Written by Ceyhun Pehlivan

The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism will finance up to 80% of 13 projects linked to the development of smart cities, from which 27 Spanish cities are expected to benefit.

In June 2014, Red.es, Spain’s internet and ICT development agency, had issued the call for the selection of the participating municipalities in the “First call for smart cities” of the Digital Agenda for Spain. With a total budget of €15 million, the call was open to more than 100 municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants in the Spanish regions of Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha, and Extremadura.

The initiatives were submitted by city councils or groups of municipalities, with a maximum budget of €1 million per city. In total, 37 individual and collective initiatives were submitted under this call, which represented a total of 49 municipalities.

Following an assessment process, the Spanish Ministry has selected 13 initiatives, involving a total investment of €13.1 million, co-funded by the European Union through its European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim of this call for smart cities is to select municipalities where to carry out initiatives geared towards the smart development of the cities and the improvement of the quality of life of its residents and visitors.

In this respect, the call has endorsed the creation of initiatives for the opening and re-use of public data, the implementation of mature management systems, as well as the launch of infrastructures and technological elements to improve the services provided by the cities.

This smart city projects call will therefore represent an investment of approximately €10 million for the southern region Andalusia, €2.8 million for the land of windmills and the stomping ground of Don Quijote Castilla La Mancha, and circa €0.5 million for the west-central region Extremadura on the border with Portugal.

Further details can be checked at recent press release from the Spanish Government.