CommuniCity

Through this model, CommuniCity engages in co-creation processes first involving local communities in the definition of local challenges, and then in the development of innovative solutions through Open Calls. These will be promoted at the national, regional and European levels. The project will provide new insights into local community innovation processes, and apply inclusive and sustainable models to allow the solutions to be replicated and scaled-up across Europe. 

The core partner cities (Amsterdam, Helsinki and Porto) are leading smart communities of co-creation aiming to push the frontier of community-driven innovation. The consortium is highly experienced in such approaches and initiatives, since CommuniCity represents a continuation of the successful H2020 OrganiCity and SynchroniCity projects.

Pilots in Amsterdam

Empowering low literate citizens of Amsterdam with the help of A.I.

Amsterdam has 33.3% more low-literate citizens than average for the Netherlands. Tolkie has developed a tool that helps low-literate users to overcome obstacles in a complex text. Organizations embed our tool into their website and by doing so they enhance the accessibility of their online platform. Our current solution is developed together with low-literate people. In an iterative process of acquiring user needs, designing and developing a solution, testing with the target audience, adjusting the design, etc. we developed the tool we have now. Our tool currently operates on a per-word basis, meaning that the target audience gets reading aid when they encounter difficult words. However, complexity of a text lies not only in difficult words, but also in complex sentence structures, the use of jargon and proverbial language, the structure of longer texts, etc. During this challenge we are going to extend our reading aid and we want to achieve that with the use of AI and other modern technologies.

WeSolve, driving change with inclusion

The platform built by WeSolve ApS represents a powerful opportunity for the city to showcase its activities and engage with young people, particularly those born in disadvantaged conditions. By using technology to create an active and accessible platform, the city can make youth engagement smoother and more effective. Target groups: Through the WeSolve platform, young people can participate in a wide range of activities that foster social cohesion, build trust, and create meaningful connections with others. These activities are aimed at developing skills, supporting communities, and building a brighter future for everyone involved with a particular attention to disadvantaged youth. Objectives: WeSolve can be used as a powerful tool by municipalities to enhance the level of disadvantaged youth engagement in order to create a safer, more connected, and more engaged community. By empowering young people through community-based initiatives and promoting social cohesion, WeSolve platform results as the means through which municipalities can reduce the likelihood of criminal activity and create a brighter future for young people born in disadvantaged conditions.

Co-creating & piloting assistive robot FLOo for parents with disabilities

Together with the open call and co-investment of youthcare organization Levvel, Garage2020 will pilot the co-designed assistive robot FLOo in Amsterdam for parents with intellectual disabilities in vulnerable positions in society. The project aims to improve the self-esteem of parents, enhance family life, promote self-reliance in parenting, and break the cycle of problems by utilizing the services of the FLOo robot, which provides easily accessible and always available care and support without judgement.

The project is focused on marginalized families in Amsterdam, where one or both parents have intellectual disabilities. These families are in vulnerable positions, have poor access to good healthcare and parenting support, and often live at or below the poverty line. In the pilot we will focus on three families in Amsterdam (already in care with Levvel) with in-depth piloting of additional support of FLOo and use co-creation methods to customise FLOo to the needs of every specific family. There are about 23000 – 46000 parents that face challenges in child rearing because of these disabilities in the Netherlands. Between 2000-3000 children are born within vulnerable families every year. Many of them live in cities like Amsterdam (exact numbers are not publicly accessible).

Audio-to-audio translation for status holders, in real-time, powered by AI

Status holders are required to go through a participation and immigration process (PIP) at the municipality of Amsterdam. However, employees at the municipality (klantmanagers) and status holders often don’t speak the same language. Klantmanagers speak mostly Dutch, and status holders often Arabic or Tigrinya. Translators are not always available or viable. They are expensive, take time to organize, are not always available in the short term, and sometimes make errors. Meanwhile, most status holders speak languages that have an oral tradition; hence verbal communication is preferred. There are barriers to communication between klantmanagers and status holders.

Objective: Better communication would improve the experience throughout the process for both. To achieve this, Switch AI develops speech technology that does audio-to-audio translation, in real-time! A solution built using the power of state-of-the-art AI technology.

Solution: Switch will build a software service that leverages speech recognition, translation and personalized speech generation AI models. The service will aid klantmanagers and status holders to communicate in their own languages. This service can be integrated with various applications developed by Gemeente Amsterdam, such as the PIP app.

Video avatar translation widget

The Municipality of Amsterdam seeks solutions to help enhance citizens’ understanding of the Dutch National Immunisation Programme and improve overall health outcomes, particularly among those with low literacy skills and those from diverse backgrounds. XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) will address this need through the application Video avatar translation widget.

Target Groups:

• People who speak a different language
• Low-literacy individuals
• People with low family care
• Parents and young people with a Moroccan or Turkish background

Objectives:

• Reach hard-to-reach target groups through the use of video content in addition to text
  
• Reduce video-creation time by leveraging AI technology
  
• Convert existing text into spoken videos with real-life, lip synced avatars in multiple languages
  
• Make healthcare information more accessible by converting written content into video format
  
• Ensure easy accessibility by sharing videos on social media and web-widgetsany

Project duration

September 2022 - September 2025

Commissioned by/Partners

• Gemeente Amsterdam
• University of Amsterdam
• The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
• Open & Agile Smart Cities (Belgium)
• Demos Helsinki
• Forum Virium Helsinki
• Porto Domus Social
• Porto Digital
• Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação 
• European Network of Living Labs
• The Computer Vision Center (Generalitat de Catalunya & Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
• Engineering The Digital Transformation Company (Italy) 

Source: CommuniCity