Smart City Barcelona: a reference exhibition to detect innovations

Promoting the creation of technological demonstrators in Aix-Marseille

Faced with global warming and energy issues, cities are accelerating their transformations. More sustainable housing, cleaner transportation, and new consumer habits are among the smart city technology applications to which the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona is dedicated.

From November 15 to 17, 2022, this world-class event offers the opportunity to meet the most committed international players in these fields and to discover a multitude of innovations. Provence Promotion will be present to detect innovative companies looking for a territory of experimentation and partnerships to develop.

This 11th edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona is looking very promising. 400 speakers, 1,000 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors from 140 different countries are expected at the Fira Barcelona. Industrialists, major groups, local authorities, governments, innovative companies and, of course, start-ups are coming to get inspired and share their thoughts and advances in urban transformation.

In Hall 2, more than twenty French companies will exhibit on the French Pavilion, supported by Business France, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Bpifrance.

Provence Promotion will be conducting a canvassing campaign at this world congress in order to identify technological innovations that can be tested in Aix-Marseille. Among the targeted themes: mobility, energy optimization, eco-building and resource management.

Aix-Marseille encourages innovations for a more sustainable city

Aix-Marseille is offering development opportunities for digital smart city companies through competitions.

The Euroméditerranée public development agency, which is conducting one of the largest urban renewal projects in Europe in Marseille, wants to deploy innovative products and services within its surroundings to make the city more intelligent and sustainable.

With its Med'Innovant competition, Euroméditerranée offers comprehensive support to five innovators each year to experiment with their solutions in the urban space by responding to challenges proposed by businesses or industrialists who will become partners for the implementation of the project in the area. On November 22, the winners of the 2022 edition will be unveiled. Euroméditerranée's ambition is to build the model for the sustainable Mediterranean city of tomorrow.

Those same principles will be applied to the ports as the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, the CCI Aix-Marseille-Provence and Aix-Marseille University are re-launching a Smart Port Challenge to build the port of the future. Candidates are invited to take up challenges in response to problems defined by the competition partners (EDF, the City of Marseille, Hammerson-Les Terrasses du Port, the Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Council, the Cruise Club, Provence Tourisme, the Port of Marseille Fos, the Union Maritime et Fluviale, CMA CGM, Digital Realty, NGE Connect and Veolia) On Thursday, November 17, 2022, a new edition will be launched!

Smart city companies in Provence

Thanks to advances in digital technology and Big Data, companies are inventing new products and uses in the heart of cities. The exploitation of data is becoming more refined. Algorithms are being applied to optimize energy and logistics flows.

This is the case of companies supported by Provence Promotion that have set up shop in Aix-Marseille, such as :

• Ubigreen, established in Aubagne in 2022, publishes solutions to make buildings eco-responsible. By analyzing data, it proposes to optimize the occupation of spaces and the energy consumption of buildings.
• Eura Nova, a specialist in machine learning and big data, opened an R&D branch in Marseille in early 2017, and is working with these mathematicians and computer scientists on projects applicable to the smart city. This Swiss AI company was a winner of the Smart Port Challenge in 2021 to study road and rail flows.
• Twinlify, a startup accelerated at ZEBOX in 2021, designs a simplified tool for visualizing IoT data thanks to the concept of the digital twin related to facilities management, tracking assets and security and safety.

Solarcamp, a project carried out in partnership with the SNCF, Vinci and Accenture, is an example of a smart city demonstrator deployed in Provence by the American start-up Bovlabs, which has carried out a full-scale test of its peer-to-peer blockchain technology in the energy sector at the Aix-en-Provence TGV station, combining photovoltaic production, electric vehicles, storage and energy redistribution.

With its ecosystem of industrialists, companies and institutions focused on innovation, Aix-Marseille offers a favorable environment for the implementation of intelligent urban solutions. The region is also the 7th largest connectivity hub in the world. The commissioning of the 16th 2Africa submarine fiber-optic cable in Marseille, operational in 2024, should further boost the territory to 5th place worldwide.

Business meeting and Massilia Mundi event in Barcelona

At the Smart City Expo World Congress, Provence Promotion has made arrangements to meet with fourteen different companies. The economic development agency will offer its support to innovative companies whose proven technology requires larger-scale applications or full-scale experiments.

Provence Promotion will also find further innovations thanks to the Village Francophone, which organizes several start-up pitch sessions. The winners will win a learning expedition to discover Aix-Marseille, a personalized visit dedicated to innovation related to their sector of activity.

This trip will also be a privileged moment to gather the community of Massiliens in Barcelona, who are opinion leaders in love with the territory that federates Provence Promotion. About 15 people will meet on November 16 at the En Aparté restaurant in the Eixample district. Coming from very different professional backgrounds, they have one thing in common: they want to promote the economic destination of Aix-Marseille in their networks in Spain.