It was an inevitability. Since 2013 when the first edition of BIG initiative, promoted by Vodafone, which was even see that success was in how the technological solutions (in this case, apps) were connected to cities. Nor strange that almost all winners of previous editions are connected to tourism, the reception, visitation and experience in cities.
The evolution of BIG Apps for BIG Smart Cities is also accompanied by the inclusion of Sweden’s Ericsson, which is allied to Vodafone to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity in the search for solutions and ideas to mitigate or even solve problems and challenges faced by cities today. The areas will be four: Smart Mobility , Smart Living , Smart Tourism and Smart Governance
<. p> the big news this year is the “national” competition. “All cities will feel immense problems in the future,” says Mário Vaz, CEO of Vodafone. “Innovation is not confined to companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups are a key in the innovation process,” he added.
This new trend of “open space” for new actors of innovation is also shared the President of Ericsson Portugal. Pedro Queiroz says that “younger people are shut off from traditional business models, opting for things more in tune with the times.” Communication is a very important key in this new scenario, are already 2.5 billion people with mobile internet “and we also enter this pace of new business applications,” he says.
This is where all point the importance of cities in the future (and ever present). “We live now in a situation where we move from nation state to state cities that dominate the creation of wealth and ensure the welfare of citizens. Everything happens in the cities, “explains Carlos coins, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. “The future will be more open to citizens, more collaborative and more open to businesses,” he adds. “Companies will no longer be multinational to be multi-cities”, alluding to the new trends that smart cities are putting on the table, making it an economic and social development axis unparalleled.
prize of ten thousand euros for the winner
in practical terms, this year’s now “BIG Smart Cities” will consist of “a kind of pre-qualifiers” taking place in Oporto, Coimbra, Évora and Lisbon (may also be other). The winners of these qualifiers will be entitled to a symbolic prize of 500 euros and will direct the final.
The winner of the competition (to reveal in July) will receive a monetary incentive of ten thousand euros and also accede to an incubation project in Vodafone Power Lab, as well as a visit to a technological center of Ericsson in Europe.
the 20 finalists will also have access to a nine-week pre-acceleration program which are trained and mentoring .
applications are now open on the website www.bigsmartcities.com
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