This round table centred on the role that Science Parks play in smart networks and smart cities, particularly on cooperation between Science Parks, local authorities and business communities in both the EU and USA. Along these lines, Juan A. Bertolín talked about Penyagolosa Territori Intel.ligent initiative, a project that forms part of eLivingLab. It is being carried out in collaboration with a number of inland towns in the province of Castellón (east Spain) so that, by incorporating innovation and technology, these towns obtain a differentiated identity of their territory to become Smart Territories in order to add value to all their business, institutional, social and occupational actions.
This event, which addressed representatives from the regions, cities, suppliers of services, and business organisations that can interact with science parks in developing smart networks and smart cities initiatives, focused on the best practices of smart networks in the EU and of US local authorities, which are paving the way towards the Smart Cities application.
The round table of JRC was organised around two keynote speeches of Paul Krutko, President and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, Michigan (USA) and Josep Piqué, President of the European Division of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP).
Among the main conclusions drawn, the role of Science Parks as important intermediaries in diffusing research results and innovations relating to the smart cities domain as they connect research organisations and the business community was stressed.