CEF Smart Cities Webinars

The digital arm of the Connecting Europe Facility improves the daily lives of European citizens via investments in digital Building Blocks, cross-border digital infrastructures, and broadband networks. It facilitates the cross-border interaction between public administrations, businesses or citizens. It promotes economic growth and supports the completion and functioning of the internal market, enhancing the competitiveness of the European economy. CEF-supported projects help create and maintain a European ecosystem of interoperable and interconnected digital services and thus help sustain the Digital Single Market.

In August 2018, the CEF Programme successfully went live with the Context Broker Building Block. The Context Broker is the core component of the FIWARE platform. The Context Broker, which is able to handle context information on a large scale by implementing standard REST APIs, has been added to the European Data Portal and its core service platform as a new functionality. This allows the European Data Model and EU Member States to collect, manage, use, and share data.

1. Meet Context Broker, the new CEF Building Block

The FIWARE Context Broker, which is able to handle context information on a large scale by implementing standard REST APIs, has been added to the European Data Portal and its core service platform as a new functionality, allowing the European Data Model and EU Member States to collect, manage, use, and share real-time data. In addition, the platform will provide governments with a sandbox environment, allowing them to test the use of real-time data.

Thus, for example, Smart Cities can share information about what is happening in streets (e.g., traffic status, quality of air data, available parking slots, location). Similarly, a packet delivery service company may share data about orders (e.g., current location and expected delivery time). This information describing what is currently happening is referred as “context information”.

2. Introduction: Smart Cities and the EC

Cristina Martinez - Deputy Head of Unit, Smart Mobility and Living (CNECT - European Commission)

3. Smart Cities and the CEF Building Blocks

Joao Rodrigues Frade - Head of Sector, Building Blocks (DIGIT - European Commission)

4. City as Platform Manifesto

Carl Piva - Senior Advisor to governments, cities and ICT companies

5. CEF Building Blocks in the context of Smart Cities

Ulrich Ahle - CEO, FIWARE Foundation

6. Closing Words and final Q&A

Kelly Liljemo - Project Officer, Building Blocks (DIGIT - European Commission)