 

 


 


 


 


European Innovation Partnership on 


Smart Cities and Communities 


 

Operational Implementation Plan: 


First Public Draft 


 

 



Foreword 

The Sherpa Group of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities 
herewith presents the first public draft of the Partnership's Operational Implementation Plan. We 
invite all interested stakeholders to respond to this plan, especially by underlining the relevance of 
particular ideas for actions suggested by this plan or by proposing new ideas for action. 

This plan has been produced by members of the Sherpa Group; they split into altogether twelve 
working groups, one for each priority area as well as an additional one on issues concerning the 
general implementation. Working groups met many times to develop and discuss drafts, which were 
all presented in close to final versions to all members of the Sherpa Group on 27 January 2014 in 
Brussels. We tried with all drafts to make them easy to understand also by the general public, but at 
times a certain knowledge of EU policies and instruments is presupposed since further elaborating 
on those would have meant losing too much focus of the document. 

This is a live document, which will be updated in view of forthcoming events and actions under this 
Partnership. The Sherpa Group is grateful for the support received from the European Commission's 
Services (Directorate-Generals for Communications Networks, Content and Technologies; Energy; 
and Transport and Mobility) during this process. 

 



 

Table of contents 

 
1 Priority Area 'Sustainable Urban Mobility' ........................................................................................ 7 
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 7 
1.2 Potential Actions ........................................................................................................................ 7 
2 Priority Area 'Districts and Built Environment' ................................................................................ 15 
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 15 
2.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 15 
3 Priority Area 'Integrated Infrastructures' ........................................................................................ 27 
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 27 
3.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 27 
4 Priority Area 'Citizen Focus' ............................................................................................................. 35 
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 35 
4.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 35 
5 Priority Area 'Policy and Regulation'................................................................................................ 44 
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 44 
5.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 44 
6 Priority Area 'Integrated Planning and Management' .................................................................... 50 
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 50 
6.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 51 
7 Priority Area 'Knowledge Sharing' ................................................................................................... 58 
7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 58 
7.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 58 
8 Priority Area 'Baselines, Performance Indicators and Metrics' ....................................................... 63 
8.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 63 
8.2 Potential actions ...................................................................................................................... 63 
9 Priority Area 'Open Data' ................................................................................................................. 68 
9.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 68 
9.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 68 
10 Priority Area 'Standards' .............................................................................................................. 75 
10.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 75 
10.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 76 

 11 Priority Area 'Business Models, Finance and Procurement' ....................................................... 86 
11.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 86 
11.2 Potential Actions ...................................................................................................................... 87 
12 General Implementation Modes ................................................................................................. 94 
12.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 94 
12.2 Implementation Tools .............................................................................................................. 95 
13 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 99 
Annexes .................................................................................................................................................. 100 
Annex A: Local Ecosystems – a framework ........................................................................................... 100 
Annex B: Example cases of Local Ecosystems ....................................................................................... 102 
Annex C: Country Landscaping .............................................................................................................. 105 


 


Purpose of this Document 


 

This Operational Implementation Plan (OIP) is a companion document to the Strategic 
Implementation Plan (SIP) of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities. 

The SIP laid out the general direction and the overall goals for the Partnership, which it defined as "a 
significant improvement of citizens' quality of life, an increased competitiveness of Europe's industry 
and innovative SMEs together with a strong contribution to sustainability and the EU's 20/20/20 
energy and climate targets".1 The SIP specified eleven priority areas as a framework for actions to 
advance against these goals and spelled out recommendations for actions in these areas. 

1 Strategic Implementation Plan, p. 3; see "An Energy Policy for Europe" [COM(2007) 1 final] for the 20/20/20 energy and 
climate targets. 

The OIP takes the SIP framework with its eleven priority areas (see graphic below) and 
recommendations as its starting point, and develops each in more detail. It offers examples 
intended to inspire interested parties responding to the Commission's 2014 Invitation for 
Commitments, as well as guide further implementation action that the Partnership could launch at a 
later stage. 

