Turku Smart and Wise

Inhabitants: 191.461
Jobs: 97.273 (2016)

Turku is a dynamic coastal city located in Southwest Finland. One quarter of Turku’s 191.461 inhabitants (May 2019) are students, which builds a good ground for start-ups and new innovations. It is not only the students that brighten up the city’s everyday life, but also the rich culture the city has to offer. Turku is a multicultural and a bilingual city. Many international events are organized in the city, for instance, different sports and music events gather international attendance every year. Turku is the smartest city in Finland according to The Future Today Institute's Tech report published in March 2019.

Smart and Wise Turku is one of city’s spearhead projects that combines the strategic goal of regional carbon neutrality in 2029 with the Smart City concept. Reached results will contribute to the citizens’ well-being and help improve the city’s competitiveness and the productivity of its own operations. The prevention of social exclusion together with the city’s inhabitants is very important for Turku. Therefore, the prevention of social exclusion is a focal point in the Smart City concept.

Essential enablers of this are digitalization and the data it has accumulated. Digitalization enables the production of services untied to time and location, and an increase in the productivity of the city's own operations (Smart City).

By creating conditions for the citizens and companies to utilize the data, the city enables economically, socially and environmentally sustainable growth that supports well-being (Wise City). With the help of the new operational models created by Smart and Wise Turku, reaching this goal will be easier.

Smart and Wise Turku has six focal points: carbon neutrality and ressource wisdom, customership and service management, safety and security, urban design, traffic and mobility, and prevention of social exclusion. Turku has already provided its habitants concrete examples of what this spearhead project provides, for instance, the city has started a three-year partnership with an operator company to provide the city with a 5G network. The 5G network will enable, for instance, the city's first robot busses.