From sustainable collaboration platforms to digital counters and artificial intelligence: discover how the city uses innovation and technology to help you in a smarter and better way, to make your life easier, whether you are an entrepreneur, citizen or visitor.
How do we make Ghent a smarter city?
By daring to innovate together. Not only with technology players, but also with other cities and governments, with the academic world, with large and small companies and so on.
By letting the data run and flow through all systems, for our citizens' convenience. That sounds difficult, but it is actually quite easy. Others can build on the information you release.
By seizing digital opportunities. It's not about the amount of sensors we have in the city, or technology for the sake of technology itself. But to improve the everyday life of and for our residents.
By removing bounderies and providing low touch digital access. This way we tailor our innovative solutions to the users' needs and create a society wherein everyone can participate.
Read more about our ambitions
How does Ghent commits to technology and innovation in the coming years?
Read the policy note PDF (801.31 KB)programme
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A few of our smart initiatives
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Historic site becomes start-up hub
The iconic Ghentian building that served as a circus until the early 20th century and later as garage will be transformed into a meeting-point and hotspot for creation and innovation. An innovation hub for start-ups and scale-ups that combines our rich cultural and economic scenes.
The central atrium of 1200 m2 will be accessible to anyone during the day, all kind of activities can take place, such as an expo, public demo or small fair. Around the central atrium, 4350m2 gross surface area is available for start-ups, scale-ups and technology companies to work (together) on the solutions for tomorrow’s social challenges. A new medium – size rock concert hall will be constructed under the main atrium space. The renovation of the building is part of the transformation of the Waalse Krook-neighbourhood in the centre of Ghent together with the new library and living lab for new media that is already under construction.
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The Collection of the Ghentian
Ghent's heritage institutions and museums are preserving an enormous amount of cultural heritage. At the same time the citizens of Ghent possess a treasure trove of knowledge and stories.
For Collections of Ghent, the City and its museums and archives are collaborating with partners from the corporate, cultural, and academic world to digitize an invaluable collection of more-or-less 100,000 objects, stories and documents. This collected heritage will converge in CoGent, an immersive, high-tech and mobile experience room. The CoGent box will go on tour in three neighbourhoods of Ghent, visitors will be able to participate by adding personal stories about the cultural heritage displayed in the CoGent box.
The Collections of Ghent will be an intersection where heritage, research, and technology will meet.
> Find more info on the website 'The collection of the Ghentian'
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The digital twin of Ghent
A digital clone for Ghent? A digital twin is a virtual representation of the city that is uses real time data.
It’s not so easy to test or try-out solutions against air pollution, noise nuisance and traffic overload in the real life city centre without possibly impacting everyone’s day to day life. Also, any action to improve something in one particular area can have an unexpected impact on other areas.
That’s where our virtual twin can help; it will enable us in future to make purely digital simulations or experiments of interventions as if they were held in the real city.
How busy is a given street at the moment? Is it safe to cycle? What is the best time to deliver? What happens to a traffic peak if there are certain road works?
In time the digital twin will be able to answer all these questions. More later…
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Urban e-inclusion programme
All Ghentians digitally included, that has been the goal of the e-inclusion programme of the city of Ghent and District09 since 2006.
Together with city services, organisations, companies and citizens, we are turning our city into an innovative and digital inclusive technology capital, in which all citizens can seize the opportunities of the digital world and are not excluded by digitization.
- We encourage the citizens of Ghent to find their way in the digital world by providing them digital access and support. One of our long-lasting projects is the ‘Digipunt’ project. With this project we create free access to computer and internet in more than 30 locations in Ghent. In every location there is a volunteer who can answer users’ specific digital questions.
- We support organisations in Ghent with tools, expertise and connections, so they can fully focus on developing e-inclusion programmes for their specific target groups.
- We encourage, support and coach city services to integrate digital inclusion permanently into their operations.
- We focus on e-inclusion internally by increasing the digital skills of our own employees and by focusing on e-inclusion by design.
- We are known outside Ghent as an inclusive knowledge. We take part in broader networks and inspire other cities with our expertise on digital inclusion and user-friendly services.
More information
You can find more information and all current projects at our Dutch website stad.gent/digitaalmee. For more information in English, please contact us (e-inclusie@stad.gent).
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