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why we are always on the lookout for smart ways to do so. The point is that we are using the technology drawn directly
Alesund, as you might be aware, is recognized worldwide from a completely different environment, but simulators do
for its maritime and offshore environment. So, what is more not differ whether they are being used offshore or in the city.
natural than to work with them in the development of our We have been building digital twins of oil rigs and vessels for
city? For instance, simulation technology has been developed years. So, for us it was quite easy to put up a digital twin of
in Alesund, mostly by the offshore and petroleum actors in a city.
collaboration with the University. Joel, who is here with me, is
the expert in this field and a representative for this innovative In the building a digital twin of a city, you really need to have
technology. a very good understanding of what a city needs and what it
does. It does not solve anything for you, but it is a tool that
Since we, in the commune, are always looking for smart allows everybody to understand what is going on. It definitely
and innovative ways to improve our services, we contacted allows you not to think in silos but rather to think across the
Joel. He welcomed us with open arms. So, now he and his board and see all the different solutions.
colleagues are working on a digital twin of the city. This is a
tool that we are going to use in the planning process, and it's One of the examples I'm going to talk about later today is
really exciting. It was the United Nations that contacted us traffic. When you talk about traffic, people start to think that
and that thought this project is something very interesting. you need to do something with the cars, or the roads, but this
For us, as a city, it's also interesting to be here, assessed as is not necessarily the case.
others cities around the world. There might be a possibility
to set up a lab in Alesund. However, I will now leave it to Joel We started to look at the data, and started to simulate them.
to explain it better. What would happen if we started to change opening times of
schools, day care institutions or offices? Suddenly, we started
Q: So, Joel, how did it all start? to change the opening times and analyze how this would
I was in my office a Friday evening; it was late and I should influence the traffic in Alesund. The result was astonishing
have been going home. Then all of a sudden, I heard a knock because we then spread out the traffic, and by doing so we
on my door. A lady came in and asked me, "Can I see the removed the rush hour traffic. So, in fact, not by changing
simulation?" All I could think of was that I really wanted to anything with roads or the use of cars, but simply by changing
go home. Then she said to me, "I'm the Secretary-General for nursery opening times, we managed to eliminate the rush
Smart Cities in the United Nations. Can we have a talk?" So, hour traffic.
I took her around showing her the simulators.
With all these sorts of ideas, we do not know where it's going
She asked me if I'd like to go to a conference in Vienna to to go, but the digital twin is definitely a tool which opens
talk about the simulation. There was a conference scheduled up many different areas, making it possible for the council
in Alesund a couple of months after that so I said, "Let's do to make decisions, to look at the consequences, to anticipate
a deal. If you come and talk at my conference, I will come to and to have control.
yours' We really hope for it to be a game changer. Alesund, as a small
city, is the first city where we're using this technology. It's a
So, I went to talk in Vienna, and they were all very excited perfect prototype, because it is a small city, very controlled
about the project, and then she came to Alesund. Within a few with very good quality data. In Norway in general you have
weeks, Alesund was the first city to sign up for her programme good quality data.
in Norway. So, you see, things happened very fast.
Once you have done it with a small city, we can copy it as
I have to say that it's a very exciting time now, because we many times as we want, and we can also share it with other
are setting up together different councils in the Alesund area, cities and municipalities. In the offshore industry, this is
and by putting all these together, there is a dynamic which not possible because when you do it for one customer it is
allows things to happen very fast. Normally with councils, confidential because they are competing with everybody else,
things take an awful long time, but this is not the case here. but cities do not directly compete in the same way. You are
Here we are with technology that has been developed for the not competing for the same population, so if you develop
offshore industry, and we did not have any expectations for something for one city, you can share it with another city.
using this for smart cities.
With that, we took leave of the two, as they had to rush to
As I said, we showed this in Vienna, and we were together with other meetings and presentations, for we were not the only
lots of people, especially big international companies which ones being impressed by the delegation from Alesund. All
have been working on the smart city concept for a long time. we can do is to wish them lots of success.
We had not developed it at all, we just showed what we do in MF
the offshore industry. Amazed, they came to us and asked us
how is it possible that we have come so far. My answer was
that I do not think that we have even started.

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