 

The OIP includes a dedicated section for each of the eleven priority areas. Each section starts with a 
brief introduction that provides some context and outlines why this area should be of concern to 
those seeking to advance smart cities in Europe. It provides a table with a number of potential 
actions that are relevant in the respective area, and also details how they relate to what was stated 
in the SIP. A limited number of these are then developed in more detail – addressing: context; goals; 
deliverables; preconditions; implementation methods, and monitoring. Through this more in-depth 
coverage we seek to make each action feel quite practical. 


Similar topics may be addressed in different priority areas, however these are dealt with from the 
perspective of that particular priority area – such is the nature of inter-dependent city systems. This 
fits with the spirit of the SIP, which is crucially about overcoming sectoral silos and integrating 
solutions in the urban context across the sectors of information and communication technologies, 
energy production, distribution and use as well as transport and mobility. Specifically, the SIP makes 
three key recommendations to this end: 

- Use agreed standards, protocols and common data formats that facilitate interoperability 
across systems, prevent vendor lock-in and foster competition; 
- Make data accessible also to third parties (whilst fully respecting consumer privacy and 
protection of legitimate business interests) so to foster the development and uptake of 
novel applications; 
- Re-use existing infrastructure and put it to multiple use. 


Besides working across the sectoral domains of ICT, energy and transport and mobility it is of equal 
importance to integrate actors across the innovation chain, to bring together the supply and 
demand side and engage citizens in planning decisions at an early stage. 

The intent is for this OIP to remain a live document, and it is currently publicly available in its first 
version. We foresee updates based on the responses to the European Commission's Invitation for 
Commitments process, and other ongoing EIP activities. 

The latter section of the OIP discusses implementation of the smart cities and communities EIP, and 
identifies a number of areas that will be developed further to ensure we advance in a programmatic 
manner. This includes the likes of elaborating quantifiable targets against which the Partnership can 
benchmark its own progress. 

Through the potential actions in this OIP, and continued mobilisation of European city stakeholders 
we firmly believe we can make advances to ‘smartening up our cities’ in a way that is true to the 
principles of this Partnership. 

 

 

 


1 Priority Area 'Sustainable Urban Mobility' 

1.1 Introduction 

The SIP stresses the need for substantial changes in Europe's transport systems, as well as in the 
mobility behaviour of people and businesses in urban areas. Solutions concern the creation of an 
efficient and integrated mobility system that allows for organising and monitoring seamless 
transport across different modes; increasing the use of environmentally-friendly, alternative fuels; 
creating new opportunities for collective mobility. The proposed solutions lead to a decreased 
environmental impact. 

 

1.2 Potential Actions 

Key response strategies suggested by stakeholders include actions to better address transport 
demand as well as actions to foster more efficient, cost-effective and high-quality forms of 
transport. Smart city innovations provide important opportunities in this regard (Table 1). 

 

 

# 

Title 

Summary 

Link to SIP 
action 

Actions to better address supply 

1 

Improve clean 
power for 
transport: vehicles 
and infrastructure 

Tackling electric/different hybrid technologies and their 
infrastructure to accelerate mass-shift to cleaner forms of 
transport will help achieve economic gains, reduce energy 
consumption and address the inter-dependence with 
energy systems and public space. 

#1: Make 
solutions widely 
available 

2 

Foster seamless 
door-to-door multi-
modality in urban 
transport 

Better connecting transport modes, nodes and mobility 
services (e.g. inter-modal mobility hubs, integrated 
information platforms for transport operators, cooperative 
ITS) will enable integrated public transport and new urban 
traffic and transport management solutions. 

#1: Make 
solutions widely 
available 

3 

Further clean 
logistics 

Improving the logistics supply chain can trigger both 
efficiency and reduction of environmental impact (e.g. 
electrification of the "first and last mile of delivery") 

#1: Make 
solutions widely 
available 

Action to better address demand 

4 

Open up 
intelligence in 
urban transport 
systems 

Supporting partnerships that use open data will create 
additional value for. Public transport, ICT and energy 
providers, but also private users/social media leading to 
demand-responsive and integrated mobility services which 
help minimise energy consumption. 

