A new era in cooperative smart city development

Today, in Valencia, the CitiVerse European Digital Innovation Consortium (EDIC) was officially established during its inaugural general assembly. This milestone marks a new era in cooperative smart city development, setting a new global benchmark in this area.
The CitiVerse EDIC will deliver AI-based solutions to enhance urban planning in European cities. These solutions will provide reusable tools for essential urban management, such as for improved management of traffic, energy, and water. The EDIC will develop immersive, virtual worlds-based technologies to transform how citizens shape their cities and engage with local authorities. For example, residents will have access to virtual tours of planned city improvements. The CitiVerse EDIC will offer a toolbox to participating cities, enabling them to create their digital twins or virtual replicas and simulate urban projects. Advanced tools will allow cities to model extreme, unpredictable events like the recent floods in the Valencia region. These tools will also help identify conditions to prevent such events.

The CitiVerse EDIC will bring together 14 EU Member States and is rapidly expanding. A Smart Cities Network, formed by city associations, is connecting with cities across Europe to showcase EDIC opportunities. The EDIC aims to onboard about 100 cities within two years and develop a common platform for Local Digital Twin technologies. This will drive industry partnerships and provide solutions for cities' common challenges.

The CitiVerse EDIC is an excellent example of a multi-country project that supports the EU's Digital Decade targets and its strategy on virtual worlds. Over €80 million has been invested in the Local Digital Twins and CitiVerse initiative from the Digital Europe Programme.

This initiative, supported by the EU AI Office, is a key deliverable of the AI Innovation Package. Next steps of the initiative include connecting cities with existing digital twins, incorporating collaborative project results, and developing AI training programmes.