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Europe tomorrow poverty or prosperity
1. 1 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity
Dr. Azamat Abdoullaev
Smart Nations Independent Consultant/Smart Eco Community “X” Consortium
https://eu-smartcities.eu/forum/smart-green-europe
https://eu-smartcities.eu/blog/smart-eco-europe-integrated-investment-platform
[“EUROPE of Tomorrow” is part of the “Smart Green Europe” proposed to the President-elect Jean-Claude JUNCKER and the
President of the Central Bank of Europe as a Pan-European Investment Platform under the European Fund of Strategic
Investments and the European Projects of Common Interest]
Why Europe in need of Extensive Social Changes
“The crisis has strongly impacted European societies. Many people lost their jobs or part of their income as a
result of salary cuts. Uncertainty about the future has risen. European citizens demonstrate an increasing lack of
confidence and trust in relation to the governance of financial institutions, companies and the free market overall
but also in relation to democratic institutions and politics at European, national or local levels. At the same time,
the crisis has pushed the EU to advance the integration process in order to make the European economy more
resilient and sustainable; see Europe in a changing world: inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies, Horizon
2020, Work Programme 2014-2015.
In 2013, 122.6 million people, or 24.5% of the population, in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion
(AROPE), being in one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers (income poverty),
severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity. As the state of lacking the
necessary for survival means to satisfy basic needs or the communal standard of living, poverty is harmful by
associating with poor health, low skills and education, crimes and social unrest. A substantial amount of
Europeans, some nations’ AROPE reaching almost half a population, “cannot afford 1) to pay rent/mortgage or
utility bills on time, 2) to keep home adequately warm, 3) to face unexpected expenses, 4) to eat meat, fish or a
protein equivalent every second day, 5) a one week holiday away from home, 6) a car, 7) a washing machine, 8) a
colour TV, or 9) a telephone (including mobile phone)”.
According to Eurostat, “almost 1 out of every 4 persons was in the EU in this situation”, whereas now it might be 2
out of 4 Europeans… and one of the key targets of the Europe 2020 headline indicators is to reduce poverty by
lifting at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020.
More and more Europeans are becoming victims of the worst sort of poverties, “concentrated collective poverty”,
spread in city slums and urban ghettos, areas without any industry or agriculture or with low competition and
production efficiency.
Poverty is becoming a top agenda in the European risk landscape, being related with the following social evils:
Fiscal crises in national economies, Severe Income disparity, when the few wealthy syphoning off most national
income, Structurally high unemployment/underemployment, Governance failure, Failure of a major financial
mechanism/institution, Profound political and social instability; Water crises, Failure of climate change mitigation
and adaptation, Greater incidence of extreme weather events (e.g. floods, storms, fires), and Food crises.
The whole situation is aggravated by that most Member States, as Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Portugal,
Greece, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, UK and Finland, Hungary, Austria, Cyprus, are deeply indebted
countries, having the real economy debt-to-GDP ratio more than doubled.
Europe in need of all-comprehensive and systematic transformation in all the critical aspects, economic, political,
social, cultural, territorial, scientific, technological, and environmental, so that to secure a “sustainable recovery”
scenario (EUROPE 2020, A European Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, 2010, Communication
from Commission). In other world, Europe stands in an urgent need of the post-industrial, “smart revolution” in its
communities, urbanization, infrastructure, economy, agriculture, industry, education, learning, science and
technology, society, governance, culture and lifestyle to reach a sustained prosperity for all and everyone.
2. 2 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
EUROPE 2020 Strategy
The EU is aimed to build “a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment,
productivity and social cohesion”, setting out “a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century”.
Its Europe 2020 Strategy put forward three interdependent priorities:
Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation (INNOVATION; EDUCATION;
DIGITAL SOCIETY).
Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy
(CLIMATE, ENERGY AND MOBILITY; COMPETITIVENESS).
Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion
(EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS; FIGHTING POVERTY
To get out of the crisis, under each priority theme seven flagship initiatives were defined:
"Innovation Union": to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to
ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.
"Youth on the move": to enhance the performance of education systems and to facilitate the entry of young
people to the labour market.
"A digital agenda for Europe": to speed up the roll-out of high-speed internet and reap the benefits of a digital
single market for households and firms.
"Resource efficient Europe": to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, support the shift
towards a low carbon economy, increase the use of renewable energy sources, modernise our transport sector and
promote energy efficiency.
"An industrial policy for the globalisation era": to improve the business environment, notably for SMEs, and to
support the development of a strong and sustainable industrial base able to compete globally.
"An agenda for new skills and jobs": to modernise labour markets and empower people by developing their of
skills throughout the lifecycle with a view to increase labour participation and better match labour supply and
demand, including through labour mobility.
"European platform against poverty": to ensure social and territorial cohesion such that the benefits of growth and
jobs are widely shared and people experiencing poverty and social exclusion are enabled to live in dignity and take
an active part in society. EUROPE 2020: A European Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.
As key funding sources, the following EU public funds and instruments are considered:
1. the EUR 315 bn European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
2. the EUR 630 bn European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF)
3. the European Investment Fund and European Investment Bank
4. the Horizon 2020 Program, with the total budget of EUR 77 028,3 million
5. the European Central Bank (EUR 1.1 trillion assets purchase program)
Other EU funding opportunities are funding initiatives like ELENA, JESSICA, RSFF, COSME. To mobilize future
Europe investments, Horizon 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020), could be
combined with EFSI, ESIF, ERDF, European Social Fund and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and
the operational programs of European countries, see the EC Communication, “A Budget for Europe 2020”.
On the top, the new EC’s President has initiated the European Fund for Strategic Investments. The European
Commission estimates that the Fund, managing the €21 billion (a €16 billion guarantee from the EU budget and €5
billion from the European Investment Bank), will be able to reach an overall multiplier effect of 1:15 and will thus
generate up to €315 bn in total investment: €1 of public money used by the fund would generate €12 from private
investors and €3 from the EIB. The exact multiplier effect will vary for each individual project.
The EFSI is to “contribute to the transformation to a green, sustainable and resource efficient economy and to
sustainable job creation”.
