"The city of the future evolves towards the green city, the safe city, but also the attractive city", Wilfrid Petrie (Engie)

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 What challenges do smart cities face today?

Each city has a history of its own, and we attach great value to exemplarity: it is important to be able to show the cities of the typical cases, what we do in our various laboratories, near Paris, in the West , in Provence. Our raison d'être is to help develop the city of tomorrow, which will be able to contribute to the zero carbon transition while remaining attractive and safe.

The smart city is moving towards the green city, the safe city, but also the attractive city. Our support can go through mobility issues: for example, we have set up a filtering system for cars for the city of Rennes via cameras at the entrance of the métro's car parks to encourage carpooling. Our "Livin" hypervision and data centralization platform, which manages air quality, energy consumption and a number of utilities, is deployed in La Baule. There are also aspects to be covered in terms of connectivity, access to information, diversity in types of construction …

We have the skills and expertise to provide the infrastructure needed to help develop smart territory. With these pillars, we can create combinations adapted to the specific challenges of cities. What is very important is to take into account from the conception of the projects a certain number of criteria which will make it possible to increase the attractiveness: the zero carbon, the greening of the city, the preservation of the biodiversity, the mix of uses, which will make the city pleasant.

 The zero carbon transition is for you the horizon of any smart city?

Yes, and I think that in France we have entered a new phase of combat in the face of the climate emergency. In a previous phase, these issues were rather pushed by the government. Now there is a strong awareness on the part of energy efficiency companies, cities, and finally citizens themselves, who are committed to the environment. This movement will continue and it has different dimensions: green resources, intelligently use energy. .. For example, we participate in the design of the first decarbonated district, Porte com Montreuil in Paris, both in the construction and mobility of the city. In Montargis and Niort, we help the city to renovate and optimize the use of its public lighting, which reduces consumption by up to 80%.

To succeed in this zero carbon transition, it will also be necessary to move towards a more decentralized system, both in terms of infrastructures and uses. Because we must be able to accompany this use locally. I think this transition will involve more public-private partnerships and companies working together with a number of cities and governments. This is the meaning of the story.

 How to put technological innovations at the service of these issues?

Technological innovation is the result of working together, of a need that the public authorities can identify and of means that a private company like ours is able to implement, and to finance as well. It is more up to the private sector to take on the risk-taking inherent in any innovation.

On the one hand, we have technologies developed according to the uses that arise, as was the case in Rennes for carpooling, but also a certain number of technologies developed further upstream. For example, we acquired the Swedish company Icomera, which ensures a continuity of wifi in public transport.

We also believe that innovative projects carried by public actors can increasingly rely on integrated solutions, which include aspects of financing, services, design. We manage 3,500 cameras for the Paris police headquarters, we co-manage the heating system via the CPCU, a subsidiary of the City and Engie, the contract we have with the city of Montargis to renovate their street lighting is a contract Unprecedented rental that provides for an option to purchase the city at the end … In all cases, different forms of financing are possible, either total funding from the private sector, or a system of mixed financing.

 The smart city produces and feeds on a lot of data … Who should own them in the governance of the smart city? And what happens in case of end of contract?

The data is owned by the cities. We help them to manage and value them, and if possible by hosting them on local servers and which themselves have a low carbon footprint. We are working with them on a number of use cases, for example with the Ile-com-France, for which Siradel has developed a digital twin, that is to say a solution "as a service" which Allows the aggregation of all the data of a territory to help decision-making and co-construction. Sira-del also has a system open to private and public partners. When we can, we use open systems instead: we willingly give access to public authorities, sometimes to certain other operators, depending on the respective contributions and the added value of each other.

The only limit is the integrity of the product. And in case of end of contract, the important thing is to manage the relationship, which can always recover after an interruption. If we want to be a good partner, we need to help manage the continuity of services for the customer, even beyond ourselves. This seems to me to be an important criterion in the purchase by the public authorities: when they are provided with something, they must be able to get their hands behind.

 You would not want to go as far as Google, which could have carte blanche to design a neighborhood in the City of Toronto. ..?

It is important for us to always remain in support of the public authorities: we do not wish to replace it. What we want to do is support the public authorities in the development of the city, and manage with them a number of public services in partnership. I also find the notion of "commons urban" very interesting, which must be managed three dimensions: the public sphere, the end user, and private groups that can provide integrated solutions. I really believe in the power of these combined offers, being able to work together.

 What about the safe declination of the smart city, the safe city? You are a leader in the videoprotection of cities, you have won in Marseilles a market of 1.8 million euros to build an observatory of public tranquility … And some associations and movements citizens are worried about the generalization of a "society monitoring ". What do you answer?

The safe city represents a huge potential, but it must remain ethically and politically correct. A framework must exist and be set by the public authorities, but it is important that we ourselves have a strong ethic, we want to have a positive impact and act in coherence with that purpose. Private companies must proactively seek to always represent and develop their values.

Moreover, in the 600 cities where we have installed video surveillance equipment, some are also used to optimize parking, identify the attractiveness of certain neighborhoods, streamline traffic, plan urban development, cope with a certain number of situations. emergency like floods or floods … And to propose a camera which we are sure it will collect only public information, we develop for example algorithms that allow to reveal no private information and prevent facial recognition. And for the case of Marseille, this platform aims to help decision-making, especially for the municipal police, which goes far beyond security and also affects the management of public space. Because finally, we offer our technological expertise, but with regard to the choice of the city: it is she who defines where she wants to go.

 (1) The Ile-com-France region has signed a contract with Siradel (a start-up from Rennes renamed by Engie) that has developed a bespoke digital twin that groups all the territory's data.

 (2) Ineocom ', a subsidiary of Engie, is today the leader in the video surveillance market in France, and has entered into contracts with some 600 municipalities that are today equipped with video equipment.

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