Even the smallest of Dutch towns are becoming smart

Bright ideas

Sustainder, an Emmen-based producer of smart luminaires for lamp posts, has seen growing demand for smart technology in recent years. “We started our company in 2016, got our first customer a year ago. We now supply 110 Dutch and German cities with smart lighting,” said Sustainder CEO Niek de Jong. Woensdrecht is one of them.

Sustainder’s luminaires offer a wide range of functionalities. By default, they come with a sensor to track movement via infrared and a sensor to measure ambient light that can automatically switch on the light when it gets dark. Also, the luminaires house an accelerometer that can notify city officials when a lamp post is knocked over by a car.

If cities require, Sustainder can offer more functionalities by adding hardware to the cassette inside the luminaire. For instance, a particulate matter sensor can measure the air quality, or a connected microphone can give the police a feed of crowd noise to help them detect aggression.

Also, the luminaires could be the hub for free city Wi-Fi or the roll-out of 5G, the next generation of wireless broadband. For the introduction of 5G, telcos need new cell towers to get good coverage. Smart lamp posts could be the solution.

“At this moment, cities primarily use our luminaires for smart lighting, but I expect they will want more functions in the near future,” said De Jong. “We want to be the Tesla of outdoor lighting,” he added. “You can use a Tesla for just driving, like you can use our luminaires for just the light. But under the hood much more is possible.”

Collaborating with scientists and businesses

In techy Eindhoven, the so-called “brainport” of the Netherlands, Guus Sluijter, programme manager for the Smart Society Program of the Municipality of Eindhoven, oversees new smart city projects and collaborates with scientists and businesses.

He predicts that an app store of smart services, developed on top of the smart infrastructure currently being built, could exist in the future.

“The smart grid should not only be used for things the government wants,” said Sluijter. “Citizens and companies know what society is asking for. For instance, why not let commercial security companies use smart lamp posts for camera surveillance and let citizens decide if they want to subscribe to these services? The local government would only be a facilitator. I think that’s the next step for smart cities.”

Eindhoven is hailed in the Netherlands as a pioneer in the use of sensors and big data to tackle societal problems. Stratumseind, a bar district with a reputation for violence and harassment, has been turned into a so-called “living lab” for crowd control in recent years, with cameras and sensors hanging in every street corner.

The police in Eindhoven use artificial intelligence software to analyse the images and sounds. The police are notified in the case of problems. In addition, all kinds of data is being tracked, from social media messages to beer consumption data from bars, to help police prevent aggression.

The data Eindhoven gathers is completely anonymised. “In Eindhoven, we want to show how you can learn a lot about crowds with technology, without violating citizens’ privacy,” said Sluijter. Also, he pointed out that all the collected data is shared on an open data portal run by the city: “It’s not our data, it’s everyone’s data.”

Eindhoven’s approach to crime is definitely innovative and attention-grabbing. But is it successful? That depends on how you measure success, according to  Thaens at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

“Gaining experience with new technology is certainly valuable. People need to learn to work with data to tackle societal problems. But you should look also at the numbers. Has crime dropped? Does the city still need as many police officers? Often, Dutch cities often don’t these questions into account. Going forward, cities should not only focus on implementing new technology, but also look if tech is solving something.”