This spring, a new election is set up: which municipality has the smartest city center in the Netherlands? Initiator of this election is Smart Data City, a consortium of cooperating institutions. They have asked me to join as a member of the jury and as such judge the visions and projects of the participating municipalities.

The object of this election is to enhance the awareness of what “smart cities” mean to ordinary folks, and how it will turn the city into a safer, cleaner and better place to live and work. And of course, big data plays a role in it.

Apart from that, we want to raise familiarity with the wonderful initiatives that take place, as well as exchange experiences, knowledge and insights. By giving attention to abstract subjects as “big data”, we hope to increase the discussions about the huge amount of possibilities of smart initiatives in cities in governmental ranks.

A total of 44 Dutch municipalities were asked to send in projects and visions, and 39 of them responded: 19 participants sent in visions, and 20 joined with ongoing projects. These visions and projects were judged by way of the Scottish “Smart Cities Maturity Model” (January 2015). Their website explains it as follows:

The Scottish Government, working in conjunction with the Scottish Cities Alliance and on behalf of Scotland’s Cities, has commissioned consultants to jointly develop this Smart Cities Maturity Model and Self-Assessment Tool that will help Scotland’s cities:

• Assess where you currently are on the journey to being a smart city;
• Decide where you want to be by 2020 aligned to your strategic priorities;
• Identify what investments and adjustments are required to get you there; and,
• Consider whether any parts of your forward programme might be better advanced in collaboration with other cities and wider partners.

The Scottish model works with five indicators:

Each of these can be used to score a vision or a project, from 1 (no strategy, ad hoc) from 5 (strategically worked out on all levels within an organization). All smart city- submissions were judged by use of these indicators. The model is used to objectively choose the six finalists of the Smartest City Center of the Netherlands. Of course, the budgets of the municipalities were a factor in the judging as well.

In the category “Smartest Vision” we searched for the city with the best plan to serve as a guide for all other projects, and states the commitment for a longer term. The finalists in this category are:

• The Hague
• Alkmaar
• Utrecht

In the category “Smartest Projects” we also chose three finalists. In this category we investigated projects running in 2015-2016. The finalists here are:

• Breda (watermanagement: Robbie the Rat and Waterakers)
• Haarlem (4W Location Lab)
• Utrecht (civilian initiative for sharing energy)

The jury will visit these five cities these next weeks so we can eventually determine The Smartest City Center of the Netherlands.

Want to know more about the stories of these cities and the winner of this competition? Then subscribe here to join the grand finale Tuesday June 2nd, in the head quarters of ABN Amro in Amsterdam.

• Yves de Boer, chairman ‘Jaar van de Ruimte 2015’;
• Eric Fledderus, former CEO at TNO, since May CEO SURF;
• Ernst Wallinga, Co-owner of Anser, entrepreneur and business change manager;
• Han Wammes, Business Development Manager Geospatial Information Management;
• Ingeborg Koning, CEO QDIG and teacher Hogeschool voor de kunsten Utrecht;
• Kees Jansen, Smart City Strategist, Urban Philosopher and PhD Smarter Cities at the UvA;
• Leo Hompus, owner Riverconnect and specialist public WIFI;
• Rob de Wildt, CEO government at Cisco Netherlands;
• Rob van de Velde, CEO Geonovum;
• Roelof Hellemans, former CEO parking Amsterdam, owner “IkParkeer” and parking specialist;
• Paul Iske, Full Professor of Open Innovation and Business Venturing;
• Willemieke Hornis, Senior Policy Advisor at Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu.