The European Commission recognizes the successful results of the SmartSantander project, led by Telefónica

SmartSantander is a European project led by Telefónica, with the technical support of the University of Cantabria and the collaboration of the Santander City Council, which has turned this municipality into the first comprehensive smart city in Europe and which the European Commission has evaluated as “the project that has successfully achieved all its objectives, even exceeding initial expectations.”.

The European project on the Internet of Things (IoT) led by Telefónica R&D, called SmartSantander, has presented the final results of three years of activity, that have turned Santander into the first comprehensive smart city in Europe and an international reference in the design of a smart city (more information in the news published in Digital AV Magazine).

In addition to assessing that “the project has successfully achieved all its objectives, even exceeding initial expectations.”, The European Commission has highlighted the excellent direction carried out by Telefónica R&D and the technical coordination of the University of Cantabria. The Santander City Council has also collaborated in an outstanding manner in its deployment and dissemination..

The implication of Telefónica with the project and with Santander has been complete. In addition to coordinating and directing the activity of twenty-four European institutions and one Australian (partners in its development), in 2013 created a pioneering Innovation Center in smart cities in this city, that promotes innovation in smart cities and maintains relationships with institutions from all over the world. Telefónica has transferred the results obtained in this experience to its smart city design, while leading the development of the European FI-Ware platform, that facilitates the creation of apps for the Internet of the future, with application in the most advanced smart cities.

A test bed of success

With a budget of 8,67 million euros, SmartSantander has made the largest urban infrastructure in the world a reality, capable of providing smart city services to citizens and serving as a laboratory for scientific experimentation in the field of Internet technologies of the future and Internet of Things (IoT).

The infrastructure deployed in the city offers a test bed that the European Union has described as essential to achieve European leadership in IoT technologies, and to provide the research community with a unique platform for large-scale experimentation and evaluation of IoT concepts under real-world conditions..

The conclusions of the EC report were presented this morning in Santander in an event led by the mayor of the city, Íñigo de la Serna Hernáiz, and in which Eduardo Arasti has participated, industry advisor, Innovation, Tourism and Commerce of the Government of Cantabria; the rector of the UC, José Carlos Gómez Sal; Jose Manuel Hernandez, of Telefónica R&D and project coordinator, as well as Luis Muñoz, professor of Thematic Engineering at UC and technical coordinator of SmartSantander.

20.000 devices transforming a city

The project has deployed more than 20.000 devices in Santander and its surroundings (sensors, repeaters, walkways, informative screens, mobile terminals,…) for different areas of application, such as public transport and mobility, traffic, environment, pollution, waste management, noise control, climatology, security, water management, social and health care, public buildings, as well as for industrial and residential areas, creating the basis to develop a true smart city.

Among other examples, This intelligent and integrated platform offers control of occupancy and use of parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility; improvements in urban traffic management to reduce polluting emissions; monitoring of environmental variables to reduce water consumption in parks and gardens; intelligent management of public lighting to reduce energy consumption, adapting it to real needs, etc.

The objective has been to achieve a sustainable city, efficient and “green”, with intelligent management and in which citizens can dynamically interact with the administration and with the services offered in order to make it a better place to live.