#1: Make 
solutions widely 
available; 

#3: Encourage 
active citizen 
engagement 

5 

Enable tools for 
seamless door-to-
door multi-modality 

Enable integrated ticketing and tools for personalised 
transport planning (e.g. inclusive mobility services, new 
payment services) will enable faster, smoother travel using 
different modes, optimize traffic streams, minimise energy 
consumption and traffic congestion. 

#1: Make 
solutions widely 
available; 

6 

Promote 
sustainable and 
integrated mobility 
planning 

Planning based on the European concept of sustainable 
urban mobility plans (SUMP) will help to utilise synergies 
and links between transport, energy and ICT in urban 
transport effectively and engage citizens 

# 3: Encourage 
active citizen 
engagement 

7 

Promote use of 
cleaner vehicles 

Cities can provide incentive schemes by giving priority in 
urban areas for the use of collective transport and for clean 
logistics, as well as incentives for sharing of goods vehicles 
and distribution infrastructure. 

# 1: Make 
solutions widely 
available; 

 



Commitments in one of these or other relevant areas of innovative smart city action are welcome. 
The remainder of this chapter provides more depth in three potentially relevant example actions: 


1. Better integration and management of collective city transport for door-to-door seamless 
multi-modality 
2. Better electrification of collective city transport 
3. Improved urban freight logistics and distribution 


 

A number of cross-cutting actions that are addressed in greater detail in other priority areas in the 
OIP also support the implementation of the actions described above, particularly if lessons learned 
are formed into easy to use guidance documents ("city toolkits for deployment" (SIP action area nr. 
2)): 

. Discussion forums can be set up to share know-how about new models of cooperation and 
to explore good practice on organisational forms that suit local partners’ needs; approaches 
to determining the most optimal geographic scope and or suitable governance structures; 
. New cooperation forms at city level between different organisations (both public and 
private) and including transport operators and community organisations; 
. Designing targeted regulatory and non-regulatory incentives such as specific innovation 
zones in cities for large-scale testing; tax or fee brakes or open innovation competitions; 



1.2.1 Potential Action 1: Better integration and management of collective city transport for seamless 
multi-modal mobility (door-to-door) 

 

Context 

Mobility around a city is of critical value for residents, businesses and visitors. Yet presently the 
experience is too fragmented and unreliable. Many cities face major problems with congestion, air 
pollution, GHG-emissions and related socio-economic costs. Attractive, accessible and integrated 
public transport provides an alternative transport option. It can also attract businesses. Greater use 
of public transport also helps avoid pollution, and facilitates low-carbon transport and better traffic 
management. Cities should exploit the enormous potential of integrated, ICT-based solutions for 
real-time and targeted transport and traffic monitoring and management. Convenient door-to-door 
multi-modal real-time urban mobility will increase the attractiveness of cities. 

 

Goals 

The goal is to improve and better connect public transport and ‘soft’ modes (especially walking and 
cycling) across modes by applying smart urban technologies and services to transform the traveller's 
experience. 

Deliverables 

Providing suitable (technological) options: 

. Foster solutions such as inter-modal mobility hubs and stations in urban quarters to better 
connect transport modes, nodes and mobility services; 
. Upgrade and embed intelligence (e.g. sensors, cooperative ITS solutions) in infrastructure 
and public transport vehicles; foster automation concepts such as automated metros and 
trams; develop integrated, real-time information platform for transport operators; advance 
new tools for business analytics; connect city transport systems to social media (use and 
feedback); 
. Establish suitable entry and payment systems (e.g. mobility cards), enable integrated 
ticketing and provide tools for personalised transport planning. 


 

Setting the right incentives/supporting actions: 

. Identify models and standards for an optimum connection and use of different modes of 
transport (suitable settlement systems, criteria for the choice of locations of e.g. mobility 
stations, mobility management methods, integrate e-mobility where appropriate). 
. Incorporate multimodality measures into local planning and land use policies: planning and 
adaptation of sustainable urban mobility plans. 
. Organise information events in quarters to enabling information exchange and to increase 
knowledge on all existing options regarding a sustainable multimodal mobility. 
. Support partnerships to encourage sharing and pooling of vehicles. 
. Create financial incentive schemes to convince citizens and companies to purchase 
innovative technologies and services. 


