SURE! Tampere - get an update on the project
The SURE has been granted MEUR 3.2 of funding by the EU’s Urban Innovative Actions initiative. Project leader is the City of Tampere. Other partners are Insta Group, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Securitas, Business Tampere, Tampere University, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the Baltic Institute of Finland.
Tampere hosts international urban security and city vitality seminar
Live webcast 26 November 2020 at 1-3pm (EET) was produced by the SURE! project from Tampere, Finland. The event brings together top experts to discuss how city vitality, competitiveness and security are linked together. Different viewpoints to the topic from Israel, Greece and the U.S. will spark up the conversation. Most of all, we want to give our audience and speakers a platform to share new ideas!
Open Call for Agile Safety and Security Solutions
The SURE project is aiming to integrate data gathered from various sensors into situational awareness – a real-time view on what is happening in the city centre. The technology may also include control features for traffic, crowd movements or lighting in public areas, etc. The project works equally on recognizing and preventing security threats and the aim is to develop scalable safety and security solutions. In Tampere, the solutions could be applied in the most central areas of Tampere: the Central Square, Ratina and Särkänniemi Theme Park and Event Beach, Tampere Hall and adjoining Sorsapuisto Park. School safety and security are also addressed.
Business Tampere, the project partner responsible for scaling the project results city-wide and development of the scalable model, is implementing a call for agile experiments for safety and security solutions applicable in the locations listed above. Business Tampere has conducted threat scenario analysis of the target locations with key stakeholders and system requirements have derived from this analysis. Themes of the agile experiments can relate e.g. to audio sensoring, air (quality) sensoring and related AI and analytics. Also, AI and analytics solutions for analysing images and video from city cameras are possible. It is worth noting that the purpose of agile experiments is to run experiment where both the SURE project and the technology vendor gain new learnings on requirements and whether the solution is applicable to the needs identified. Agile experiment is procurement of a limited time experiment (for 2021) and the cost per each agile experiment is capped to 10.000 EUR (+vat).
If you represent an international company interested in this opportunity, please contact petri.nykanen@businesstampere.com to indicate your interest. The first call for agile experiments will open before Christmas 2020.
Insta Blue AwareTM is the Technological Backbone of SURE
The system platform in SURE project for smart city and event security solutions is the Insta Blue AwareTM . Data that is collected from different sources can be integrated in to IBA platform. The IBA platform steers user attention, shares and visualizes situational picture and optimizes reactions to changes. It combines civil surroundings of citizens and event participants and surroundings of civil protection authorities. IBA platform creates a digital twin of a city where authentic data from the city, data analysis and guiding information are brought together.
In spring 2020 SURE Situation Room Concept was created and piloted. The concept combines all SURE key stakeholders and enables piloting between different officials and technologies in real-life event. The technological core is the IBA and actors and functions linked to it. Piloting was carried out when the school term ended in spring and it was done by utilizing Insta Blue Tracker mobile application and IBA platform. User feedback was collected from first aid units and situation room officials and the IBA platform and IBT app was developed based on the feedback.
Insta Blue AwareTM is in central role in the agile experiments launched by Business Tampere later this autumn. All companies that will participate in the experiment will also apply their solutions in to IBA platform. In addition, all the data that will be collected during the agile experiments will be integrated in to the IBA.
Spectacularly safe events? SURE planning guidelines debated in a stakeholder roundtable
Events themselves, not their safety measures, should be spectacles, an event organiser’s playbook says. Security authorities seem to share this idea. At least this was before the COVID-19 year 2020. So, did COVID-19 set new standards?
The interplay of atmosphere and safety was discussed at the SURE project’s hybrid event on October 29. The event gathered nearly 50 security and event specialists to the G Livelab Tampere premises and online. Results of the Tampere University WP4 team were presented and discussed in the event, including findings from previous research and urban safety scenarios for the key event areas of Tampere. The findings were then challenged and further discussed in a stakeholder panel that focused on selected guidelines for planning safe and secure urban space.
The guidelines identify social, technological and socio-technical elements of safe event city planning. The Tampere University research team emphasizes e.g. the importance of the openness and accessibility of the city and the flexibility of urban spaces as an element of a vital city. Safety must go hand in hand with other event attractions. Likewise, security-enhancing technologies should be presented in a positive yet realistic light.
Urban security
