Urbiotica has been recognized by the City of New York thanks to its solutions that will help make the Big Apple more livable.
As part of the World to New York Global Industry Challenge, the City of New York has recognized the companies that are perhaps the world’s best when it comes to finding solutions to make cities more livable and inhabitable. Four of the 15 candidates in the final round were Spanish, representing a level of success that was only surpassed by the five US companies participating in this contest. Finally, the Spanish group Urbiotica won in the Infrastructure category.
Urbiotica, founded in 2008, is a manufacturer of remote wireless sensor networks that let cities manage the services they offer. The company’s devices monitor in real time what parking spaces are available on a city’s streets, where traffic jams are developing, pollution and noise levels, or when garbage containers need to be emptied. This data lets city managers make decisions that improve efficiency and sustainability. Cities in Germany, Austria, France, Chile and Brazil, among other countries, are already taking advantage of these advances. With this prize, Urbiotica will now be able to use the support platform provided by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which organized the World to New York Global Industry Challenge.
Another Spanish company that competed along with Urbiotica in the same category was Bismart. which turns the huge volume of data available today from a variety of sources into knowledge, thus helping companies and other organizations make informed decisions. It focuses on Business Intelligence solutions and is a strategic partner of Microsoft, which named the company its Partner of the Year in 2013 for this category.
The other two Spanish firms also involved in this contest were Sensing & Control, from Barcelona, and Skybus, from Madrid. The former entered the category ‘Energy and Smart Networks’ while Skybus competed in ‘Mobility and Transportation’. Sensing & Control provides technical solutions to control services in buildings and homes either on site or remotely: energy, water consumption, air quality and heating & cooling.
Skybus offers a system of smart microbuses that riders can reserve over the internet and meet at the nearest stop in order to be picked up, sharing a ride with others who are taking a similar route.