ERKKI Project Insights on Building Energy Efficiency from Tallinn, Vaasa, and Prague

Tallinn – Smart City Exchange Forum

In March, together with our project partner Green Net Finland, we headed to Tallinn for the Smart City Exchange Forum, which offered inspiring perspectives on developing sustainable cities. During the event, we visited the City of Tallinn’s demo space and learned about ongoing and upcoming local smart city pilots. This provided valuable insight into how new technologies and data can be utilized to optimize existing property stock and public spaces.

The event particularly highlighted the importance of resilience: it is not merely a technical issue, but a political and local choice requiring continuous action plan development and community engagement. We learned that while data provides essential tools for understanding the situation and generating scenarios, solutions are often found in developing leadership, structures, and expertise. Building resilience and a smarter city requires the courage to make challenges visible, the ability to build a shared understanding among various actors, and the bravery to act based on the best available information.

Vaasa – EnergyWeek 2026

Right after Tallinn, the journey continued to Vaasa, which serves as an international meeting point for the energy sector through its EnergyWeek event. The event brought together thousands of energy professionals, decision-makers, and innovators from around the world. For us in the ERKKI project, the week was an excellent opportunity to explore the hottest topics in the energy sector, along with new solutions and future trends. The program included important discussions on the development needs of Finland’s electricity grid and energy production, renewable energy sources, and the utilization of battery technologies to increase demand response.

Discussions in Vaasa further strengthened our view that there is currently a massive demand for solutions that improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Especially for challenging public spaces, the need arises for smart, data-driven optimization and flexibility. This enables significant cost savings without massive structural changes while simultaneously supporting the regional energy system.

Networking Trip to Prague

Spring’s international networking culminated in a project visit to Prague. The goal of the trip was to strengthen international cooperation networks, disseminate project results and business solutions, and foster peer learning regarding implemented and planned energy efficiency renovations. The trip focused on a particularly challenging question: how can energy efficiency be improved in cultural and leisure buildings without massive investments or complete overhauls?

Cooperation with Prague’s innovation company OICT (Operator ICT) and other local stakeholders showed that although the cities of Helsinki and Prague differ in energy production and building stock due to geography and history, we face very similar challenges in managing energy consumption and advancing measures. Both cities manage a large number of properties where improving energy efficiency requires broad stakeholder collaboration as well as new product and service solutions to enhance operational energy efficiency. Local actors were particularly interested in the pilots carried out in Helsinki, especially ways to utilize and visualize property-related data. Furthermore, Forum Virium Helsinki shared its learnings and methods on how to engage companies in the sector to make public property operations more efficient.

During the visit, we toured local example sites where we learned how data analytics and smart technology choices can support operational optimization and drive city-level emission reductions. We visited the Šutka Aquapark, where significant water and energy savings were achieved through new water purification technology. In connection with the renovation of a local metro depot (Depo Kačerov), solar panels were installed on the roofs of all properties in the depot area, with excess energy generated fed directly into the metro system. The third site was the Divadlo pod Palmovkou theater, which installed a photovoltaic system capable of sharing surplus energy with surrounding properties as needed.

Towards a More Energy-Efficient Future

The spring 2026 networking trips provided the ERKKI project with numerous crucial contacts and ideas that we will utilize in our energy efficiency work for public properties. Meetings with both domestic and international actors emphasized that multidisciplinary cooperation, sharing good practices, and a bold culture of experimentation are key when searching for solutions for urban sustainability and improving building energy efficiency.

The ERKKI (Optimization of Energy Efficiency in Challenging Public Cultural and Leisure Properties) project is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF). The project is carried out in cooperation with Green Net Finland. The project produces concrete experiences and learnings on utilizing new technologies and services in properties, fostering dialogue between public property owners and companies so that new solutions can adapt and scale to various building types.