainability and quality of life.
The award is managed by the "22@ Barcelona Urban Lab," in which new urban technologies and services are systematically evaluated by international experts in partnership with Living Labs Global. The winners of the award will be announced at an award ceremony in Stockholm on May 12, 2011, and will be piloted subsequently in Barcelona.

Solution providers that can help the city reach these goals of automation are invited to come forward, helping the city continue to pioneer and act as a piloting ground and international reference for innovative companies. The 22@Barcelona Innovation District, an inner-city area of more than 200 hectares and 150,000 inhabitants, serves as a focal point for these activities, offering the most advanced wireless and fiber infrastructures, waste management, and urban management systems, and acting as a gateway for new solutions to be adopted by the city as a whole.

Last year’s winning solution, the Automated Garbage Management System by Urbiotica, has been implemented already with great success by the city, providing real-time intelligence about the filling level of city’s waste containers and transforming the waste collection system.

Barcelona is considered one of the most attractive and well-managed cities in the world, with a dedication to innovation in infrastructures and urban services, as well as the high quality of design and management in its services. New technologies have long played an important role in building the attractiveness and efficiency of Barcelona as a compact city, offering attractive living, investment, and working conditions to citizens and visitors alike. Barcelona has pioneered many large-scale adoptions of new systems, such as district heating, pneumatic waste-management, and transport systems. With the 22@ Barcelona Innovation District, the city has dedicated a large urban area of more than 200 hectares for the piloting of new solutions and applications of urban technologies.