New kind of IoT platform for Smart City by innovative procurement procedure

The City of Tampere, like many other cities, has opened databases available to citizens and businesses. The information has been opened using existing information channels. Since the city typically works in silos, there is also open data made available in silos. The process by which information is first collected and then made openly available does not serve the needs of a digitalized society. Since the problem is common, measures to remedy it had been set as an objective under the EU Smart City theme, from which the City of Tampere received funding. The aim was to design and acquire an information system capable of both collecting and distributing information to both internal and external users. The specific objectives were to make information flow between the actions of the city and to facilitate the participation of the residents in the decision, rather than simply being the recipients of the information. Innovative procurement was applied to acquire a completely new type of information system. Hackathons were used to refine the characteristics of the acquisition with the participation of multi-disciplinary consortia. The project resulted in an IoT platform for the City of Tampere, which streamlines information processing and helps cooperation within the city’s departments. The model of public procurement because of the project is generally valid and useful in other cities as well.