EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROGRAMMES
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. SMART COMMUNITIES DIGITAL TWINS
Digital Twins is a European Commission program that advises 150 European cities on accelerating their digital transformation and developing their digital capabilities.
The Program’s objective is to promote the creation and implementation of local digital twins and other digital solutions in rural and urban areas, ensuring that technology is accessible to all and improving management capabilities and the anticipation of needs, challenges, or risks. One of the program’s outcomes is the development of a customized roadmap for each city, identifying key milestones and serving as a planning tool for the implementation of a local digital twin.
The project consists of different phases:
1. Sessions between cities and advisors.
2. LORDIMAS, a tool for assessing digital maturity that allows for the evaluation of the City Council’s digital process, fosters the exchange of open data, and promotes more efficient governance through various indicators.
3. Strategy evaluation.
4. Evaluation of IT infrastructure.
5. Customized digitalization roadmap for the Arteixo City Council.
6. Support for procurement, especially Public Procurement of Innovation and Public Market Consultations.
The period for carrying out these activities took place between April and August 2024.
INTELLIGENT CITIES CHALLENGE (ICC-EU) – LOCAL GREEN PACTS (LGD)
Within the framework of AURA and as the beginning of Phase 3 of the same (Shared Urban Agenda) the Arteixo City Council, within the framework of the European Commission’s Intelligent City Challenges (ICC) program, has projected the governance framework to create networks of concerted action between the public administration and other territorial agents, especially from the private sector and the third sector.
To this end, work is underway on 5 Local Green Deals (LGDs:
Local Green Pact on mobility.
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
Implementation of the territorial governance model, through the mobility table, between SUMPs and mobility plans of companies located in Arteixo, especially those with more than 500 employees.
Planned actions:
• Promotion of sustainable urban mobility (pedestrian and cyclist)
• Management of urban freight distribution (UFD)
• Creation of logistics areas for heavy goods vehicles
• Redevelopment of the Sabón Industrial Park.
Local Green Pact to promote sustainable construction and environmental regeneration.
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
To ensure the sustainability of the Great Meicende Park and to provide content to the renaturalization and environmental and landscape regeneration project.
Planned actions:
• Projection of ESG (environmental, sustainable, social and governance) to guarantee the activity of the project not only in the short term but in the long term.
• Recovery of agricultural plots in the vicinity of the Meicende dam, promotion of sustainable mobility, through pedestrian and cycling paths and the creation of CO2 sinks, and the integral water cycle, applying the principles of the new European Bauhaus.
Local Green Pact for the promotion of a local energy cooperative.
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
It is the continuation of the collaboration protocol signed by the City Council and Ekiluz, a company owned by Repsol and Krean (Mondragón Group), to promote the development of a pioneering local energy community, which will allow the people of Arteixo to generate their own solar energy.
The cooperative will build and operate a photovoltaic plant of about 1.7 megawatts with an area of two hectares.
Local Green Pact for the formalization of green infrastructure.
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
Currently, there is an agreement signed for the creation of a green infrastructure around large infrastructures and industrial sites.
The Green Deal focuses on the formalization of green infrastructure and the environmental and landscape improvement of the surroundings territorially linked to large infrastructures and industrial sites, as well as the configuration of CO2 sinks and the reintroduction of territorial metabolic logics based on natural solutions.
Local Green Pact for social inclusion and local production.
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
This Green Pact focuses on the creation of a sustainable workshop to enhance the integration into the labor market of people who are unemployed, excluded or at risk of exclusion, as well as the creation or reformulation of professional vocations.
The LGD’s approach focuses on creating a synergistic relationship between the public and private sectors, addressing key sustainability priorities such as waste reduction and the promotion of social equity. By linking the skills and resources of diverse stakeholders, the Inclusive Green Workshop aligns with the ecological and social objectives set out in the European Green Deal, while fostering innovative business models and inclusive employment opportunities in line with the actions integrated into AURA.
IMAGE GALLERY
CPI – PROCURE INNOVATION EU
The Arteixo City Council is implementing Public Procurement of Innovation in accordance with its Strategic Plan. Therefore, it is participating in the Procure Innovation EU training program for public buyers, whose main objective is to improve the adoption of public procurement of innovation within the European Economic Area (EEA).
Innovation in public administration strengthens the leadership role of policymakers and their ability to generate and implement new ideas. However, it also presents a challenge for the public sector, as these tools must be thoroughly understood and applied.
The general objectives:
• Promote the adoption of public procurement of innovation in the European Economic Area (EEA).
• To contribute to the EU’s economic growth by stimulating innovation and startups.
• Improve the business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by facilitating their access to public procurement.
Specific objectives:
• This initiative seeks to improve public procurement of innovation by promoting a cultural change within the public sector.
• The program will equip public buyers, including staff and decision-makers, with specialized training, encouraging awarding authorities to adopt a culture of innovation.
• It will cover both the legal and practical aspects of public procurement.
The first and most important step is for public procurement buyers to effectively address the challenges of public procurement based on value, quality, and innovation. This requires up-to-date and accurate knowledge of the different options available in the market and the opportunities and/or improvements associated with their innovation.
By participating in this program, the Arteixo City Council is acquiring skills to improve its technical competence in public procurement of innovation.