TOWARDS THE POST-EUROPE 2020: an Innovation-Driven Intelligent Europe
A competitive Nation is seeking to drive its sustainable economic growth and prosperity mostly relying on basic
pillars, defining three types of modern economies: factor-driven, efficiency-driven and innovation-driven. Being
the constituents of competitiveness, these pillars comprise: well-functioning public and private institutions (pillar
1), a well-developed infrastructure (pillar 2), a stable macroeconomic environment (pillar 3), a healthy workforce
having a basic education (pillar 4), a higher and tertiary education and training (pillar 5), efficient goods markets
3. 3 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
(pillar 6), well-functioning labor markets (pillar 7), developed financial markets (pillar 8), technologies (pillar 9), a
large domestic or foreign market (pillar 10), sophisticated production processes (pillar 11), innovations,
technological and non-technological (pillar 12) (The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015, Klaus Schwab,
World Economic Forum).
Europe has enough strengths and potential to become mostly “innovation-driven” by transforming into a Smart
Union of Member States and sustainable cities of tomorrow, avoiding suffering a “lost decade” (“a permanent loss
in wealth and potential for future growth”) or “sluggish recovery” (“a permanent loss in wealth and start growing
again from this eroded basis”), EUROPE 2020.
The way to a sustained prosperity is a strategic investment into the regional, national, urban and local
communities of the future, its future-proof infrastructure, eco intelligent industry and smart services. Enriching
and extending the EU2020 Strategy, its key priorities, headline targets, initiatives, and thematic priorities, such a
Union is to emerge as an All-Sustainable Intelligent Europe consolidating:
– Smart Europe: developing a smart (technology-centric) connected Union and its Member States, cities and
communities based on knowledge, research and innovation and intelligent digital solutions.
– Green Europe: developing an eco-wise, resource efficient, green Union and its Member States, cities and
communities.
– Inclusive Europe: developing a people-centered, intelligent Union and its Member States, cities and communities
as delivering economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity.
The Smart Green Europe is aimed to turn the EU into a smart, green and inclusive Union delivering the most
innovative and developed Member States, cities and communities, distinguished with the smart living and
employment, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, sustainable competitiveness and productivity, and
social and territorial cohesion.
The Smart Europe goal is to make European national communities and cities more sustainable, open, innovative,
smart and inclusive areas, thriving places attracting talents, quality jobs and smart economic activities, "hubs of
research and innovation" and social cohesion and cultural dialogue, social inclusion and economic growth, and
high quality of life while preserving environment and natural resources, cultural and ecological inheritance for the
next generations.
The Smart Green Europe is to create a European Union of smart national communities and eco cities, urban areas,
including metropolitan areas, larger urban zones and conurbations, across its geographically different areas, as the
Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic regions.
Among others, it aims to reach a harmonious socio-economic growth across the people-oriented intelligent Union
balancing the highly uneven economies of France, England or Germany, marked by low environmental
sustainability, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus, marked by low economic and social sustainability, banking on
primarily unskilled cheap labor (services and construction), natural resources (tourism) or land speculation
(development).
I-EUROPE PLATFORM: A Pan-European Security and Risk Management System
As our world is getting interconnected, intelligent, instrumented, and innovative, we have to integrate our
transnational/national/regional/urban systems and networks, making our localities smarter, greener, intelligent
and sustainable. We have to coordinate, monitor and manage the communal spaces, functions, and agencies via
centralized community intelligence, as a single intelligent operations centre, a smart community command and
control system, an integrated intelligent digital community management platform, a core of digital intelligent
environments, embedded in the framework of future Europe communities, transnational, regional, national, urban
or rural.
The I-Europe Community Digital Platform is designed to model, understand, map, monitor, and manage the Pan-
European nexus of economic, environmental, geopolitical, technological, and societal risks: their nature, likelihood,
impact, and the strengths of interconnections, losses and cascading consequences, evolution and control, risk
resilience tools, the new vulnerabilities, as a new demography pattern, and “the trends to watch”, as emerging
risks and disruptive technology risks, smart cities, future internet, synthetic biology, 3-D printing, automated
vehicles, etc.
4. 4 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
As a data base, the I-Europe Platform is digitizing the Global Risk 2014 Interconnections Map from the Global Risks
reports and the Global Risks Perceptions Survey systematically performed by the World Economic Forum’s Global
Agenda Councils.
As a knowledge base, the I-Europe Platform is relying on a Causal Interdependency or Interaction Network (CIN) or
a Causal Flow Network (CFN), in the form of a directed graph, cyclic or acyclic, nonhierarchical or hierarchical.
As a logical base, the I-Europe Platform is relying on the Encyclopedic Intelligence digital paradigm, modeling the
world of entities and relations, where understanding, establishing or predicting basic relationships make the core
of real and virtual intelligence.
The I-Europe Digital Platform is an Encyclopedic Intelligence development application, running on a dynamic causal
network interrelating as contextualized global risks in five leading categories:
ECONOMIC (Fiscal crises in key economies, Failure of a major financial mechanism or institution, Liquidity crises,
Structurally high unemployment/underemployment, Oil-price shock to the global economy, Failure/shortfall of
critical infrastructure, Decline of importance of the US dollar as a major currency)
ENVIRONMENTAL (Greater incidence of extreme weather events (e.g. floods, storms, fires), Greater incidence of
natural catastrophes (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, geomagnetic storms), Greater incidence of
man-made environmental catastrophes (e.g. oil spills, nuclear accidents), Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem
collapse (land and ocean), Water crises, Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation)
GEOPOLITICAL (Global governance failure, Political collapse of a nation of geopolitical importance, Increasing
corruption, Major escalation in organized crime and illicit trade, Large-scale terrorist attacks, Deployment of
weapons of mass destruction, Violent inter-state conflict with regional consequences, Escalation of economic and
resource nationalization)
SOCIAL (Food crises, Pandemic outbreak, Unmanageable burden of chronic disease, Severe income disparity,
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Mismanaged urbanization (e.g. planning failures, inadequate infrastructure and
supply chains), Profound political and social instability)
TECHNOLOGICAL (Breakdown of critical information infrastructure and networks, Escalation in large-scale cyber
attacks, Massive incident of data fraud/theft, Emerging technology risks, as nanotechnology, life sciences
technologies, etc.).
Being a single digital innovation ecosystem, the i-Europe Platform is to include as its computing cloud systems:
Economy, Environment, Geopolitics, Society, and Technology.
