ERDF – Wal-e-cities project

 

Wal-e-cities

Wal-e-Cities aims to create innovative citizen-centred IoT solutions in the fields of mobility, energy efficiency, governance and well-being. These developments are based on new wireless communication channels using street furniture and public lighting.

Wal-e-Cities is also market-oriented in order to facilitate the development of innovative ecosystems at the cutting edge of technology, meet societal challenges, foster start-ups and give a competitive advantage to Walloon companies.

Project : ECO ULg SCI

In the Wal-e-cities project, the Smart City Institute plays a transversal role linked to its expertise in management and economics to study the economic and societal impacts on Wallonia on the one hand and, on the other hand, to identify a series of approaches aimed at optimising the development of Smart City projects in Wallonia, within a common “Smart Region” perspective.

In concrete terms, the contribution of the Smart City Institute is therefore divided into two parts:

Analysis of the impact on Wallonia

The Smart City Institute will study the direct and indirect impacts of Smart City/Smart Region initiatives on Wallonia. The economic impacts will be analysed as well as the societal impacts through scientific research (theoretical research + empirical analysis of international and local cases). Positive - but also negative - impacts will be highlighted.

At the economic level, the impacts on the creation of start-ups and on existing Walloon companies/SMEs will be analysed in depth. Links with Walloon competitiveness clusters will also be investigated. Finally, potentially interesting and replicable new "business models" will also be identified and explained.

At the societal level, the impact of the projects on the well-being of Walloon citizens and visitors as well as the environmental impacts will be studied.

Leverage effect for the territory

On the basis of the analyses carried out in part 1 and with reference to international "best practices", a series of ideas aimed at optimising the development of "Smart City" projects in Wallonia, with a common view of the the "Smart Region", will be proposed, with particular attention to their contribution to the sustainable (economic and societal) development of the Walloon territory.

Through its transversal role in the project portfolio, the Smart City Institute will progressively monitor the implementation of the various projects on the territory in order to identify the facilitating elements and obstacles encountered.

WalEurope website : http://europe.wallonie.be