 

Preconditions 

Successful actions will require the contribution and support from a broader range of actors: 

. City authorities (including all relevant departments) take political decisions, provide a long-
term political framework and allocate financial support to create conditions of certainty; 
. Public transport service and infrastructure operators collaborate and are involved in shaping 
the contents of the action; 



. Public and private companies from different sectors (public transport supply chain, 
operators and authorities, infrastructure construction, equipment, ICT, management and 
maintenance) need to be brought together; 
. City residents are involved early on to ensure buy-in and check practical feasibility; 
. Financial institutions, to enable new, attractive financing tools together with city authorities. 


 

Monitoring 

Progress can be monitored against a number of fixed output and outcome indicators: 

. Concrete outputs: 
o Usage of public modes of transport 
o Passenger delays 
o Development of accurate and simple fare collection capabilities 
o Roll-out of integrated infrastructures / interchanges (mobility hubs) 
o Roll-out and integration of infrastructure and ICT 


. Outcomes 
o GHG emission reduction 
o Reduction of air pollutants 
o Improved quality and accessibility of transport and mobility for both passengers and 
businesses 




 

 


1.2.2 Potential Action 2: Electrification of public transport 

 

Attractive, easy to use, accessible and integrated public transport network provides an alternative 
transport option to private transport modes for individuals and attracts businesses to cities. Greater 
use of public transport also helps to avoid pollution and facilitates low-carbon transport and traffic 
management. Shifts to integrated and cleaner technology in public transport, such as energy 
efficiency and electrification provide an important option for city managers and planners. 

 

Goal 

The goal is to strengthen and support the competitiveness of European companies through growing 
markets on sustainable mobility solutions – in Europe and globally. Electrification will strongly 
depend on the effective interplay of transport infrastructure, transport operators energy 
infrastructure and ICT, for both charging and intelligent energy management. Electrification and 
integration of public transport on the basis of a multi-modal approach provides a sufficient 
alternative to individual private transport and provides an effective option to address the need for 
cutting GHG emissions, limited environmental impact, improving quality of life, cutting congestion 
and improving energy security. 

 

Deliverable 

The right technological solutions: 

. City-commitment to a strategy to roll out electric public transport modes (buses, trolley 
busses, trams, metro vehicles, shared mobility solutions etc.) within an approach to 
integrated transport and to use their infrastructure to exchange surplus energy with the 
energy system – using ICT to manage energy flows; 
. City plan to reinforce network capacities, also in support of smart charging and integration 
of public transport vehicles; 
. Focussed actions under these frameworks could tackle specific propulsion 
technologies/fuels: electric, different hybrid technologies. 


 

The right incentives: 

. Subsidies/tax breaks to operators of low-carbon public transport systems 
. Create new financial instruments to invest in sustainable transport vehicles alongside the 
necessary infrastructure 
. Using existing evidence (e.g. Green Bus fund UK) and new toolkits of the benefits of 
procurement of alternatively fuel vehicles – transforming public vehicle fleet, where there is 
significant interest and broad experience in using electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. 


 

Preconditions 

Successful actions will require the contribution and support from a broader range of actors: 

. City authorities (including all relevant departments) take political decisions, provide a long-
term political framework and allocate financial support to create conditions of certainty; 
. Public transport service and infrastructure operators collaborate and are involved in shaping 
the contents of the action; 
. Public and private companies from different sectors (public transport supply chain, 
operators and authorities, infrastructure construction, equipment, ICT, management and 
maintenance) need to be brought together; 
. City residents are involved early on to ensure buy-in and check practical feasibility; 
. Financial institutions, to enable new, attractive financing tools together with city authorities. 