For instance, the i-Europe Finance System could show how fiscal risks and financial risks are causally
interconnected, affecting each other, as fiscal crises generate financial crises and/or vice versa, reversing its
causation, thus generating financial instabilities and downgrading to vicious cycles of financial defaults, like in
Cyprus or Greece.
The i-Europe Technology System could virtually analyze as a causal power set of all the possible interrelations of
emerging disruptive technologies, such as:
Mobile Internet (MI): Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet
connectivity
Automation of knowledge work (AK): Intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks
involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments
The Internet of Things (IT or M2M): Networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection,
monitoring, decision making, and process optimization
Cloud technology (CT): Use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or
the Internet, often as a service
Advanced robotics (AR): Increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity, and intelligence
used to automate tasks or augment humans
Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles (AV): Vehicles that can navigate and operate with reduced or
no human intervention
Next-generation genomics (NG): Fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced big data analytics, and
synthetic biology (“writing” DNA)
Energy storage technology (EST): Devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries
3D printing (3DP): Additive manufacturing techniques to create objects by printing layers of material
based on digital models
5. 5 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
Advanced materials (AM): Materials designed to have superior characteristics (e.g., strength, weight,
conductivity) or functionality
Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery (AOG): Exploration and recovery techniques that make
extraction of unconventional oil and gas economical
Renewable energy technology (RET): Generation of electricity from renewable sources with reduced
harmful climate impact
The i-Europe Technology System is justified by that the combined potential economic impact by 2025 from the
applications of the 12 disruptive technologies could be in the tens of trillions of dollars per year (McKinsey Global
Institute analysis: Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy,
May 2013).
The i-Europe Digital Platform could be cost-effectively deployed as an Intelligent InterCloud System (a Smart
MetaCloud Europe, or a SkyNet Europe), making an all-European Big Data collection and Knowledge Management
System of flows of traffic, energy, materials, information, processes, services, capital, financing, goods, people, and
ideas.
It is designed to operate as a centralized intelligent control and command center for state, region, city and
community clouds, thus enabling a Pan-European Network of intelligent Communities as an All-European
Internet/Web of things, services, knowledge, communities and citizens.
The I-Europe Research and Innovation System: a Smart Horizon System
Another intelligent application of the I-Europe Governance Platform is developing a Smart Horizon Digital Europe
System. As the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and the financial instrument implementing
the Innovation Union, Horizon “promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas
from the lab to the market”, but appearing as disconnected research and innovation actions.
The i-Europe RIS is to infuse “intelligence” and logical unity into the EC Horizon 2020 Program by centralized
knowledge management and interconnecting its sections and components:
Excellent Science
o European Research Council
o Future and Emerging Technologies
o Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
o European Research Infrastructures, including e-Infrastructures
Industrial Leadership
o Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies
Information and Communication Technologies
Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Space
o Access to risk finance
o Innovation in SMEs
Fast Track to Innovation Pilot (2015-2016)
Societal Challenges
o Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing
o Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the
Bioeconomy
o Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy
o Smart, Green and Integrated Transport
o Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials
6. 6 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
o Europe in a changing world - Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
o Secure societies – Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens
Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation
Science with and for Society
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
Euratom
As the Knowledge Europe Platform, Digital Intelligent Horizon System is to contribute to integrating a European
Research Area, coordinating and monitoring key stages in the research, development and innovation cycle, with all
types of actions: Research and innovation; Innovation; SME instrument, Coordination & support actions, Pre-
commercial procurement Cofund/Public procurement of innovative solutions Cofund, and ERA-NET Cofund for
trans-national projects.
The “Smart Europe” Horizon System is thus to contribute to creating European smart connected infrastructures
and intelligent industries, smart cities and green communities at the research and innovation stage of the entire
innovation life cycle development: from research to development, to proof of concept, piloting, demonstration
projects, massive rollout to setting standards and policy frameworks, again, to a new growth spiral.
I-Europe Government: Smart Executive, Legislative and Judiciary
I-Government (short for intelligent government, also i-gov, smart government, virtual/online cyber government,
or smart connected government) implies digitally intelligent interactions between
1. Government (Executive, Judiciary and Lawmakers) and citizens (G2C),
2. Government and businesses/Commerce (G2B),
3. Government and employees (G2E),
4. Government to governments /agencies (G2G).
The i-Government delivery models can be briefly summed up as
G (E, J, L) x (C, B, E) U (C, B, E) x G (E, J, L):
G2C (Government to Citizens);
G2B (Government to Businesses);
G2E (Government to Employees);
G2G (Government to Government, international government, central/national government, local government, civil
government);
C2G (Citizens to Governments);
B2G (Business to Government);
E2G (Employees to Government)
As a smart government reference framework, the i-Government model will be applied as 4i-Government,
innovated, integrated, instrumented and intelligent, figured as a 4-tiered i-Government Pyramid Model.
I-Government succeeds smart government, transformational government, as well as e-government, with its
subdivisions: m-government (mobile government), u-government (ubiquitous government), and g-government
(GIS/GPS applications for e-government).
4I-Government Platform provides an ultimate vision of an integrated portfolio of government activities and public
projects, like optimal budgeting, smart civil technologies, natural resources protection, public space management,
intelligent policing, finance control, transportation efficiency, etc.
In Europe, the powers is divided is divided among the European Council, representing national governments, and
the European Commission, acting as the European Government, as the executive, the European Parliament, the
legislative, and the European Court of Justice, the judiciary.
The I-Europe Government Digital System is an open government platform coordinating fruitful interactions among
the citizens, civil society, national governments, the Commission, the Council, and the judiciary, as national courts
of justice and the European Court of Justice.
Specifically, it is designed to monitor how the Commission performs its responsibilities as according the article
17 of the Treaty on European Union: “develop medium-term strategies; draft legislation and arbitrate in the
legislative process; represent the EU in trade negotiations; make rules and regulations, for example in
7. 7 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
competition policy; draw up the budget of the European Union; and to scrutinise the implementation of the
treaties and legislation”.
