We joined the PilotInnCities project as an expert partner supporting agile piloting of Smart City solutions in Czech cities. The project is part of the Interreg Danube Region Programme and aims to help cities, innovators and other partners test new ideas directly in real urban environments. The purpose of pilots is to test solutions on a smaller scale, faster and with lower risk than in large investment projects, where mistakes or poorly defined requirements often become apparent only during implementation. 

In this context, piloting is not merely a technical test of a specific product. It is also important to verify operational demands, the city’s involvement, user response, management approach, data requirements, links to other municipal systems and the actual benefit for public space or city services. For cities, this approach provides an opportunity to test innovations without immediately having to prepare a large-scale project or investment. For companies and innovators, it offers a chance to obtain feedback from a real environment, understand the needs of local government and adapt their solutions so that they are usable beyond the pilot phase.

Our role in the project was primarily expert, facilitative and coordinative. We participated in the evaluation of pilot projects, expert consulting, assessment of technical and implementation feasibility, and communication between cities, innovators and other stakeholders involved. In projects of this type, it is important to view innovation not only from a technological perspective, but also in terms of the city’s capacities, operational constraints, long-term sustainability, financing and alignment with strategic priorities. It is precisely this combination of technological, process-based and urban perspectives that helps distinguish a pilot that remains a one-off demonstration from a solution that has the potential to continue further.

One specific example is the Liberec pilot by Glassiteca, a spin-off of the Technical University of Liberec. In cooperation with the City of Liberec, the company is testing the use of an innovative material made from recycled glass in public space. Combined with plants and water, the Glassticine material is intended to help improve microclimatic conditions in the city, for example in locations affected by overheating or a lack of greenery. At the same time, it demonstrates how waste glass can be used as part of an urban solution with both environmental and practical benefits.

In the Liberec pilot, we focused mainly on linking the technical solution with the city’s needs and the broader context of climate adaptation. Key aspects included coordination among the stakeholders involved, feasibility assessment, managing the city’s expectations, and considering how to place the pilot in public space so that it produces verifiable insights for potential future use. Projects of this kind bring the greatest value when they do not end with the installation of a single element, but instead generate data, experience and lessons learned for further decision-making.

PilotInnCities clearly shows where Smart City work is gradually heading. It is becoming less about creating general concepts and more about the ability of cities to test concrete solutions, work with risk, involve users and learn from smaller experiments. Agile piloting can serve as a useful intermediate step between strategy and investment: it makes it possible to verify what works, what needs to be adjusted and whether a given solution makes sense to scale to other locations or services.

For Gatum Group, this type of project is a natural continuation of our work at the intersection of Smart City, strategy, participation and technical consulting. It shows that urban innovation has the greatest chance of success when technological solutions, the needs of local government, operational reality and a clearly defined pilot purpose are connected from the very beginning.