Tallinn, Estonia Launches ‘Test in Tallinn’ Innovation Program – Smart Cities Connect

Tallinn, Estonia – which was named the European Green Capital of Europe for 2023 – has been running the Test in Tallinn innovation program, where both domestic and foreign companies are invited to come to the city and use it as a test bed. To date, nine projects have been launched, and the program is now entering its second phase. “The testing of new solutions in Tallinn has led to several success stories, such as Krattworks and Bikeep,” said Tallinn deputy mayor Joosep Vimm. “Some projects currently in the testing phase, or about to begin testing, under the Test in Tallinn programme involve digital sensors for rubbish bins, smart wave measuring devices for ports and a scanner that creates 3D models using atmospheric radiation. Previous collaborations with entrepreneurs have highlighted the need for such a testing opportunity. This also presents an opportunity for the city to discover innovative solutions for developing a smart city, allowing us to provide improved services for our residents and visitors.” The city supports the testing of innovation projects for up to 12 months on a case-by-case basis. It also offers suitable opportunities and locations – such as city properties, objects, and buildings – to help develop and pilot the solutions.  When possible, the city provides the necessary public data for conducting test projects. To date, the program’s innovation commission has selected four companies to participate in the next phase, which only includes foreign companies: Urbanly (Argentina) – software designed to help urban planners model different scenarios based on the availability of services, the price of real estate, and other factors; Sam Corporation (South Korea) – an innovative game that promotes creativity and speech skills among young people; XD Visuals (Finland) – a software solution that integrates planned and existing environments into a 6D hybrid information model; and MakeaBIM (Finland) – software based on artificial intelligence that creates Building Information Modeling (BIM) models from 2D sketches. Applications for Test in Tallinn may be submitted at any time. The innovation commission gathers quarterly to select new testbed projects.