Vastuu

Piloting a Dynamic and Inclusive Smart City on a Foundation of Trusted Data Sharing

Challenge

In Helsinki, we share the aim of many global cities, to be more liveable, sustainable and inclusive. “Smart cities” could help achieve these goals by using technology and data sharing to improve mass transit, waste management and other municipal services; enable more inclusive participation of citizens in our democracies; and solve problems like parking, pollution and more. But making our cities smarter is complex and requires comprehensive multimodal data solutions to create broader understanding of heterogeneous data assets. The challenge we face is that data markets and economies are fragmented, with information isolated in systems and devices. Data lakes and spaces together with soft infrastructure are here to help, but we needed to figure out how to implement models that are scalable and robust enough to be ready for adoption.  

Success

Focusing on decision-making around transportation as an area of critical importance, we sought to build a proof of concept for manytomany connections that could be utilized in a smart city context. Our case involved two data lakes – one associated with energy use, the other with transportation and logistics. With the help of common design principles, an ecosystem, a layered approach and building blocks, we were able to connect different parties together and make trusted and harmonized data sharing a reality. In this case, the result could be improved information around decision-making for transportation, but it is easy to see how this generalizes to other smart city scenarios where acquiring and integrating different data sources enables better decision-making, innovation and new service creation. 

More on this topic

Secure Sharing Supports Data Sovereignty and Business Between Organizations

By Juha Lyijynen

P

Benefits

  • Drives Europe’s data economy 
  • Next-level adoption and co-creation of value with commercial scenarios  
  • Fosters neutrality, standards and common language to avoid risks and enhance trust 
  • Helps establish the community and ecosystem to foster future innovation 

Partners

  • VTT 
  • Vastuu Group
  • GAIA-X

    ComPONENTS

    • DAPS 
    • IDS connectors
    • Data harmonization and case-specific ontologies