As a Direct Digital Democracy Open Government Platform, it gives the citizens and civil societies a decisive voice
in defining the EU strategies, policies, rules and regulations, and politically critical appointments: the President
of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, the High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the President of the European Central Bank, virtually electing the MEPs
according to a uniform voting system. In a close future, the national parliaments are to become redundant,
while the Smart Union’s Parliament is to take responsibilities over safety and security, health, education,
housing, law & order and defence, as well as environmental standards, consumer protection, trade,
employment law, etc.
The necessity of the i-Government Digital Systems is caused by a top political risk: “unresponsive,
unaccountable, inefficient, and ineffective bureaucracies seem impossible to change with the current tools in
place, requiring a new approach, called citizen-centered reform model”. The World Bank.
The “Smart Eco Europe” Cities and Communities
For most people, the idea of the world and its economy is still of core nation states interconnected through
flows of trade, capital, people and technology, knowledge and information. However, cities have been the
engines of productivity and growth throughout history, and will be essential to the future growth and
competitiveness of nations and regions.
Nowadays, as before the Westphalian treaty in 1648, the city is becoming the most important political,
economic and cultural unit, and the 21st century is steadily emerging as an urbanized world thus becoming the
age of cities: the top 25 cities of the world account for half of the world’s wealth. More than ever before, cities
are viewed as the key generators of national growth and “the lifeblood of the global economy”. The city quality
and competitiveness increasingly determine the wealth and poverty of nations, states and regions, as well as
the global growth of the fast urbanizing world (The Competitiveness of Cities. A report of the Global Agenda
Council on Competitiveness, World Economic Forum, 2014).
European cities are critical in the Union policies aiming to create growth, jobs and a sustainable future, being
centres of population and economic development, services, knowledge and creativity, as well as the places of
social polarization and inequalities, intercultural confrontations, poverty concentration, unemployment and
environmental problems.
To secure the sustainable and smart development of cities, the EC launched the Smart Cities and Communities
Initiative in 2012 under the responsibility of the European Innovation Partnership and its 6 Action Clusters.
One of its flagship actions is the “Smart Cities and Communities solutions integrating energy, transport, ICT
sectors through lighthouse (large scale demonstration - first of the kind) projects” under the Horizon 2020, the
EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020).
Its scope is “to identify, develop and deploy replicable, balanced and integrated solutions in the energy,
transport, and ICT actions through partnerships between municipalities and industries”. Over the next 7 years,
the EIP is envisaged a portfolio of at least 20 - 25 lighthouse projects each with approximately 6-10 cities (and
partners), thus to contribute to building a more competitive Europe.
In reality, European population mostly consists of small towns and suburbs and rural population (ca. 65%), 23
big cities (> 1m), 37 large cities (0,5m-1m), 62 large cities (0,25m-0,5m), 227 medium cities (0,1m-0,25m), 392
medium cities (0,05m-0,1m).
Most of them operate without any integrated strategies and action plans for sustainable urban growth or eco
communal development, while being subject to a harmful trend of core cities integrating with suburbs and
daughter cities in an unlimited urban sprawl.
Given that, the “Smart Green Europe” implies arranging the All-European Union of Smart Cities and Green
Communities, being committed to an overall sustainability, environmental, economic, social, geopolitical and
technological, as guided by the Smart Eco Life Philosophy. It will make key part of the EIP on Smart Cities and
Communities Market Place implementing eco-smart innovative actions, pilot projects and demonstration
projects of EU significance.
The Smart Union Cities and Communities are to include urban and rural communities managing and
implementing integrated territorial investments (ITI, as being listed in Partnership Contracts) and implementing
8. 8 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
integrated innovative actions.
The integrated infrastructure pilots could be financed under the new European Fund for Strategic Investments
(see an Investment in Europe), while its management expenses could be covered under innovative urban
actions having up to 0.2% of the total ERDF allocation at EU level, ca. 370m €.
The Smart Union is expected to be followed with the Member State Smart Cities Alliances, collecting funding
from ERDF-resources programmed for urban priority axes, as far as the Member States should earmark at least
5% of ERDF-resources for ITI for sustainable urban development with management delegated to cities.
A National Smart Alliance could be made of the committed municipalities and communities for integrated smart
territorial development of urban areas and rural regions:
Italy (369);·Spain (267);·France (82);·Portugal (65);·Germany (64);·Greece (62);·Romania (42);·Sweden
(42);·United Kingdom (32); Belgium (27);·Netherlands (24); Cyprus (11), etc.
The Action Clusters, its 22 Sub-Groups, are supposed to be among key stakeholders of the Smart Sustainable
Union, as the Smart Eco City “X” Consortium is to contribute in creating the Smart Union City definition, vision,
strategies and policies and planning.
Enriching the EIP High-Level Group approach, the “smart eco Europe” cities will be developed/redeveloped as
intelligent territorial ecosystems of people interacting with the circular flows of information, energy, materials,
services and financing to catalyse intelligent sustainable development, resilience, and high quality of life;
becoming eco intelligent through strategic use of advanced information and communications infrastructure and
services in a process of integrated policy, regulations, planning and management as responsive to the ecological,
technological, cultural, social and economic needs of society.
In all, the Smart Europe City Investment Project stakeholders will opportune:
1. demanding support from all 5 Funds (ERDF, ESF, CF, EARDF, EMFF) for integrated local development
strategies, thematic objectives and priority investments;
2. seeking the EC Horizon 2020 funding, as the Lighthouse Smart Cities Projects;
3. considering other EU funding resources (EIB, ESI funds, European Fund for Strategic Investments), national
and regional funding and economy-size investments;
4. placing on the EU Map of Smart Cities;
5. applying innovative cities financing (Smart Cities Bonds under the ECB Quantitative Easing Scheme)
Europe’s future depends on its Cities of tomorrow.
And the European Cities and Communities of tomorrow have to deal with challenges in the most integrated,
holistic, inclusive and sustainable ways.
The SMART Europe future cities and communities are to adopt an integrated, coherent and all-comprehensive
growth approach (across sectors, governance levels and territories) in their vision of the future (to strive for),
the foresight strategy (to get their), unified planning and coordinated development (to implement), embracing
the social, economic, environmental and territorial dimensions of urban, national and regional development.
The i-Europe Platform is to include the European Platform for Smart Cities and Communities, combining i)
citizen-focused, user-driven open innovation, ii) connected smart cities and communities, and iii) semantic web-
based services.
