The eCitySevilla project, led by the Regional Government of Andalusia (through the Regional Ministries of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities, and Finance and European Funding – through the Andalusian Energy Agency), Seville City Council, the Cartuja Science and Technology Park (PCT Cartuja) and Endesa, has been running for two years now, with 69 organisations taking part in the initiative. 24 months of work influenced by the coronavirus pandemic in which, despite this, more than 20 actions have been carried out by the different working groups behind the project (energy, building, sustainable mobility and digitalisation) to contribute to the creation of a city model in an open, digital, decarbonised and sustainable ecosystem in 2025.

The four working groups act in a coordinated manner on the basis of the global objectives of the project, although each of them is led by one of the entities promoting eCitySevilla and has a series of established goals on which they have been working for the last two years.

The Energy working group is led by Endesa and its most basic objective is to achieve a decarbonised island, with a 100% renewable energy supply and distributed generation. Since the launch of the project, the work of this group has focused on managing the renewable generation projects to be installed on the island, the constitution of an energy community made up of the main buildings in the Park and the deployment of the elements that will form part of the Smart Grid on which this new city model will be based. There are currently more than 150 transformation centres in the PCT Cartuja, 66 of which already have control and metering elements; this represents 80% of the target that is envisaged and which is expected to be completed by 2022.

The Andalusian Energy Agency is leading the Buildings working group, whose objective is to achieve more than 35% energy savings and efficiency in the Park’s buildings as a whole. One of the key initiatives in this regard is the pilot project to transform the building currently occupied by the Agency into a near-zero consumption building. This working group also advises member entities to carry out renewable energy installations and energy saving and efficiency projects in their buildings. In this regard, over the last two years, an energy inventory of buildings has been carried out, energy audits have been promoted and actions have been identified in more than 40 buildings, with energy improvement and efficiency, self-consumption and demand management projects being implemented in at least ten of them. A study of the supply contracts of the different entities located in the Park has also been carried out, which concludes that 50% of the energy currently consumed in the PCT Cartuja is of 100% renewable origin, in a very significant part thanks to the centralised green contract that the Andalusian Regional Government has for its buildings. In addition, a register has been set up for companies specialising in energy matters so that they can offer their services to entities located in the PCT Cartuja that wish to carry out energy improvement projects.

The Sustainable Mobility working group is led by Seville City Council, and acts with the aim of creating a zero emissions zone in the PCT Cartuja and committing to a sustainable mobility model as a real alternative to the private vehicle, in line with the recently approved Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for the city of Seville. In line with the objectives in this area of the eCitySevilla project, the company Intelqualia has carried out a study on the main aspects of mobility in the Park, laying the foundations on which this working group is already acting.

Many actions have been launched in this regard, such as the development of the pilot together with Ciclogreen and Meep to test Mobility as a Service (MaaS) applications, in which, thanks to the participation of 10 companies of the PCT Cartuja and 118 workers, the emission of more than 2.5 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere has been avoided, thanks to the promotion of sustainable travel to the workplace. Another interesting pilot already in operation is the parking and charging point for electric scooters developed by the company Solum, which runs on clean energy thanks to its innovative photovoltaic tile solution. In addition, in the coming months the secure bicycle parking of Mimoto Parking and WiseBuild will be operational, an innovative model that will be replicated throughout the PCT Cartuja site, which will make it possible to reach the Park by bicycle or private scooter.

Finally, the Regional Ministry of Economic Transformation leads the Digitalisation working group, whose objective is to create the digital infrastructure and the data platform that will enable the generation of products, services and applications that are useful for all the entities that are members of the project. Some of the most outstanding achievements during these two years of work have been the implementation of a data platform with FIWARE technology and the connection of several verticals to this platform, such as the building of the Andalusian Energy Agency or the spatial data infrastructure of the Seville City Council, and soon the Smart Parking project of the PCT Cartuja and the charging points for electric vehicles installed on the site. In addition, all the technical documentation generated with this work will enable future progress to be made on the eCitySevilla platform, thanks, for example, to the standards, definitions of digital architecture and cybersecurity. In recent months, the working group has launched a Request for Information (RFI) to find out which are the best digital products and applications currently on the market, which will enable the objectives set for 2025 to be achieved.

