The Municipality of Reykjavik (RVK) is the capital of Iceland with around 130,000 inhabitants. It has a state of the art IT infrastructure, fibre optic broadband is ubiquitous, 94% of households are online and IT literacy in general is very high with Iceland itself ranked at number 1 on the ITU / ICT development index1. Reykjavik has three universities, the University of Iceland, The University of Reykjavik and the Iceland Academy of the Arts that together create a dynamic ecosystem of learning and innovation.
Reykjavik has state of the art ICT infrastructure (See the ITU/ICT development index)
We have three universities in Reykjavik and one of them, the University of Reykjavik has a research centre on AI http://ailab.ru.is/ The university has very strong research links with MIT. The University of Iceland also has an excellent reputation for research.
The City of Reykjavik runs entirely on green energy. The city is the principle owner of Reykjavik Energy https://www.or.is/ (a power company specialising in geothermal energy production) with power plants located near Reykjavik. The city also owns the utility companies that service the city including the ICT fiber-optic broadband infrastructure that is ubiquitous in Reykjavik. General ICT literacy is very high in Iceland. As regards the economy then fisheries is the backbone with very effective fisheries policies guaranteeing the sustainability of the industry. Tourism has grown exponentially in the past few years to around 2.5 million (from 350,000 a few years ago). Reykjavik is also a social innovator in digital government and governance. All in all, as a use case, Reykjavik has many strengths not least in owning all the critical infrastructure, excellent research institutions with strong international links and is widely regarded as a global leader in sustainable resource management (fishing and energy). Reykjavik now has a R&D unit with two successful H2020 grant applications. We have a solid network of international collaborators and partners.
Key personnel
Dr. Magnus Yngvi Jósefsson is the Research Programme Manager for Reykjavik SMART city. Magnus has been involved in research projects that consider e-government and e-governance, new innovative models of participatory democracy, nature-based solutions in cities, urban mobility, a project that studies the social and economic impact of 3D printing, data governance and data security and many others that involve social innovations in the context of ICT and urban challenges. Magnus has been involved in developing Reykjavik´s data governance strategy that will equip the city with the tools, methods, and knowledge to address the challenges of government and governing the modern data and information society. Magnus is also a research fellow at the Centre for Policy Modelling in Manchester, which specializes in complex systems research. The Centre is a leading global expert on building social simulations and agent-based models. Magnus is an expert reviewer to the European Union’s research program Horizon 2020 and has been associate editor to the International Conference of Information Systems – ICIS – and to the British Academy of Management – BAM -. Magnus holds a Ph.D. in Business and Management and is a certified PRINCE2 practitioner.
Dr. Roxana Elena Cziker, is a Research Project Manager for the Reykjavik SMART City, City of Reykjavík since 2019. Roxana received her Ph.D. in Psychology in 2007 from the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, carrying out a case study research regarding the training of visual behaviours of visually impaired children and multiple disabilities, a multidisciplinary approach. In 2010 she received a Ph.D. in Medical Science from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu-Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca, Romania studying the impact of brain damages on visual motor-sensorial, neurocognitive and perceptive functions in the pediatric pathology. She is a member affiliated to the ENVITER network – European Network of Vision Impairment training, Education and Research and member of the AERA – American Educational Research Association. She published around 20 articles in journals and conference proceedings. Roxana has been involved in research projects that consider education, social and health such as evaluation and monitoring of the quality of services for disabled people, social and professional innovation initiatives of visually impaired women as a medical preventive resource for an investigation of breast cancer (EIVIWAC project). Roxana has been also involved in research and educational projects related to the implementation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health for visually impaired people – the transition from the medical to the social model of assessment of disabled people (ICFProVIP and STEP-IVI projects).
For more information about the Municipality of Reykjavik, please visit their website.