The i-Europe Smart Cities System is to merge the ‘Smart Eco City’ vision and smart cloud computing
infrastructure with the knowledge and expertise and tools of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart
Cities and Communities. Planned as a ‘smart,’ internet-based integrated service delivery platform, it will consist
of the following levels: development clouds, ontological and semantic level, future internet middleware, smart
cities service index, city clouds and smart urban applications. As innovative intelligent community technologies,
the i-Europe Cities and Communities System is to apply the state-of-the-art technologies, from a smart world
DEM, ontological engine, 3D Geo-locating to the Future Internet to existing smart city innovation ecosystems.
Overall, the i-Europe Digital Platform is to be deployed as a Pan-European MetaCloud Platform for States,
Regions, Cities and Communities, making the i-Europe Territorial Governance Platform.
It is thus to virtualize States, Regions, Cities and Communities in the Smart Connected Clouds, modelling all the
core elements as centrally coordinated functional clouds, from the EC clouds to State clouds to Government
clouds to Industry clouds to City clouds to Private Clouds and to Smart Infrastructure clouds.
9. 9 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
The “Smart Eco Europe” Member States
The Smart and Green Member States Investment Plan is aimed to realize the Union’s Strategy on the national
levels. In managing a smart nation investment idea, there should be an optimal way for bringing planning,
setting policies, developing programs, and deploying the programs through EU schemes, instruments and
services. The way to follow includes the drafting of smart nation policies, translating these policies into
programs, and converting these programs into services. These policies are to include such planning parameters
as duration, eligibility, and funding. The smart nation policies are implemented through a system of programs,
where each of the programs includes planning parameters and KPIs that the smart nation policies aim to
achieve.
To become resilient and sustainable is not just a national issue for the national government. The Plan/Strategy
addresses the whole nation and a wide array of stakeholders:
citizens and cities, central and local authorities, universities and research centers, large businesses and national
corporations, investment funds and banking institutions, utilities and telcos, power companies and transport
operators, SMEs and NGOs, political parties and civic associations, etc.
Given the current socio-economic transitional situation, the Smart Member States Growth Strategy is the most
viable solutions for future growth, what is supported by the pilot case of the smart nation-Singapore.
The Smart Member State Investment Plan is to deliver the social and economic growth by advancing sustainable
construction, green roads, intelligent energy, business innovation, smart commerce, intelligent industry and
sustainable tourism infrastructures and cutting-edge facilities, initiating the Innovation Mega Corridors of
sustainable regions, smart agglomerations, innovation clusters, green communities and eco developments.
Its strategic business model is a multi-level partnership of the government, innovative business groups, state
utilities, municipalities and communities, academia and research institutions, with active citizen engagement
and involvement.
As proposed in the Smart Nation Global Initiative, the Integrated Intelligent Nation Growth Strategy and
Implementation Plan of Sustainable Member State are to be developed, covering the key smart EU stakeholders
as below.
• EU Member States
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The United Kingdom.
• Associated Countries
Israel, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, and Ukraine.
As the smart Member States pilots and demonstrators, live test-bed and living labs, it is considered two largest
European economies, as “Smart Germany” and “Smart Britain”, added with the smallest economy of “Smart Eco
Cyprus”.
The Smart Green Union of Member States Investment Idea could be validated by Singapore, aiming to become
the world’s first smart nation, as reflected in its 2015-2025 Infocomm Media Masterplan. Its goal is “to establish
Singapore as a Smart Nation that taps the potential of infocomm and media (ICM), and that nurtures innovative
talent and enterprises…. bring about economic growth and social cohesion, and better living for people”. A
major part of its intelligent infrastructure will be the Smart Nation Platform focusing on three key areas –
Connect, Collect and Comprehend. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) is responsible for driving the
vision, while a Smart Nation Programme Office is to be set up within the Prime Minister’s Office bringing
citizens, the government and industry players together to identify lively issues, co-develop valid solutions,
prototype new ideas deploying them effectively.
Advancing the vision of a smart nation, PM Lee well pointed: “The Smart Nation is not just a slogan – it is a
rallying concept for all of us to work together to transform our future together because there are endless
possibilities waiting to be dreamed of.”
The Initiative is in line with the Smart Nations Global Initiative, aiming to set standards and policy frameworks
for sustainable and smart nations, advancing the Post-2015 UN Global Development Agenda in the European
Union.
10. 10 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
The “Smart Green EUROPE” Infrastructure
Another investment priority of the Smart Union is to develop the world-class, future proof, smart and eco-
innovative infrastructure integrating:
Future Industrial Base, or Hard Infrastructure
Physical/Hard infrastructure refers to the large physical/technical/fixed networks and capital assets, as ecological
capital and digital capital, serving to convey or channel or transmit people, vehicles, materials, fluids, energy,
information, or electro-magnetic waves.
It is the base for the functioning of a smart industrial nation, as
Green Infrastructure, Land, Environment and Landscape
Sustainable Transportation infrastructure
Green Energy infrastructure
Water management infrastructure
Smart Communications infrastructure
Solid waste management infrastructure
Environment/Earth monitoring and measurement networks
Basic energy or communications facilities, such as oil refineries, gold mines, coal mines, oil wells and natural gas
wells, radio and television broadcasting facilities, are classified as part of national infrastructure.
Future Social/Soft infrastructure
Social/Soft infrastructure refers to all the institutions which are required to maintain the economic, health, cultural
and social sustainability and quality of being of Europe, its countries/regions/areas/cities; namely:
the smart financial system,
the smart education system,
the smart health care system,
the smart system of government,
law smart enforcement system,
Smart emergency services,
Smart security and protection system, Smart defense system
On the whole, smart Infrastructure systems include the fixed assets, the control systems and intelligent software
to operate, manage and monitor the systems, as well as constructions, facilities and vehicles.
As indicated, the Future Union implies the Integrated Territories of the Future with smartly connected hard
infrastructure networks in transportation, energy, water, waste and ICT, as well as soft networks, as within,
between and among. That means creating a single EU Infrastructure Market of Transportation, Energy,
Telecommunications, Water, Waste, etc.
That also means that all the Projects of Common Interest, as under the Connecting Europe Facility, CEF, or the EFSI,
should follow the smart Europe integration and connectivity strategies, as the CED energy infrastructure projects
involving electricity and gas transmission lines, electricity storage projects, underground gas storage projects, LNG
terminals and smart grid projects.
