AudaCidade | EN

[Português]

Project denomination AudaCidade: a platform for the integrated management and use of energy, water and urban services in a smart city, with cloud and blockchain technology as differentiating factor
Project code POCI-01-0247-FEDER-045295
Main objective Strengthen research, technological development and innovation.
Approval date 2019-11-27
Start date 2020-09-01
End date 2022-08-31

Objectives, activities and expected results

The AudaCidade Project aims to develop a solution for the integrated management and control of smart cities; it will gather the required aspects required for implementing Colours Concept Lda. view of an ecosystem — where all coexisting parts may interact harmoniously, supported by a transparent set of tools and processes that foster governance and participation of suppliers and consumers.

This solution will be substantiated in an integrated platform, developed according to a modular architecture that will ease its evolution and scalability.

This platform will rely upon the gathering of data via smart meters and telemetry, safekeeping these in a private cloud created by the pooled resources of suppliers and clients.

The reporting module enables a set of dashboards with key indicators, while the modelling and forecasting module identifies trends, seasonal effects and anomalies: this enables a rationalization of resource allocation, improved management of peak demand and predictive maintenance during periods of low usage.

Augmented Reality allows for an optimization of field operations, easing on-the-spot access to relevant information on installed equipment and simplifying tasks for repair and maintenance technicians.

The sustainable use of resources is encouraged by a gamification module which defines goals, puts forward challenges, awards rational behaviors and penalizes non-compliance.

A blockchain with agents of the ecosystem as peers implements a cryptocoin, which is awarded as reward for sustainable behaviors and sharing their computational resources to the cloud; this can be auctioned amongst them or traded for complementary services or future consumption. Conciliation of counts and arbitrage of disputes is performed via smart contracts.

The business model rests upon a subscription paid by each service provider: Colours Concept Lda. (and partners) install the required sensor infrastructure, processes information and grants suppliers and clients access to the unified portal; new adoptants are dynamically added to the ecosystem.

This solution has a high potential for internationalization, as there is no current implementation of this new paradigm, but only solutions dedicated to individual services.

The project falls within the scope of 3 priority domains of the Portuguese initiative Estratégia Nacional de Especialização Inteligente:

  • Water and Environment — Efficient use and management of water resources.

  • Energy — Smart cities, Information technologies and Smart energy grids.

  • Communication and Information Technologies — Internet of Things.

It also reflects 2 priority domains of the regional initiative Estratégia Regional de Especialização Inteligente — Alentejo:

  • Mineral, Natural and Environmental Resources.
  • Specialized Technologies and Services of the Social Economy.