Barcelona launches technological innovation challenges to speed up the achievement of the Agenda 2030

• The commissioner of the Agenda 2030 partners with Barcelona Serveis Municipals (B:SM) and Mobile World Capital Barcelona via its programme, Digital Future Society, to find solutions that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS).
• The innitiative Innovaction 2030 will allow a total of eight challenges to be launched in two years and will be tested in real environments with a pilot of the best solutions
• The first two challenges, which have already been published, seek to find solutions that will help offer a more inclusive visit to Park Güell or the Zoo of Barcelona, two spaces managed by B:SM
• In addition, a call for companies and entrepreneurs to find a system for monitoring the correct employment of parking spaces reserved for specific vehicles has been set
• The districts of Les Corts, Eixample and Horta-Guinardó will also be scenes of three challenges that the City Hall and Mobile World Capital Barcelona will pose shortly

4 October, 2021

Barcelona, October 4^th, 2021.- The Commissioner of the Agenda 2030, depending of the third tenure of mayoralty; the municipal company Barcelona Serveis Municipals (B:SM), a reference and pioneer in the development of urban mobility solutions and aspects of culture, entertainment and leisure around the city; and Mobile World Capital Barcelona through Digital Future Society, have signed a stable partnership agreement to boost innovation and resolve some of the challenges posed by the Agenda 2030 and improve some of the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS).

As a result of this collaboration the programme Innovaction2030 will propose a total of eight challenges that help identify digital and technological solutions which respond to different urban problems. The challenges arise through an innovative public procurement mechanism promoted by BSM and innovation calls raised by DFS, which is nourished by collaboration with companies, organizations or entrepreneurs with vocation and capacity to generate innovation.

In each case, a public contest is published to find technical solutions that provide a better response to the challenges, and consequently hire and pilot these solutions to a real environment of Barcelona. The objective of this project aims to detect technological proposals that have a positive impact on citizens in these initial defined areas. Furthermore, in cases of success, the possibility of upscaling the project in other geographical areas or in a larger number of beneficiaries will be considered.

The project has a total budget of 951,888 euros, contributed by the City Council of Barcelona and Mobile World Capital Barcelona. A part of this budget, 491,888 euros, is the sum that allows B:SM to request its five challenges. The initiative invites entrepreneurs, organizations, and disruptive companies to propose innovative solutions based on data and technology.

The drive of these challenges must be understood within the Barcelona City Council’s strategy to create an action plan and achieve the 2030 Agenda Plan.

Challenges 1 and 2: inclusive visits to Park Güell and Barcelona’s Zoo

Barcelona wants to become a more accessible and inclusive city. To advance towards universal accessibility, the city has opted to take advantage of data usage and technology to make people with sensory and cognitive diversity enjoy public spaces, specifically the Zoo of Barcelona and Park Güell, and therefore ensure their rights to education, leisure, and culture.

As far as Park Güell is concerned, as it is a protected architectural heritage, there are certain limitations to adapt infrastructure adequacies and its signalling, although there is an adapted route that allows people with reduced mobility to observe the park’s most relevant spaces. The challenge seeks to offer a new perspective to the visit, so that people with other functional diversities can discover and enjoy the location.

Regarding the Zoo, an opportunity opens around the biomes that recreate natural habitats of animals, following the direction of their New Model. The installation of the Sahel Sabana is the first large space to be set up according to these criteria, and access is already guaranteed for people with reduced mobility. It is an interesting space that can go further and achieve universal access, adapting the space for people with sensory and cognitive diversity, which would allow it to be a reference in this transformation.

The innovative solutions proposed for these two emblematic spaces must have the capacity to adapt and replicate in other public spaces.

Challenge 3: a system for the control and correct use of road vehicles with right to reserve parking slots for people with functional diversity

Public spaces in cities, where more and more population concentrate, are finite. Currently in Barcelona there are various types of reserved parking slots, such as those for the urban distribution of merchandise, official services, or the green and blue areas, among others. This implies the need to positively discriminate certain groups in order to distribute this area fairly.

These reserves have a growing tendency to limit public space and any new needs that arise, such as multidisciplinary seats or shared mobility vehicles. For that reason, the challenge is to find a solution capable of establishing a system of parking permits for people with functional diversity.

Challenges 4 and 5: Electromobility

With the general objective of becoming a sustainable city, Barcelona wants to ensure that electric vehicles deployment is viable. The penetration of electric vehicles is considerable and the city is the leading player in the Spanish state in terms of the development of electromobility, with the management of the Endolla Barcelona network by B:SM.

With a vision towards the future, it is necessary to optimise the distribution services of power and vehicle charging points, using technologies that allow greater efficiency, and a flexible solution is therefore needed.

These challenges, which are still in the process of technical definition and will be launched in a second phase of the project, will primarily raise questions of hardware, to find solutions of independent chargers that are not dependent of a plug-in concrete parking slots. Its aim is to achieve a quick, simple and economical implementation, giving the project a large scale.

Agreement between the City Hall and Digital Future Society to launch imminently three challenges in the districts

Apart from the challenges already underway, Digital Future Society is working with the managers of three districts of Barcelona – Les Corte, Eixample and Horta-Guinardó – to define three challenges of innovation in the territory. In this case, Digital Future Society will take care to pose different challenges for each district on universal remote accessibility issues, arising from tourism and urban mobility. From this definition, DFS will also manage the search, selection, and implementation of the chosen projects.

More information on the Barcelona website.cat/innovaccio2030 

Agenda 2030: a commitment of all

The United Nations Agenda 2030 has defined 17 Sustainable Development Objectives (ODS) and 169 milestones aimed at solving environmental, economic, and social challenges worldwide. The City Council has committed itself to promote the implementation and monitoring of the Agenda 2030, both in the municipal structure and in the city of Barcelona. To seek alliances with civil society and economic sectors, for the achievement of the ODS.

Barcelona has published an on-line and open data web to follow the evolution of their Agenda 2030, a platform where indicators can be consulted to discover how the city progresses in compliance with the ODS. The website shows the evolution of the 17 objectives, through data that can be accessed and presented in tables and graphics.

https://sdgdata.barcelona.cat/