Currently, the European Commission has listed 248 energy projects of common interest to benefit from
accelerated licensing procedures, improved regulatory conditions, and access to financial support of €5.85 billion
from the CEF between 2014 and 2020. The list is to be updated every two years, with the next update by the end
of 2015. Under the first round of CEF funding in 2014, €647 million was allocated to PCIs.
The i-Europe Platform is to be an intelligent core of the integrated infrastructure: eco-innovative physical networks
and smart digital infrastructure, future telecommunications, new rich multimedia, Future Internet; wireless, optics
and smart energy networks; network architecture and connectivity, as networking and autonomic networks, and
future end-to-end applications & services, as digital city, digital home, digital enterprise, digital school, digital
transport, e-health and ITS, or security, public safety and identity, all integrated as the European Internet of Things,
Content, People and Services (Celtic-Plus, Smart Connected World, Purple Book, Version 2012).
11. 11 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
The “Smart Sustainable EUROPE” Industry
SMART GREEN INDUSTRY is an emerging sector of Europe’s sustainable economy. It involves the stock of basic
facilities of capital equipment to function for a smart Europe, its countries/areas/regions/cities, as well as a group
of advanced productive enterprises and organizations that produce or supply innovative goods, services, or
sustainable sources of income.
Smart industries are conditionally reclassified as primary, secondary and tertiary, but as closely interconnected,
creating a single industrial smart ecosystem.
Primary Industry as Nature-Wise Industry
It covers genetic industries of renewable natural resources of agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing, and natural
processes as renewable energy resources (solar energy, hydroenergy, geothermal energy, airthemal energy, wind
energy, bioenergy and landfill gas, LFG, and energy from sewage thermal technologies, WTE plants).
It is downsizing extractive industries of mining of mineral ores, quarrying of stone and extraction of mineral fuels,
considering it as part of (unsustainable) national infrastructure.
Secondary Industry as Intelligent Manufacturing Industry
Secondary or smart manufacturing industry comprises heavy and light industries, taking the replaceable raw
materials and goods to economically process into resource-efficient consumer goods and products; building
sustainable capital goods.
It is optimizing energy-producing industries, aviation, construction/housing, automobile, chemical, coal,
electronics, computer, steel trucking, oil, shipbuilding, fashion, film, show biz, fashion, and arms industries
Tertiary Industry as Smart Service Industry
It produces no tangible goods, provide services, intangible gains or generate sustainable wealth and prosperity, a
mix of private and government enterprises.
It includes:
Smart banking, finance, insurance, investment and real estate services;
Smart wholesale, retail, and resale trade;
Smart transportation, information and communications services as an industrial future internet and its services;
professional, consulting, legal and personal services;
Sustainable tourism, hotels, restaurants and entertainment;
Smart repair and maintenance services;
Smart education and teaching;
Smart health, social welfare, administrative, police, security, and defence services.
Smart Sustainable Industry is the base for knowledge society and economy, marked by innovative economy, digital
manufacturing, intelligent services, knowledge, research and innovation.
The key drivers of post-industrial Smart Revolution, the pillars of the Smart Europe Industry, or Industry 4.0, are as
follows:
Integrated Manufacturing Infrastructure (Renewables, Optical ICT Networks, Intelligent Transportation,
Smart Utilities, Facilities, Buildings, Industrial Parks, Economic Zones, etc.);
Sustainable Facility Industry (Buildings, Plants, Fields, Athletic Facilities, Recreational Facilities, Utilities,
Gas System, Grids, Sewage Works, Transportation Systems, Water Systems)
Future City Industry (Intelligent Urbanization Industry)
Future Internet Industry (Internet of Everything)
Smart Additive Manufacturing (Digital Manufacturing, Machines, Materials, Technologies, 3D&4D
Printing; the printing world industry of buildings, aircrafts, ships, cars, computers, drugs, toys, weapons,
etc.)
Smart Environment Industry: genetic industries of renewable energy and natural resources of agriculture,
livestock, forestry, and fishing
The Smart Euro Area: Smartly Investing One Terra Euros
Indicating a sustainable way for a deeply indebted world, the “Smart Green Europe” is mainly about creating in
Europe a smart and green “real economy” of households, non‑financial corporations, and governments.
12. 12 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
Instead of deleveraging, global debt has increased by $57 trillion since 2007, outpacing world GDP growth, last
year coming to an unprecedented figure of $ 199 trillion, where governments and corporations make most
contributions. Led by Japan (517% GDP), Spain (401% GDP), and the USA (269% GDP), governments in advanced
economies have been borrowing heavily to fund bailouts in the crisis and offset falling domestic demand in the
recession, while corporate and household debt continues to grow rapidly. Debt remains an essential tool for the
global economy, funding needed investments in infrastructure, business expansion, and urbanization.
But high debt levels, whether in the public or private sector, have historically placed a drag on growth and raised
the risk of financial crises that spark deep economic recessions. And “the current solutions for sparking growth or
cutting fiscal deficits alone will not be sufficient. New approaches are needed to start deleveraging and to manage
and monitor debt, including innovations in mortgages and other debt contracts to better share risk” (Debt and
(Not Much) Deleveraging, McKinsey Global Institute, 2015).
A broader range of innovative tools to avoid unsustainable borrowing and efficiently restructure debt should be
considered, putting needed investments in future-proof infrastructure, smart business expansion, and intelligent
urbanization.
The European Central Bank and the Eurosystem are entrusted with formulating the monetary policy for euro area,
involving standard instruments in regulating the money supply: open-market formulations, the discount rate and
reserve requirements. By selling and buying the government securities, the ECB influences the supply of money
and credit and rates of interest and the supply of reserves. It is believed that monetary policy measures together
with fiscal policy might help achieve and maintain economic growth and better employment and stabilize prices
and wages and inflation.
Since “policy interest rate could not be reduced any further”, the ECB is starting implementing its “non-standard
monetary policy measures” as the open-market operations. It begins purchasing euro-denominated public sector
securities in the secondary market, sovereign bonds and private sector assets, while continuing purchasing asset-
backed securities and covered bonds. The assets purchase scheme is meant paying with a check drawn on itself,
thus creating virtual money as additional deposits by the security sellers in commercial banks, meaning to increase
their cash reserves and lending capacity. The combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities
will amount to €60 billion to be carried out until the end of September 2016, making a total amount of EUR 1
trillion.
