Barcelona - Spain's Second Smartest City

Image by Jsome1 via Flickr

According IDC’s Smart Cities Index Ranking, Barcelona is the second “smartest” city in Spain. In relation to Málaga, Barcelona scores less high in the smartness dimensions, but compensated with a much better starting position (the enabling forces). From the outset, Barcelona benefitted from high adoption of ICT and mobile solutions. In the smartness dimensions, Barcelona excels in smart mobility.

Barcelona is a leader in Spain in terms of revolutionizing its transport sector, and has been designated the hub of innovation for electric vehicles. Spain’s transport sector is responsible for 37.9% of final consumption of energy and accounts for more than a quarter of total CO2 emissions. Spain is actively facilitating the acquisition of low emission vehicles, for instance by offering subsidies (of up to €7,000 per vehicle) for plug-in hybrid or pure electric plug-in vehicles.

Barcelona’s LIVE project has made it the innovation hub for electric vehicles. LIVE is a public-private platform which aims to support and promote the development of electric mobility in the city and metropolitan area of Barcelona. The development partners in the project are Barcelona City Council (Environment, Mobility, and Economic Promotion), the Government of Catalonia (Catalan Energy Institute), Endesa, and Seat. Other partners and collaborators include IDAE (the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy, Ministry of Industry), UPC, IREC, Leitat, STA (Technical Automotive Society), Barcelona Digital, TMB, BSM, Regesa, Tabasa, Saba Abertis, Catmoto, Nissan/Renault, Toyota, Siemens, Volt-Tour, Avele/Avere, Altran, Quimera, Idiada, RACC, Circutor, and Initzia.