In addition, PCT Cartuja, as one of the project’s promoters, is taking on the coordination of the Building and Sustainable Mobility working groups, as well as the task of informing all the organisations with a presence on the site about the eCitySevilla initiative and increasing the number of entities that join the project, also managing all the formalities to formalise their adhesion. PCT Cartuja also coordinates a fifth working group, Communication and Participation, which aims to disseminate all the actions being carried out in the other working groups through the established communication channels, such as the eCitySevilla website, the monthly newsletter and social networks.

One of the recently published initiatives has been the eCity+ badge programme, which recognises those member organisations that implement actions that contribute to achieving the project’s global objectives. A first ranking has already been published, in which 22 entities and 46 actions have been listed, totalling 5,115 points. Thanks to them, there are four entities that have already obtained level 3 of the label, seven have obtained level 2 and eight are in the basic level, while others have not yet reached the minimum score required for the first level.

Thanks to the work of all these groups, the Isla de la Cartuja will have efficient buildings and recharging points will be deployed in the surrounding area to promote sustainable electric mobility. All this through an autonomous system, connected to a fully digitalised Smart Grid, which will also enable the existence of an open data platform for the intelligent management of the park.

Almost 70 entities have joined

Coinciding with the date of the second anniversary, the Mixed Commission was also held, the body which, among other aspects, approves the addition of new entities to the eCitySevilla initiative. At today’s meeting, 11 new companies have expressed their interest in joining the project, bringing to 69 the number of entities that have joined the challenge of achieving a decarbonised and 100% sustainable environment in the PCT Cartuja by 2025.

The new entities whose membership has been formalised are Innovatecnic XXI (Novatecnic), Woodswallow, Adwalk Tech (Quodus), Secmotic Innovation, Verificaciones Industriales de Andaluc铆a (Veiasa), CreaFab3D, Avante Formaci贸n, Extravaganza Communication, Semic, CWT Global Espa帽a and Restaurantes Cartuja.

They are joined by companies such as Aalto Consultores, the Andalusian Association for Research and Industrial Cooperation (AICIA), the Andalusian Financial and Business Entrepreneurial Club (CEFNA / Chamber of Commerce), the PCT Cartuja conservation entity, Eulen, Isotrol, Isotrol, the Andalusian Association for Research and Industrial Cooperation (AICIA) and the Andalusian Chamber of Commerce; Eulen, Isotrol, Mercanza, Telef贸nica, Wellness Telecom, Inerco, Caixabank, Anda Gesi贸n Global, Power Electronics Espa帽a, C铆rculo de Empresarios de Cartuja, Escuela T茅cnica Superior de Ingenieros de la Universidad de Sevilla, Ayesa, Ingelectus, Puerto Triana, Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicaci贸n de Andaluc铆a Occidental y Ceuta, Solum Photovoltaic Innovation, Solutia Innovaworld Technologies, the Environment and Water Agency of Andalusia, the Technological Corporation of Andalusia, the EOI Foundation, the GFI Informatics Group, Orange Spain, Cibernos, Zityfy Mobility, Alter Technology, CEP Seville and Schneider Electric.

Along with them, the following companies have also joined the project: Empresa P煤blica de Gesti贸n de Activos (Epgasa), Insur Patrimonial, Urbantech Titania, Everis, World Trade Center, Macpuarsa-MP Ascensores, Eman Ingenier铆a, Best TIC, the Faculty of Communication of the University of Seville, Samu, the IT consultancy Acofi, the Andalusian Confederation of Businessmen (CEA), the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), representing CIC-Cartuja.

Other entities adhering to eCitySevilla are the main ecosystem of innovation in mobility in southern Europe, Connected Mobility Hub; the company Ciclogreen, the Association of Installers of Seville (Epyme), Vodafone Spain, Saergy, ESIC Business School, FIDAS Foundation, GMV Global Internet Solutions, Axion Telecommunications Infrastructure, the multinational Prodiel through its company Envatios World, Skylife Engineering and Cisco. The presence of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC – Joint Research Centre), based in the PCT Cartuja, as an external observer is also noteworthy.