City of Things for City Governments

Meeting urban challenges

Building a real smart city is not about cramming it with new technology. It is, instead, about leveraging that technology to address – and help solve – the ever-growing number of urban challenges that city councils are faced with. Within the City of Things program, we develop creative digital and technological solutions to support the cities of the future. Our use cases focus on common urban challenges such as mobility, security, sustainability, energy, or urban planning (among others).

Antwerp as a testing ground to drive smart city innovation

One of the unique features of City of Things is the tight collaboration between imec and the City of Antwerp. For imec, it constitutes a unique opportunity to develop and test new technologies in a real-life scenario. For Antwerp, it is a chance to attract high-tech companies and organizations that can implement innovative solutions to the city’s main issues through shared research and demonstrators.

Yet, it is not only the City of Antwerp that benefits from the City of Things project: its impact can also be measured on a regional (Flemish) level: committed to implementing its Smart Flanders program, the Flemish Region can find in Antwerp a trial run for smart city technologies that could later be implemented in other Flemish cities. The successes, failures, insights and lessons learned in Antwerp can easily be transposed, turning Flanders into a truly smart region, and a European reference in the field.

Lastly, on an international scale, Antwerp is in a position to offer thought leadership to other cities worldwide, advising on the best practices to implement a robust and sustainable smart city program on their grounds.

Bringing the City of Things to your town

The city of Antwerp is our key testing ground, but our aim is to transfer the knowledge and expertise that we gather here to other cities as well. Are you interested in collaborating in one of our current projects?

Or do you believe that your city could become the next smart city? We can help you get your smart city project off the ground!

For more information, contact Nik Van den Wijngaert (Business Development Manager City of Things).