Smart City Partnership: Insight from Amsterdam

How advanced the technology or solution is not only the sole factor of success of a smart city initiative. How partnership of different stakeholders was built and organised is also critical to the success of the smart city projects. From the experience of Amsterdam there are several insights on partnership that we can take note of. 

First, the partnership should fit the project scope and must be open to new input. Smart city projects may not always be complex and involve many organisations. Smaller projects that only involve 2-3 partners can also lead to success, which in this case triple helix partnerships are not always vital. City administrators could also take different kinds of roles for each project, from initiator, financer, facilitator, customer etc. The key is to create an ecosystem of partnership that is open to new partners that can add value due to their different competencies and knowledge. 

Second, the partnership should have clear project scope and focus. When smart city projects have multiple partners, it is vital that each partner is explicit and transparent about its intended ambitions, objectives and expectations for participating in the project. It is also critical that a smart city project be developed with sufficient attention to the scope of activities that will be integrated into the project, and that the focus is clear for all project partners. The consistent focus throughout the project provides direction to smart city projects, thus, when a change of scope is necessary, it is easier to reach an agreement to the shared decision of the changes by all partners. 

Lastly, the smart city project benefits greatly from committed and clear ownership from the involved partners. A key success condition is that the partners involved must agree that this project is valuable, and commit resources to it accordingly (co-financing, charging for products or services at cost, or committing in-kind hours). While seemingly fairly obvious, the need for a highly committed project leader that connects all partners continuously throughout the process and drives the project forward proved crucial in all projects.

Reference:

van Winden, W., Oskam, I., van den Buuse, D., Schrama, W., & van Dijck, E-J. (2016). Organising smart city projects: lessons from Amsterdam. Hogeschool van Amsterdam.

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