The ECB’s devaluation policy aims to achieve and maintain a high rate of economic growth and better
employment, balancing trade and payments, increasing exports with capital inflows and decreasing imports with
capital outflows, stabilizing prices and wages. Given a high structural unemployment and low potential output
growth in the euro area, a “cyclical recovery needs to increase investment, boost job creation and raise
productivity, product and labour market reforms and actions to improve the business environment”.
However, it is well-known that if the balance-of-payments deficit and government debt coming from basic
structural faults of a nation’s economy, the monetary policy is not making it more competitive and productive.
In order to secure “the future sustainable growth of the euro area but also raise expectations of higher incomes
and encourage firms to increase investment today, bringing forward the economic recovery”, most funding should
go to sustainable productive investment: future-proof infrastructures, intelligent industrialization, sustainable
urban-rural development, smart and green urbanization and smart city and communities developments.
Considering that most Member States are among the most highly indebted countries, having a worrying real
economy debt-to-GDP ratio and heavy debt of the financial sector, the “Smart Green Europe” suggests that the
ECB’s assets purchase program is wise to focus on three classes of “real economy”, as smart investment-grade
bonds:
1. Smart nation bonds, general bonds or limited obligation bonds, issued by a Member State to build
(acquire or improve) a revenue-creating public property, as intelligent national transportation networks
(fast-speed railroads and port authorities or intelligent tall roads), or optical trunk networks). They are
thus backed either by taxation capacity or by the revenue generated by the advanced physical and digital
infrastructures, facilities or social infrastructure services for which the bonds issued. The “Smart Nation”
Investment Strategy is to deliver the social and economic growth by advancing sustainable construction,
green roads, intelligent energy, business innovation, smart commerce, intelligent industry and sustainable
tourism infrastructures and cutting-edge facilities, initiating the Innovation Mega Regions of sustainable
states, smart agglomerations, innovation clusters, green communities and eco developments. Its strategic
13. 13 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
business model is a multi-level partnership of the government, innovative business groups, state utilities,
municipalities and communities, academia and research institutions, with active citizen engagement and
involvement. As the smart nation bonds pilots and demonstrators, there are proposed two largest
European economies, as “Smart Germany” and “Smart Britain”, as well as the smallest economy as “Smart
Eco Cyprus”.
2. Smart municipal bonds, general bonds or limited obligation revenue bonds. The first is backed by a city’s
tax collection for advanced utilities and social services, or extensive renovation of existing urban
infrastructures in utilities, ICT, water, waste, buildings, energy, and transport systems. The revenue bonds
are issued by a municipality to build (acquire or improve) a revenue-creating property, as intelligent
transportation networks (fast-speed railroads and port authorities or intelligent tall roads), renewable
power plants, smart waterworks, waste-to-energy plants, or optical trunk networks). They are thus
backed by the revenue generated by the advanced facility or social infrastructure services for which the
bond issued. As the smart and sustainable city bonds pilots and demonstrators, there are proposed the
largest European city capitals, as “Smart London”, “Smart Paris”, “Smart Berlin”, “Smart Rome”, “Smart
Madrid”, and “Smart Brussels”. It’s worth to mention here the recent Egyptian government initiative to
extend Cairo as a smart and sustainable capital city at a cost of $US45 billion.
3. Smart corporate bonds, secured by a lien against private sector assets, such as high-quality real estate
(mortgage bonds, as far as most loans linked to real estate) or other valuable property, as advanced plant
equipment. They are thus to be backed by the revenue generated by the sustainable property
developments or smart industry facilities. As the smart corporate bonds pilots, there are proposed eco-
innovative intelligent real estate developments, digital manufacturing plants and eco-smart energy plants
in the selected smart Member States.
The Smart Bonds and Assets Purchase Program is well in line with the REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the European Fund for Strategic Investments,…Council of the EU,
2015/0009 (COD), see the SUPPLEMENT.
The Smart Funding Practice from China
As a good lesson of smart bonds investment, it could serve a fast developing competitive economy of China. As a
matter of fact, China’s debt is quadrupled since 2007, making 282% GDP, or $28 trillion by mid-2014. Its half of
loans divided by real estate and shadow banking, but the debt of many local governments linked to smart cities
development, thus becoming more future-proof and sustainable strategic investment.
As far as debt remains a key tool for funding economic growth, its government debt is wisely made against future
eco-sustainable urbanization, with 600 cities allocated about $ 322 billion for embracing smart and green cities
development strategies (for more, see “Comparative Study of Smart Cities in Europe and China”).
In China, to become smart and green is the matter of government policy, involving the State Council and the key
government departments, such as Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Science and Technology (“MOST”), the Ministry of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development (“MOHURD”), the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation,
the National Tourism Administration and other relevant departments.
China's State Council issued “Several Opinions on Promoting Consumer Spending on Information Technology and
Expanding Domestic Demand” proposing to develop pilot and demonstrative smart cities. It required all pilot cities
to issue policies to encourage market-based investment and financing, supporting intelligent upgrading of public
utilities and fast implementation of smart grids, smart transport, smart water supplies, smart land administration
and smart logistics.
The market players and industries are encouraged to jointly participate in smart city development. Within the
amount of local treasury bonds approved by the State Council, the people’s government of all provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities consider arranging some funds for construction of smart cities.
Also, it encourages eligible enterprises to issue corporate bonds to raise funds for smart city development.
Reminding the Europe’s Digital Agenda, the State Council issued the “Broadband China” Strategy and Its
Implementation Plan to provide network infrastructure support for smart cities.
14. 14 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
To implement the smart city policy, NDRC and MIIT, together with the MOST, the Ministry of Public Security, the
Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, MOHURD and the Ministry of Transport, worked up
Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Smart Cities.
To provide enterprises and residents with more convenient, efficient and low-cost social services, it proposed to
start smart transport, smart grids, smart water supplies, smart environmental protection, smart medical care,
smart old age security, smart communities, smart homes, smart education, smart land administration, smart
logistics and smart credit systems.
