ITS Factory

Status
ongoing
50%
City

Tampere

Main actors

City Government, Private Sector, Research Institutes / Universities

Project area

Whole City/Administrative Region

Duration

Ongoing since 2012

ITS Factory is a collaborative space where developers, companies, research organisations and individuals come together to create new intelligent transport systems and services (ITS).

At ITS Factory, solutions are developed to make it easier for people to move around conveniently, safely and with a minimum environmental impact. Tampere understood that the development and adoption of ITS services (Intelligent Transport Systems and Services) also requires collaboration between businesses with bright ideas and researchers with unique insights, as well as government bodies involved with policy, legislation and standards. ITS Factory reflects this understanding, bringing together local, national and international public and private stakeholders to work towards common goals. Their services are currently being used by around 2,000 people a week.

Originally published by EUROCITIES, the network of 130 European cities - PDF: http://nws.eurocities.eu/MediaShell/media/Fast-transport-Tampere.pdf

Sustainable Development Goals

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovationMake cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainablePromote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Eurocities Awards

This project was shortlisted for the 'Eurocities Awards' in 2014 in the following category: Cooperation.

City
Tampere, Finland
Size and population development
Accorinding to AdminStat Finlandia the 2017 population of Tampere was recorded at 231,852. The city covers an area of 688.32km2 and has a population density of 336.8 people per km2.
Population composition
The 2017 data showed that the population of Tampere is comprised of 51.5% females and 48.5% males. The 0-18 age group is recorded at 16.6%, 18-64 at 64.6% and 65+ at 18.8%. The average age of people living in Tampere is 40.3. Finnish and Swedish are Finland’s national languages. Finnish is spoken by 94% of the population while Swedish is the native language of 0.7%. Other languages spoken incudes Russian, Estonian, English, Somali and Arabic. The largest religious community if Finland is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland to which about 70% of population belong.
Main functions
The City of Tampere is located in the Pirkanmaa province of West Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It is the second-largest urban area and third most-populous individual municipality in Finland. The city is wedged between two lakes that differ by 18 metres and the rapids linking them play a significant role in electricity generation. There are 180 lakes in Tampere that make up 24% of the city’s total area.
Main industries / business
The economy of Tampere is built around mechanical engineering and automation; information and communication technologies; health and biotechnology, tourism and the pulp and paper industry.
Sources for city budget
The City of Tampere draws its budget for public expenditure largely from municipal taxes with additional funds coming from fees, fines, operating revenues in addition to subsidies from the Province and Federal government.
Political structure
In 2007, Tampere changed to a Mayor-council model of government. The mayor serves as chairman of the city board and defines the guidelines for the preparation of matters to be presented to the city government and manages the city's operations, administration and financial management. The City of Tampere is governed by the City Council, which has 67 delegates. The commissioners and their deputies are elected in municipal elections every four years.
Administrative structure
The city government is responsible for the city's administration and finances, as well as for preparing, implementing and monitoring the legality of council decisions. The group administration takes care of the city's central administration. It acts as the mayor's staff responsible for preparing group assignments. The Group Administration performs the planning, preparation and implementation tasks of the City Council, the City Board and, if necessary, other city institutions, as well as other administrative tasks. The city's services are administratively located in four service areas based on the municipality's basic tasks: the service area for education services, the service area for social and health services, the service area for vitality and competitiveness, and the service area for the urban environment.
Website
http://www.tampere.fi/

Urbanisation and rising congestion and air pollution are forcing cities to find new ways for citizens to move about easily and conveniently and with less impact on the environment. ITS solutions can give policy makers, operators and users the information they need to make smarter use of the transport network, making them integral to the future of city travel.

ITS solutions use real time data showing what’s happening on the streets to improve the fluency, functionality, ecology, efficiency and safety of the transport system. They help improve the experience for users, and encourage eco-friendly journey choices. But getting good ideas out on to city streets is often hampered by an uncoordinated approach to data access and development support.

For ITS solutions to realise their potential, all transport operators need to pool their data. If a service tells a user the train they were planning to catch is delayed, it needs to offer alternative multimodal options. In designing ITS Factory, Tampere recognised the need for close cooperation across all forms of public transport. But as an experienced intelligent transport pioneer, it also knew this was not enough.

ITS Factory is acting as a catalyst for projects exploring applications such as multimodal route planners and parking information services. Some of these are driven by independent developers and groups of partners while others are part of the EU’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7). Tampere is currently participating in around 10 projects, involving approximately 2,000 citizens a week.

Two major FP7 projects are being piloted in Tampere, STREETLIFE and MoveUs. The first is developing mobility information systems showing the real value of public transport options in terms of time, cost and carbon footprint. It aims to create solutions for traffic managers and city administrators as well as mobile apps motivating citizens to choose sustainable transport alternatives through the use of engaging 3D virtual environments. 

MoveUs is similarly focused on taking ‘the pulse of urban mobility’ to help change travellers’ habits. The idea is to integrate mobility data from citizens, vehicles and infrastructures in a cloudbased platform that can then gather, transform and deliver it in a coherent and useful way. As with STREETLIFE, recommendations for more sustainable travel choices will be supported by a range of incentives.

The estimated budget for ITS Factory is 1M€. It includes the research work in three different research organisations, the collaborative effort in member companies and expenses for the city of Tampere.

ITS Factory has succeeded in proving its open and innovative model and in gathering a critical mass of collaborators - including 30 members and hundreds of developers. Tampere itself is already feeling the impact, with new services and the holistic development of a sustainable transport system making a big difference to energy efficiency.

Tampere’s experience also highlighted that achieving these goals would depend on four additional factors. These were built into ITS Factory’s design:

  • offering standardised traffic data to developers, 
  • providing access to the city’s transport system as a piloting platform, 
  • involving end users to ensure solutions meet their needs, 
  • and assisting with exploitation and marketing.

The knowledge and technologies generated within ITS Factory are also being shared through international networking activities and the ITS Roadmap. This document has an important role to play in helping other cities and countries monitor progress in critical areas such as standardisation and the availability of open data and interfaces.

Cities in action - Fast-tracking intelligent transport systems, Unique environment for innovation - EUROCITIES, May 2015.

EUROCITIES awards entry form, ITS Factory – developing a smooth, safe and sustainable transport system.

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Eurocities Awards
Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

Eurocities Awards

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Eurocities Awards
Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

Eurocities Awards

Institution | Urban Award

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