- The urban entrepreneurship experiences promoted by Madrid Emprende and Ferrovial are presented in the program Madrid Smart Lab
- With the solutions presented, these entrepreneurs aim to improve the lives of citizens and generate wealth and employment in their environment.
Today the "Demo Day" of the Madrid Smart Lab program was held in the assembly hall of the Palacio de Cibeles, in which the urban entrepreneurship and open innovation projects developed were exhibited.
The project is based on the initiative presented on November 19, 2014 in which the City of Madrid , through Madrid Emprende, and Ferrovial Services They pledged to support technology startups and guide entrepreneurs towards the development of smart solutions. Ferrovial Services has provided its experience and financial means to develop the projects, and has had the support of the Network of Business Incubators of Madrid, in this case, the business incubator that the City Council manages in the Fuencarral-El Pardo district , in which entrepreneurs have been able to carry out their pilot projects.
Today it was possible to learn about the result of the work carried out, in which many agents have participated and in which viable business models have been developed, fundamentally aimed at urban mobility and also at improving the quality of life of the city.
Ignacio Gaston, General Director of Ferrovial Servicios España, has highlighted the importance of this new entrepreneurship model in which "urban innovation must involve city councils, universities, companies and citizens, with these being the center" and has stressed the importance of companies in the process, since they are the perfect platforms to encompass the entire ecosystem.
The nine solutions of the Madrid Smart Lab project have been presented by their developers, exposing the implementation and learning in the program.
Mobility challenge:
With the purpose of improving urban mobility and traffic management in the Las Tablas neighborhood (Madrid) and achieving a better quality of life for its residents, the following have been presented:
- i-bump: Smart speed bumps project for prudent driving, presented by Ismael Mature.
- buzzstreet: Manuel Delgado presented his application with which we can know the state of the city streets in real time.
- accitymaps: Concha Chapa, with its project of accessible routes for people with disabilities, highlighted cn to assist neighboring communities in which its ompanados of an adult.lics out.bar to the entire ecosystem. challenges and the innomo the Open Data platform has been essential for the application of their project.
- tracing: With their project "Pedibus" they organize groups of children who walk to school, safely and accompanied by an adult.
Quality of life challenge:
Seeking the creation of a strong community in the Las Tablas neighborhood, increasing the information channels and improving communication in said neighborhood, the following were presented:
- improve your city: In the MTC application, the client is the Public Administration and its product is software. Caterina López, has also highlighted the importance of the mentoring received.
- CivicLift, an application to assist neighborhood communities in which its promoter, Evan Dobos, has highlighted that they have already participated in other international StartUp projects and appreciate the high differential value of the support received in Madrid.
- SmartAppCity: The objective of this application is to report everything that happens in the city, promoting tourism and commerce. Ignacio Gurría has highlighted the importance that working with Madrid's Open Data has had for them, capturing data from the City Council and providing them with value through the application so that it is useful for the citizen. A clear example of a public-private collaboration model
- alehope: App that allows citizens to interact with their local environment. Enrique Samaniego has recognized how fundamental it has been for them to receive such practical training, since they have been able to find their weaknesses but also their strengths and thus be able to target other niches.
- CityCure, anti-graffiti solution to keep urban surfaces clean. Lars Kuhtnert has thanked the bridges that Ferrovial and the Madrid City Council have built for him to connect with all the actors. For him it is very important to go hand in hand with large companies that handle a lot of information and can help in achieving objectives.
Concepcion Dancausa, first deputy mayor and delegate of the Government area of Economy, Treasury and Public Administration, closed the event by remarking that "in the Madrid City Council we are very satisfied to be able to support these projects" since they fit with the objective of supporting talent and creativity and make available to all citizens the necessary means to turn their ideas or projects into businesses that have a positive impact on society. He also highlighted "the effort of the City Council to open its collaboration to all entrepreneurs wherever they come from, because that is the key to making Madrid an international benchmark in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation".
In the words of the first deputy mayor, “we believe that innovation is the oxygen of our society and that it is a vital element that cannot be predicted or forced, but one that we must support. What we have to do is prepare the conditions for this innovation to come to our city and spread throughout Spain”.
And these objectives are those that have been sought with the Madrid Smart Lab initiative and "we are on the right track because all the projects presented really improve the lives of all the citizens who live in a city".
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