As a strategic urban extension of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Colonia del Sacramento, +Colonia will become a center for the knowledge-based economy of Latin America and a location for national and international high-tech companies and research institutions. Covering an area of up to 515 hectares on the banks of the Rio de Plata, +Colonia will connect the growing metropolitan region of Buenos Aires with around 14 million inhabitants with the capital Montevideo, offering innovative approaches for ‘work-live-play’ models for the next generation of talents and professionals. At the same time, it will act as an innovation-promoting “economic free zone“ for newly established companies and start-ups in the region's innovation ecosystem. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO supports the implementation with applied research.
Urban experimental space in and for Latin America
“Uruguay is working hard to establish itself as an innovation hub in the region, aware that this is the key to economic growth, social development and the sustainability of the country. In this context, we have decided to promote the +Colonia project, which seeks to become a Smart City model at a regional level. This project integrates advanced technologies and sustainable strategies to create an innovative urban environment, focused on the well-being of people”, said Flavio Caiafa, President of ANII at the project launch last week.
The strategic partnership between Fraunhofer IAO and +Colonia has the long-term goal of promoting the exchange of knowledge between the two countries in the field of sustainable and innovative urban development, initiating further bilateral projects and collaborations and creating new ESG-compliant (Environmental, Social, Governance) financing opportunities.
“This agreement shows that +Colonia is a fundamental project for Uruguay's strategic agenda. Together with the different levels of the Uruguayan government, agencies and organizations, we are building a new Smart City ecosystem of global reference, which has added a key global player for smart cities such as Fraunhofer Institute IAO”, explained Eduardo Bastitta, founder and CEO of +Colonia, to the Uruguayan Minister of Economy Elisa Facio and the leading representatives of the national utility companies.
Dr.-Ing. Steffen Braun, Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer IAO, added: “We are supporting +Colonia's forward-looking ambition to become Latin America's urban experimental space through our applied research into the sustainable design of urban systems. I am certain that this cooperation will open up new opportunities for everyone involved and that we will be able to develop new innovations for the cities of tomorrow between Germany and Uruguay. To this end, we are also in contact with other Fraunhofer institutes to identify synergies and pool the right research expertise.“
+Colonia as an international flagship project of the Fraunhofer Morgenstadt initiative
The involvement of the Fraunhofer IAO enables an innovative development approach with the possibility of designing new planning, authorization and implementation processes as well as infrastructure concepts together with all project participants from the very beginning. In this way, +Colonia can become an international flagship project for holistic and resilient smart eco-city development that clearly considers future requirements for climate neutrality and the digital transformation of the economy. In the first phase of the project, Fraunhofer IAO is working with the +Colonia partners to develop requirements and concepts for digital planning processes and for sustainability assessment and monitoring. The partnership is part of the Fraunhofer IAO's project assignment, which the Uruguayan government is supporting via the ANII with funds from its innovation financing program.
The project is part of the international Fraunhofer Morgenstadt initiative, which was launched in 2012 by more than 10 Fraunhofer Institutes and has since provided scientific support to over 100 cities and urban developments in Germany and around the world. In Latin America, several cooperation projects with cities from Mexico, Brazil and Peru have already been carried out in recent years, revealing a growing potential in the field of sustainable technologies and smart city innovations between South America and Europe. Urban future topics such as the increasing use of artificial intelligence in business and public administration, the importance of regulatory innovations for the practical trialing and testing of future technologies and the significance of renewable hydrogen production for climate-neutral industries are just a few examples. These will also play a strategic role for the project partners in the +Colonia research and innovation roadmap.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO