Is it possible to transform an entire, old diesel vehicle fleet, to run on electricity? Forum Virium Helsinki has taken on the challenge.

Project planner Nikita Akmaikin started at Forum Virium Helsinki's IoT team. He works with the FinEst Twins and Carbon Neutral Tourism projects. Nikita would like to develop Helsinki by making it a data-driven city that enables simpler ways of living.

City of Helsinki has won the grand prize in the Digital Cities category at the global Year in Infrastructure conference. The awards handed out at the conference have been referred to as the Oscars of urban construction and infrastructure.

Could the carbon footprint of restaurants be reduced with digital solutions? The answer to this question will be sought over a period of six months in the Mission Zero Foodprint project, in which participating pilot restaurants will attempt to reduce their food waste and the overall carbon footprint of their operations with the help of three innovative tools.

Platform Developer Sheena Puthanpurayil has joined the Forum Virium Helsinki IoT-team. She works as a Platform Development Engineer in the Finest Twins project.

Stara eRetrofit project explores the electrification potential of Stara’s vehicle fleet. Not only the project will lay the groundwork for new business cases but also results in valuable data collection.

Project planner and design researcher Michel Nader Sayún works with Forum Virium's Smart Kalasatama team and the FinEst Twins project.

In an extensive article, prestigious US newspaper The New York Times talks about the services that make everyday life easier, the smart city pilots and the climate friendly energy solutions of Helsinki’s Kalasatama. The newspaper presents Helsinki as a one of the top cities in the world in terms of sustainable development and quality of life.

Forum Virium Helsinki is running a pilot in Kalasatama with the aim of testing new smart home services and finding new solutions for light deliveries in an urban environment.

Transport automation is constantly advancing in society: every year an increasing number of self-driving pilots are organised. Sohjoa Baltic project did a scenario research on the near-future implementations of connected and automated collective transport services in Helsinki.

The Synergy project revolves around digitalisation and the more precise utilisation of data related to electrical networks. Smart and optimised electricity networks help improve both energy efficiency and the operation of the networks.

The FABULOS project focuses on how cities can use automated buses in a systematic way. During the year 2020, field tests in five of the partnering countries take place. Next pilot locations are the cities of Lamia and Helmond.

The Pocket Book for Agile Piloting shares the experiences from Smart Kalasatama and Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab in Helsinki and condenses the key learnings in a pragmatic and easily digestible way.

The capital of Finland is joined by Singapore and Zurich in the top three, moving up to second position from eighth place year-on-year in a time when many European cities among the 109 total cities in the ranking lost ground.

A pilot project at Kustaankartano Senior Centre in Helsinki will explore how a shower innovation that utilises robotics could help clients with reduced mobility and support their ability to live independently. The project will test two shower robots during the autumn of 2020.

Getting to know the archipelago in Helsinki is now easier than ever before when an island-hopping ticket can for the first time be bought directly in the Whim application. The September pilot project tests the opening of ticket sales interfaces.

Up to a third of energy consumed by housing companies is wasted energy. The ‘Taloyhtiön dataopas’ housing company data guidebook, published in September, provides tips on how to address this issue in simple and affordable ways by utilising measurement data collected from the housing company.

Helsinki City Construction Services Stara and Helsinki Rescue Department are currently piloting a new kind of drone service in cooperation with Forum Virium Helsinki. The goal is to streamline environmental care and rescue department work and reduce the City’s CO2 emissions. 

Forum Virium Helsinki launches an open call for agile piloting in restaurants. The aim is to find digital tools that help restaurants to manage their food waste, energy efficiency or carbon footprint. The call for pilots is open 7.9.–4.10.2020.

The innovation competition seeks new ideas and concepts for developing smart solutions for companies in the tourism industry and City operators. The competition welcomes entries on three themes: Most creative dashboard, Most innovative data analysis and Best impact potential. The competition lasts until midnight on 27 September 2020.

Project planner Janne Olin from Sohjoa Baltic project reflects on perspectives to the discussion surrounding transport automation.