Schneider Electric Announces the Creation in Barcelona of Its First Center of Excellence Focused on Smart Solutions for Cities

Rueil-Malmaison (France), July 24, 2014 – Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, announced the creation in Barcelona (Spain) of its first Center of Excellence focused on smart solutions for cities. The announcement was made by Julio Rodriguez, Executive Vice-President Global Operations at Schneider Electric, during a ceremony in the presence of Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona, on July 22.

 

A view of the future Schneider Electric Center of Excellence in Barcelona

 

The mission of Schneider Electric’s Center of Excellence will be to gather the knowledge of the company on solutions for smart cities, thanks to the experience, the results and the successful Smart City solutions established worldwide. The center will offer solutions to the cities which will have economic and social impact, bringing concrete benefits for citizens. The work of the Center of Excellence will enable to guide and support the cities on their way towards a new paradigm in efficiency management, habitability and sustainability thanks to the implementation of smart solutions and the development of new business models.

 

“In the next 40 years we are going to experience an urban technological revolution. The ongoing concentration of the population towards urban cores and the growing shortage of resources will have important repercussions on mobility, air quality, healthcare service, etc., said Julio Rodríguez, Executive Vice-President Global Operations at Schneider Electric. Today Schneider Electric is working with over 200 cities in smart management projects. With this Center of Excellence we are enhancing our capacity to provide advanced solutions to the cities.”

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For more information, see the complete press release or visit the Schneider Electric Smart Cities webpage. Schneider Electric acquired Invensys in January.

Take a Quick Tour of the Smart City Council's Readiness Guide

The Smart Cities Council is an industry coalition that seeks to accelerate the growth of smart cities worldwide. It does this by providing city leaders with access to technology counsel, financial tools, policy frameworks, visibility campaigns, and advocacy. The Council currently includes more than two dozen leading smart city practitioners and an extensive collection of independent advisors. A short video introducing the Smart Cities Council is available here (< 4 min). Invensys joined the Council as an Associate Partner last year, and we recently renewed our partnership, this time as Schneider Electric who acquired Invensys in January 2014.

The first comprehensive, vendor-neutral smart city handbook for city leaders and planners - the Smart Cities Readiness Guide - was developed by the Council. The Guide enables city leaders to assess their current state of technology and its readiness to become a smart city. The 281-page document is available for free download on the Smart City Council's website.

The Council has now released a Readiness Guide "Quick Tour" that highlights in just 13 pages how cities around the world are enhancing operations and improving citizen services with the implementation of smart technologies and how the Readiness Guide helps. The document includes at a high level what a smart city is, the smart city framework, what technology is used and what problems it can solve, the power of smart integration, how smart cities change the game, and how to get started - creating a smart city roadmap. It concludes with answers to a number of frequently asked questions about the Readiness Guide.

To learn more, download the Quick Tour.