Providing clarity: Eindhoven supports applicants in open call clinics

In early July, the municipality of Eindhoven has organised the first of three SynchroniCity open call clinics. Arthur Noordhoek, assistant project manager for the City of Eindhoven coordinating the SynchroniCity Open Call for the municipality, shares his insights from Eindhoven’s first direct encounter with potential open call applicants.

Interview questions

Eindhoven has just organised the first open call clinic to provide support for potential applicants: Who mainly attended the clinic?

Several representatives from Dutch SMEs have attended the first open call clinic in Eindhoven. They all support different stakeholders in the smart city to improve process with a broad variety of IoT-enabled services.

The SynchroniCity open call has gained a lot of interest in the last weeks: What’s your first impression of the potential applicants who joined the clinic?

From this first, direct encounter with the potential applicants, I’m optimistic about the services that the SMEs have developed. We look forward to further scale up some of these services in Eindhoven and the other partner cities.

Is there a question that all potential applicants had in common?

No, not really. The team and I have answered a broad range of questions. Also, the main focus of the clinic was to clearly share our – the city of Eindhoven’s - needs and wishes with the attendees of the clinic.

Is there any advice you can share with potential applicants from SMEs and large businesses?

Take a look at the City Cards. The City Cards provide crisp and clear overview of the values and priorities of each participating city, as well as the data and assets available. [Ed.: More information becomes available over time. Applicants are encouraged to check the website regularly.]

Check, which of your services are connected to these priorities and come to the next clinic to ask clarification questions directly to the municipality to prepare a good proposal that really addresses the city’s needs.

There are also cities interested in joining SynchroniCity via the open call. What would you recommend them to do to become a vital part?

Every municipality is confronted with the challenges of digitisation of the society and will have to determine its position in this transition. Join the project through the open call and it will be possible to take a big step forward by connecting to a widely supported platform. Cities can draw and apply a concrete roadmap by exchanging knowledge with all SynchroniCity partners.

There will be more open call clinics in Eindhoven, how and where can interested SMEs, businesses, and other cities sign up?

The municipality of Eindhoven is organising two more open call clinics on 8 and 20 August. You can register via the SynchroniCity website.

More about Arthur Noordhoek

As an engineer in civil engineering and computer science, Arthur Noordhoek has been over 20 years experience working as a consultant for the municipality of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In recent years, he has focused on innovation of light and other applications of Internet of Things in urban environments.