The City of Stavanger in Norway will for the second time facilitate an agile piloting project. This time the project will concern itself with Stavanger Archipelago with the aim of challenging five companies to test new solutions that can contribute to making the archipelago a better tourist destination.
The archipelago of Stavanger is made up of 37 islands and has the potential to become an attractive tourist destination. Tourism is a strategic commitment for the City of Stavanger, and they wish to stimulate sustainable tourism with a high local value creation. The tourist industry is made up of many good players, but the City believes that there is room for more ideas and solutions to create even better tourist experiences in the archipelago.
In the agile piloting they are looking for solutions on the idea- or prototype stage, so the agile piloting can provide the setting for user insight, testing and learning for both the company and the City.
The City of Stavanger wishes to choose up to five suppliers who will receive 250.000 NOK to carry out the agile piloting. The company will be responsible for carrying out the piloting with follow-up and support from the City. In the six months the agile piloting will last for, it is also expected that a business model will be developed that can secure funding for further development of the solution. The agile piloting will be carried out during the Spring/Summer 2021 and will be announced in March with expected start-up in April.
A product of the collaboration in the Nordic Smart City Network
The Agile Piloting model is an experiment, that uses open competition to select companies that are then given the chance to test their solutions in real urban settings. The goal is to maximize learning: Learning for the companies who get the chance to test their ideas and solutions before a potential commercialization and learning for the City who gets a better understanding of the given challenge.
The Agile Piloting model is a product of the collaboration in the Nordic Smart City Network. The model was originally designed, tested, and developed in Helsinki by Forum Virium Helsinki in the Smart Kalasatama project and then shared in the Nordic Smart City Network where the cities share their learnings and best practices. Being part of the Network, The City of Stavanger later adopted and further developed the Agile Piloting model.
In order to scale up the learnings and introduce the model to a wider audience of smart city developers Forum Virium Helsinki has produced a workshop format and materials, for example the The Cookbook for Agile Piloting.
Read more about the Agile Piloting project on Stavanger's website: https://www.stavanger.kommune.no/samfunnsutvikling/smartbyen-stavanger/smartby-prosjekter/agile-piloting/
Read more about Stavanger and its first experience with Agile Piloting here: https://www.nordicinnovation.org/news/agile-piloting-takes-first-steps-norway