 

 


Monitoring 

Progress can be monitored against a number of fixed output and outcome indicators: 

. Concrete outputs: 
o Number of vehicles powered by alternative fuels 
o Roll-out of network components 
o Roll-out and integration of infrastructure and ICT 


. Outcomes 
o Public transport integration and demand management in real time 
o Energy security and efficiency 
o GHG emission reduction 
o Reduction of air pollutants 
o Improved quality and accessibility of transport and mobility for both passengers and 
businesses. 
o Reduced congestion and enhanced city financial capabilities 




 


1.2.3 Potential Action 3: Clean, efficient urban logistics and freight distribution 

 

Context 

Urban logistics and freight is essential for every part of daily life in cities; ensuring that shops and 
businesses are stocked, equipment is repaired, home deliveries are made, buildings are supplied and 
waste is removed. Although being a modest part of overall urban traffic, inefficient planning and 
delivery of urban logistics and freight can have a major impact on congestion, noise, air pollution and 
greenhouse gas emissions. Transport delays also cause economic cost and decrease the 
attractiveness and competitiveness of cities. Improving the "first and last mile" of delivery is crucial 
for cities growth and competitiveness, particularly at a time when (partially large) increases in 
online-sales can lead to more home-deliveries in retail and where shops need more frequent 
deliveries because they chose to have much less inventory, more (fresh) produce and longer opening 
hours. New business models products, services and are entering the market, for example using 
cleaner, quiet delivery vehicles and new services to deal with the 'last mile' home delivery also 
tackling noise problems. Electrification of the “last mile” opens up new opportunities. Provision of 
parking sensors and other infrastructural intelligence enables streamlining of city logistics. Some 
measures are simple to take; others require up-front investment (new vehicles) or changes in urban 
structures (logistic centres) and require greater planning and resolve. 

 

Goals 

The goal is to make urban freight logistics efficient, seamless and low-emission through using smart 
urban technologies and services which can also help improve business-to-business and business-to-
customer services and reduce overall energy use. A mix of alternative fuels and electrification (less 
energy use), enabling ICT applications for better analysis, planning and organisation, vehicle and 
transport equipment innovation as well as enabling planning and governance innovation is needed. 

 

Deliverable 

The right (technological) options: 

. City initiatives to help improve load factors and planning of delivery and service trips; to 
create new distribution schemes and creation of delivery space; to switch business models 
to off-peak delivery; to increase the use of non-road modes including rail, bike or urban 
waterways; to push for early introduction of new vehicles etc.; 
. City planning to support electrification of the "last mile", including logistic centres around 
cities and shifting to electric vehicle fleets for last mile delivery. 
. Integrated urban planning for best managing urban logistics demand, for example for 
establishing consolidation and distribution centres in urban areas (e.g. around main train 
stations and waterways with smaller centres near subway or tram stations) to enable new 
distribution and service patterns (load consolidation both possible for multiple actors in 
shared or single actors in owned centres); creation of low emission zones to restrict access 
for heavy duty trucks or special corridors for cleaner delivery vehicles, including heavy-duty 
trucks that are latest state of the art in eco-efficiency and load consolidation. 
. Set up platforms and tools to better share experiences from large scale pilot programmes. 2 
This will be accompanied with work on urban logistics applications, innovative logistics 
management software, and local policy, as well as needs for cross-border harmonisation to 
enable better market development. 


2 For example, in the EU funded FREVUE2 project 127 electric freight vehicles take part in a large demonstration programme in eight 
European cities. 


. Develop ICT tools for city authorities to better understand, coordinate and hence optimise 
freight patterns in cities (information, data, modelling, prediction for better planning and 
regulation). 


 

Setting the right incentives/supporting actions: 

. Identify models and standards for sustainable city logistics; 
. Review and adapt regulations on access to urban city centres, e.g. creating specific time 
window restrictions for clean vehicles, electronic access control, environmental zones, or 
creating ”pollution-free zones”;3 
. Financial incentive schemes to convince freight companies to purchase EVs/hybrids to move 
towards zero-emission logistics. 
. Labelling and certification programs for freight companies, their suppliers and consumers 
. Incorporating freight into local planning and land use policies: planning and adaptation of 
sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP); 
. Organise driver support through trainings; 
. Support freight partnerships to encourage sharing and pooling of vehicles and freight; 


