10 years of impact !
This year, the Smart City Institute (SCI) is celebrating its 10th anniversary! To mark the occasion, the team organized a special event on June 5 as part of the year of the Art of Entrepreneurship at HEC Liège. The event included the unveiling of a symbolic fresco that celebrates the history, identity and evolution of the Smart City Institute through a decade of exciting research!
See the complete fresco in detail
To begin with, could you tell us about the beginnings of the Smart City Institute?
We have to go back to 2009, with the launch of the Chair in Sustainable Strategy at HEC Liège (ULiège). At the time, the aim was already to initiate a process for integrating sustainability into organizations' strategies.
Then, in 2011, as part of a seminar on the subject, we began collaborating with the City of Liège to propose concrete challenges to students on the basis of which to develop innovative and sustainable projects. Over the years, the seminar has expanded to address issues faced by other cities, mainly in Wallonia, but also internationally.
At the same time, I was doing a postdoc in internationally recognized universities (Schulich School of Business, Toronto, Canada; Nottingham University Business School, UK(ICCSR); Leuphana University,Germany (CSM)) to develop projects and a network on the theme of sustainable management.
I therefore quickly focused part of my academic activities on the subject of "territories", with an interest in how management sciences can contribute to their current challenges. It was in this context that in January 2015 the Smart City Institute was officially launched with the support of a few companies (Accenture, Belfius & Proximus) and then of Wallonia from 2016.
Over time, our Walloon roots have been consolidated with the arrival of other companies, and we have developed our international reach via European projects (FEDER, Horizon Europe, Interreg) as well as structuring international partnerships with, among others, Texas, Quebec, Chile, Argentina, Australia, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Can you tell us a little more about the Institute's missions?
As an academic research center, the Smart City Institute's mission is to create knowledge in the field of sustainable and intelligent territorial transition management (Smart City).
Although studying the subject from a managerial angle, the institute has historically always shown a real multidisciplinary openness, collaborating with other disciplines such as applied sciences, environmental sciences, political sciences, agronomic sciences, and so on.
To achieve this mission, SCI's activities revolve around 3 main pillars: research, teaching and services.
More specifically, we conduct both fundamental and applied research that feed into each other in areas such as strategic steering, governance, public management and innovation management.
In terms of teaching, we train players to equip and guide them in their approaches to sustainable and smart transition. Finally, we support innovation by transferring our expertise to develop concrete approaches and projects.
What have been SCI's key achievements in 10 years?
In terms of research, we have already published around thirty scientific articles in peer-reviewed international journals such as Public Management Review, Ecological Economics and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. At the same time, we have also carried out numerous applied research projects in a variety of formats (barometers, practical guides, management models, research reports, etc.), which have been downloaded more than 30,000 times throughout the French-speaking world.
In terms of our teaching activities, we have trained thousands of students who have passed through our seminar benches between 2011 and 2024. We have also supported hundreds of professionals through our training courses, workshops and digital educational content.
With my team, we have always made a point of linking quality and excellence in research with academic and practical impact.
What are you most proud of today?
First and foremost, I'm proud of having created, federated and forged professional and human links with the members of my team, which includes researchers (PhD students, post-docs and seniors), applied researchers and project managers.
I have also developed a rich network of Belgian and international contacts around my research interests, with whom I have enjoyed collaborating for many years.
I'm also proud of my positioning. I've been able to develop the ability to publish and conduct my research, and today enjoy an international reputation for my academic activities, while at the same time having a concrete impact on organizational practices.
Finally, what prospects can you expect?
I am currently working with Dr. Uttara Purandare (postdoctoral researcher, Smart City Institute) and one of our scientific collaborators Prof. Martin de Jong (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) on a research project to study the role and influence of management consultants in the content of "Smart City" policies. This project is part of UNIC, an alliance of 10 European universities to which ULiège is associated and in which the institute is involved as an expert on sustainable and intelligent territories.
In parallel, I am also collaborating with Prof. Marta Almeida and Prof. Anne-Laure Fayard (NOVA SBE, Portugal) on a research project studying the dynamics of actors in sustainable and intelligent territorial projects in Portugal.
Of course, more projects will be unveiled over the coming months!
More generally, the Smart City Institute is one of the projects I've been developing over the past 10 years, as part of my wider expertise and academic activities in the fields of sustainability and strategic management of organizations.
For further information: nathaliecrutzen.be.
Photo gallery: 10 years of the Smart City Institute