It also proposed to select 100 cities of different sizes at different stages of development in the eastern, central and
western regions as pilot and demonstrative cities for smart city development. As some experience has been
acquired from the pilot and demonstrative cities, China gradually encourages and supports eligible regions to
promote smart city development according to local conditions.
As of September 2013, a total of 311 cities involved with smart city development, including all cities above the sub-
provincial-level, 89% cities at the prefectural-level and above, and 47% cities at the county-level and above,
considering that the structural hierarchy of the administrative divisions consists of five levels: Provincial,
Prefecture, County, Township and Village.
In all, during the “Twelfth Five-year Plan” period, the plan investment in Chinese smart cities is expected to be
more than 1.6 trillion Yuan. [Report on Study of the Progress and Problems of Smart City Development in China,
CATR, 2013].
To support smart city development in China, a number of the 12th Five-year Plan had been formulated for the
development of: Information Security Industry; Internet of Things; E-commerce, as well as fast rail networks, with
a planned investment exceeding 2.5 trillion Yuan. This all has been enhanced with the Chinese president’s
geopolitical move for the $40bn Silk Road Mega Project: the 21st Century Silk Road Economic Belt and the
Maritime Silk Road. Besides, China Development Bank should provide an investment and financing no less than 80
billion Yuan in 3 years after the 12th Five-year Plan Period.
As the things stand now, Europe is risking losing its global smart and green superpower leadership to Smart Eco
China. The “Smart Eco Union” is to unify all the funding and economic investments towards building a sustainable
intelligent Europe, thus securing a competitive advantage to emerging Smart China.
Future Europe and Post-2015 GLOBAL Development Agenda
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June
2012, resulted in an agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development
goals that can be used to pursue focused and coherent action on sustainable development.
National consultations on a post-2015 development agenda were performed in more than 70 countries. The
United Nations Development Group had organized a set of eleven thematic consultations, on conflict and fragility;
education; environmental sustainability; governance; growth and employment; health; hunger, food and nutrition;
inequalities; population dynamics; energy; and water.
Among the inputs to the ongoing consultations on sustainable development goals the June 2012 report of the
United Nations System Task Team on the Post-2015 United Nations Development Agenda, “Realizing the Future
We Want for All” and the report of the High-level Panel of the Secretary-General on Global Sustainability
(A/66/700). The report emphasizes the following defining elements: Core values of human rights, equality and
sustainability. Based on concrete end goals and targets, one of the key strengths of the Millennium Development
Goal framework, the Agenda is potentially differentiated along four dimensions of a more holistic approach: (1)
inclusive social development; (2) inclusive economic development; (3) environmental sustainability; and (4) peace
and security — which builds upon the three pillars of sustainable development, as a fair and stable global trading
system, adequate financing for development, affordable access to technology and knowledge and good
governance practices based on rule of law, among others.
The “Future Europe” is an innovative contribution to an UN Action Agenda for Sustainable Development as
covering 10 priority challenges:
End extreme poverty including hunger (“poverty eradication is the greatest global challenge facing the
world today…Chronic hunger continues to afflict some 870 million people”, now involving the Europeans
as well)
Achieve development within planetary boundaries
15. 15 EUROPE of Tomorrow: Poverty or Prosperity A. Abdoullaev April 2015
Ensure Effective Learning for All Children and Youth for Life and Livelihood
Achieve Gender Equality, Social Inclusion, and Human Rights for All
Achieve Health and Wellbeing at All Ages
Improve Agriculture Systems and Raise Rural Prosperity
Empower Inclusive, Productive, and Resilient Cities
Curb Human--‐Induced Climate Change and Ensure Clean Energy for All
Secure Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity, Ensure Good Management of Water and Other Natural
Resources
Transform Governance for Sustainable Development
REPORT FOR THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, 23 October 2013, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, A
Global Initiative for the United Nations.
CONCLUSION
1. The EU envisioned as an Integrated Intelligent Transnational Community of Sustainable Member States,
Smart Eco Cities, Green Communities, Future-Proof Infrastructure, Intelligent Industries and Eco-
innovative Natural and Built Environment, to be run by the I-Europe Digital Platform.
2. The I-Europe Digital Platform will operate as an intelligent operating core of the European Internet of
Things, Services and People, Communities and Cities, Regions and States (connected Anytime,
Anyplace, with Anything and Anyone, by using Any path and network and Any service).
3. The EU stands in need of Smart Revolution, a profound change in government, society, economy,
science and technology, culture and lifestyle, all types of social, political and economic relations, by
means of disruptive innovations, social technologies and intelligent solutions
Smart EUROPE Links
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/eu2020/docs/intelligent_europe_center_en.pdf
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/i-europe-title-10150491
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/intelligent-europe-project
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/ieurope
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/smart-europe
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/sustainable-nations-global-initiative-europe
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/urban-europe
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/igermany; http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/ibritain
Smart NATION Links
http://eu-smartcities.eu/content/become-smart-nation-build-your-brand-name
http://eu-smartcities.eu/blog/smart-superpowers-projects-states-powers-great-powers-and-hyperpowers
http://eu-smartcities.eu/blog/europe-sustainable-states-commitments-and-smart-nations-franchises
http://eu-smartcities.eu/commitment/3089
ENCYCLOPEDIC INTELLIGENCE References
Abdoullaev, A. (1989). Knowledge Base of Encyclopedic Artificial Intelligence, VINITI, Moscow
Abdoullaev, A. (1997). Creating Machines with Universal Intelligence. In Proceedings of the IASTED International
Conference on Intelligent Information Systems. The Bahamas, The IEEE Computer Society Press
Abdoullaev, A. (1998). The Machine Intelligence Based on MetaLingua. In In Proceedings of the IASTED
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing. Anaheim, Calgary, Zurich, IASTED/ACTA
Press
Abdoullaev, A. (1999). Artificial Superintelligence, Moscow Russia; Ohio, USA
Abdoullaev, A. (2007). REALITY, UNIVERSAL ONTOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS: Towards the Intelligent
World, IGI Global, USA
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EUROPEAN UNION
15 APRIL 2015
Contact via the EU Smart Cities European Innovation Partnership Platform
http://eu-smartcities.eu/users/azamat-abdoullaev-asha or smartcity@cytanet.com.cy
http://eu-smartcities.eu/users/azamat-abdoullaev-asha