CARNET Participates at the “Smart Cities: Smart Future” Workshop Organized by the General Consulate of Hungary

The General Consulate of Hungary organized the “Smart Cities: Smart Future” workshop and networking event on 18 November 2021 in collaboration with the Digitális Jólét Program Nonprofit Ltd. (#DigitalSuccessProgramme) and #HiQGlobal. The event was held at Real Club de Tennis in Barcelona and the line-up was packed with smart city experts.

To start with, Joan Duran Bofarull, Director General for Innovation and Digitalization from Generalitat de Catalunya, and Dóra Zakar, from Digitális Jólét Program, delivered keynotes speeches, presenting the Catalan digital development strategy called #SmartCatalonia and the Hungarian Digital Export Strategy, respectively. It proved that there is a great potential for Hungarian companies in the field of digital and smart city solutions and opportunities for collaboration between two countries since some innovative developments can be complementary to the existing Spanish base.

Having reviewed the digitalisation situation, Hungarian and Spanish experts and startups discussed the latest changes, opportunities, and trends in smart city development during a panel discussion – moderated by Adam Juhasz from HiQ Global with interventions of Sergi Artigas from Leitat Technological Center, Roger Suarez, from ACCIÓ, Josep Maria Aymami, from Aimsun, Bartosz Wybraniec, from CARNET, and Daniel Vincz, from Mollia.

Bartosz Wybraniec, Mobility Scouter representing CARNET at the event, highlighted the importance of public-private collaboration and of synergies between different actors within urban mobility to facilitate innovation and create opportunities for students, entrepreneurs, professionals, and all those with new ideas for more dynamic and liveable cities.

In this regard, he introduced to the audience some of CARNET’s projects, such as Citython or the Autonomous Driving Challenge (ADC), which seek to bridge the gap between academic research and industry.

Finally, when asked about the most promising innovation for the future of smart cities, he stressed that, apart from the technological solutions, social innovation – understood as co-creation activities and active citizens involvement along the decision-making process – should play a crucial role in creating more sustainable, future-proof and inclusive cities and their mobility ecosystems.

Ultimately, Hungarian startups with experience in smart city development such as Beyond Visual, Grape Solutions, Smart Lynx, Waterscope, Tungsram, Mollia, roboGaze, realCity, Kuube, HeatVentors, and Safety in Your Hand presented themselves to Spanish commercial and institutional counterparts at the event.