José de la Uz, Las Rozas: putting smart city technology into practice

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Welcome back to the Kurrant booth.

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I'm here with José de la Uz.

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He is mayor of Las Rozas,
president of the Spanish Smart

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Cities Network, and council
president of Las Rozas Innova.

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Welcome, José.

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My pleasure.

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We're going to be discussing how
Las Rozas is putting smart city

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technologies into practice and what
Spanish municipalities need to

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scale innovation and make
it financially sustainable.

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So the first question is, as mayor
of Las Rozas and president of RECI,

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how do you see the progress
of smart cities in Spain?

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Well, thank you because of this
interview and the possibility

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to talk about the Spanish
Network of Smart Cities.

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That was born 15 years ago.

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At the beginning, just 5 cities,
5 mayors, had the vision

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for the future and started working
together in which terms

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technology could improve life
of citizens in their cities.

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But today, 15 years later, we
are 173 cities and territories

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that represents 30 million
people in the whole country.

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So I see the— perhaps pandemic
was an impulse for more cities,

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more mayors that have the
opportunity, the challenge

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of making a strategy,
implementing infrastructure,

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take the ecosystem for working
together, and it's increasing.

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I mean, if it's grown so much,

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it's a good indicator of
smart cities in Spain.

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And then what can Las Rozas
achieve through its innovation

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company that a traditional
city administration couldn't?

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Well, we thought— the
strategy started 12 years ago,

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and we thought, because of a
hackathon and thinking about the

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strategies and how to develop
it, the importance of governance

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of the project, the
governance of the project,

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that the strategy can't or shouldn't
depend on the mayor in a place.

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Thinking in future, there is needed an

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organism that rules the
projects for future.

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So in our case, Las Rozas
Innova, that's a public

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company 7 years ago, rules
in terms of more agility.

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We are able to take, to
get better talent that

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in the administration is
more difficult to get.

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We organize it collecting
or getting European funds,

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participating in 20
European consortiums

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Developing the strategy
of the smart city,

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having our own hub for
startups with more than 56.

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So I think it's a model that
is replicable, is scalable for

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more cities because it's the
governance of the project.

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Okay, so Las Rozas, we
know it's integrating

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data from different city services.

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Can you give an example of a decision
this data has made a difference?

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Well, we started with AI, sorry,

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video surveillance cameras
in Las Rozas 8 years ago.

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But during this time,
during these 8 years,

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we were able to reduce 70%
criminal actions in the city.

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70% because of the
decisions based on data.

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As well, in the energy is another
example how to manage the city.

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We put solar panels in
all of our public roofs,

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and with AI in that platform
collecting the data,

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we reduce 50% carbon footprint
and the income, the budget.

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Yeah.

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2 million less roceños are
paying every year because of

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the money with AI, with data
of the energy in the city.

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And you're testing Schréder's
multi-sensor technology

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to understand how people
use public spaces.

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Um, what results would convince you to

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make this something that's permanent?

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We try many pilots.

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In, in the city during these years.

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Because first of all, we think that
a city is the land where startups

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and companies could test and
then create, innovate, and grow.

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But in this case, Schréder had
worked with Las Rozas many times.

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It's a really good company, of course.

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and we change into LED
in the city with them.

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And that helps us to reduce that
data about energy and the budget.

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But this specific project with
them attending the mobility using

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the platforms, we will be getting
data before or until February.

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So we will see, we will decide,
because along this year, these years,

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many pilots were implemented
in, in the administration

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because we realized that it has
effects in city and citizens.

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GovTech, innovative public
tender, or challenges to the

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ecosystem are defining what are
we doing in Las Rozas because

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we need to know what's over
there To adopt in the city.

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Okay, and then should
cities invest in their own

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networks of sensors, or is
it more cost-effective to

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buy urban data and services
from private companies?

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Because as you've just
said, you've been testing

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quite a lot of technology
in recent years.

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Yeah, I think it's a hybrid
system because first of all,

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for a smart city, when you
started the strategy and you

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started to think about that,
You need to have a clear,

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clean system of data collecting
inside the administration,

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and then more and more slides
or information to work with.

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So you need your data, but at the
end, the RECI, the Spanish Smart

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City Network, has helped the country
real— I mean, State projects.

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The national government
is developing those projects.

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The platform for tourism intelligence,

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where public and private
data are working together.

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And the other one is
EDINT, interoperability

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system of data between
cities and private

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company working together
for modelizing.

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So I think in a mix system.

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Okay, and then through the Smart
Cities Network, what do you see is

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the biggest barrier to scaling
smart city solutions across Spain?

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Well, first of all, I think it's
really important the leadership.

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Many mayors convinced about
the importance of improving

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technology to change life,
improve life of citizens.

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So leadership is really important.

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But not only political leadership,
if not technician leadership.

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You need talent working together
inside the house, not in silos,

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if not together looking for the
same, facing the same challenge

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like an organism, even being
public, but working together.

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And after that, of course, finance.

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We, we got European funds,
national projects, but perhaps this

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investment in technology is providing
you more budget for more projects.

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So it's an investment,
it's not expenses.

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So leadership, talent, financial,
and then it's really important

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for helping small cities the
work that is doing territories.

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In our cases, diputaciones
provinciales that are helping smaller.

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And in a net, working in a
Spanish network, you can help

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sharing information so you make
shorter the path for smaller.

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And you help them saving money
because you test before spending

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money and you are offering
your solutions to the smallest.

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Do you think in the future
we will see a change in

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policies in how we— the
tender process for technology?

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I think it's really important still
working in interoperability and

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open sources, even including tech
clauses in the public procurement

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for being adapted in the
territories, even not working alone.

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if not working together,
offering or asking,

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demanding innovative solutions
that could be more easy

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and more cheap for the
smallest specifically.

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And then with municipal budgets
being always reduced and reduced

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and reduced.

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Which are some technologies
that are still difficult to say,

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let's go for this, because it doesn't
give you a return on your investment?

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Well, that's a point that increasingly
cities are thinking about.

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It's cybersecurity.

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Because you see
sensors and you get data,

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but it's really important
to protect that data.

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First of all, or offer
confidence to the citizens

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about the data you
have, the data you have.

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And after that, because if
cybercrime was a country,

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it would be the 3rd economy in the
world because how it's organized.

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So I think it's really important to
invest more money in cybersecurity.

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Is it at the end of the
project, your administration,

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sensors, platform digital twins,

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and what's happening with
the protection of that data.

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Okay, well, cybersecurity
is one— has been one

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of the key topics in this
booth, so I know that

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many cities are thinking
what you're thinking.

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So thank you so much for your time
and for answering our questions.

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Thank you very much, it's a pleasure.