Spain increases smart city budget to EUR 188 mln

 

Spain's industry ministry has announced that it will be devoting a further EUR 78 million of public funds to a new series of smart city initiatives, bringing the total budget of its National Smart Cities Plan to EUR 188 million.

The plan, first announced in March, will be co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the private sector and will be coordinated by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society via a newly-created Smart Cities Advisory Board made up of the Secretary of State, internet and ICT development agency Red.es, the state bodies Segittur and Idea, EOI business school, local authorities and industry representatives.

The increased budget will be used to launch a second Smart Cities tender with a budget of EUR 48 million, with bids for eligible ICT projects invited from all local authorities of more than 20,000 people as well as single-province autonomous communities. In addition, EUR 30 million has been allocated to a "Smart Islands" tender open to local governments on any of the Balearic or Canary Islands.

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