At this moment Xomnia is taking part in the Amsterdam Delegation in the Delegation in the Smart City World Innovation Program in Barcelona. I am in Barcelona with my colleagues Lisanne Rijnveld, Data Scientist and Maarten de Schipper, Partner of Xomnia. We were invited by RVO (the Dutch Enterprise Agency) and NBSO Barcelona to share ideas with innovators from all over the world. Luckily, Barcelona isn’t the worst place to do this 😉
Our trade mission started with an amazing day, organized by RVO. We got inspired by presentations and conversations with innovative people, municipalities, and companies from the Netherlands and Spain. Moreover, we had a guided tour through the 22@ district; a smart innovation area in Barcelona.
Since yesterday we are attending the Holland Pavillion at the Smart City Expo World Congress. Here we see how different organizations are using technologies to solve social challenges regarding mobility, pollution, safety and security, health, citizenship, and resilience. In  conversations with people like Pieter Litjens (Alderman of Mobility and Real Estate at the City of Amsterdam), we concluded that data plays a key role in this process. By using data science techniques we can add  extra value to ‘smart’ solutions. Think of predicting traffic congestions, maintenance, and air quality or using deep learning to make cars self-driving.
Muchas gracias por los dÃas inspiradores. We thank the organization of RVO, NBSO Barcelona and the Amsterdam Delegation for inviting us. We are looking forward to take initiatives of smart cities to the next level with data science.
Cheers, Kaj Gruppelaar,
Consultant