3 If the delivery of goods can be done with less noise and exhaust fumes, then it could be done in the late evening or at night, thereby 
creating a split between transport of goods and transport of people. Pilot projects have been running in the Netherlands (called silent 
deliveries or "PIEK") and in other cities across Europe. For an overview, see www.niches-
transport.org/fileadmin/archive/Deliverables/D4.3b_5.8_b_PolicyNotes/14683_pn7_night_delivery_ok_low.pdf 

 

Preconditions 

Successful actions will require the contribution and support from a broader range of actors: 

. Developing broad partnerships where local authorities, inhabitants, drivers and retailers are 
encouraged to work together. 
. Private companies from different stages in the logistics supply chain need to be brought 
together. 


 

Monitoring 

Progress can be monitored against a number of fixed output and outcome indicators: 

. Concrete outputs: 
o Increased reliability of deliveries (company reporting on average delay of delivery) 
o Number of new ICT applications to facilitate better analysis, planning and 
organisation 
o Increased use of cleaner, alternatively fuel-delivery vehicles, or electric vehicles 
o Number of urban distribution centres 
o Number of pollution-free or environmental zones 


. Outcomes 
o Decreased GHG-emissions of freight transport logistics in urban areas 
o Reduced costs for transport logistics 
o Reduction of air pollutants 




 

 


2 Priority Area 'Districts and Built Environment' 

2.1 Introduction 

The main challenge in ‘Districts and Built Environment’ is to reduce energy use, environmental 
impact and carbon footprint, entail competitive industries for jobs and growth and at the same time 
ensure societal and social development and the well-being of citizens. The investment needed to 
improve energy efficiency, generate low carbon energy, modernize infrastructure and create high 
quality living environments is enormous. At the same time, cities have limited access to planned 
financial resources for systemic change, which requires the activation of private capital combined 
with public investment. 

Currently our existing building stock plays a major role in energy consumption (40% of EU final 
energy demand). This stresses the need for affordable and sustainable retrofit solutions at a large 
scale. However, since buildings last several decades, it is essential to find energy efficient, low 
carbon solutions for new buildings and districts as well. The major challenge in this area is the scaling 
up of (new) solutions and materials. 

Recognizing every city has its different surroundings, it is essential to combine requirements: 

. To give stakeholders (industry, cities, operators...) tools needed to take appropriate systemic 
or individual decisions and facilitate scaling up solutions by enabling industries to provide 
solutions that are fit for purpose and at the same time come with reasonable pricing and 
quality 
. To provide the large scale launching ground needed for new concepts to test and unleash 
the market and to test and implement new financial products and models. 


The starting point of the actions in this chapter is the building itself and the focus on using, 
combining and implementing on-the-market and near-to-market solutions. Not on reinventing the 
wheel, but cleverly combining and fine-tuning what is available to make it applicable at a large scale 
for existing as well as new buildings and districts. The focus however does not stop at the building – 
rather it addresses ‘place-making’ with people, in communities within cities. 

2.2 Potential Actions 

The actions in the table below are categorized according with the action areas that were mentioned 
in the SIP. Per area several actions are mentioned. This list of actions is not exhaustive nor excluding 
other potential actions and proposals. 

 

# 

Title 

Summary 

Link to SIP Action 

Actions to enable scale up 

1 

Toolkits for 
Districts 

(See potential 
actions) 

Develop scalable design and multi-criteria toolkits that 
support integration of existing and new buildings 
within city districts 

#1 Toolkit. 

Integrated planning; 

Open data; 

Standards. 

3 

Auditing Tools for 
Districts 

(See potential 
actions) 

Develop auditing tools/systems and development of 
framework on measured variables for existing as well 
as new buildings and districts. 

#4 Auditing tools. 

Integrated planning; 

Open data; 

Standards 

3 

Monitoring Tools 
for Energy 

Develop and deploy monitoring tools to achieve 
performances in terms of energy efficiency and 
financial viability 

Open data; 

Standards. 

4 

City-Region 
Energy 

Develop and enhance city region level energy 
management and trading systems (performance 

 

Business Models 




