On 12 June, the Smart Communities Network held its final online meeting in the current project phase which was attended by up to 44 participants. The network brings together associations of cities and municipalities from all 27 EU Member States, working to accelerate local digital transformation and support smart city development.

Over the past months, the network members have organised events for their local stakeholders, focusing on concrete tools and support from the European level to help local communities take real steps forward. These include:

●       Lordimas: A free self-assessment tool that helps municipalities understand where they stand in terms of digital maturity and offers a personalised roadmap for improvement. Cities can also benchmark themselves against others in the EU.
You can check the tool here: https://living-in.eu/group/99/commitments/lordimas-your-digital-maturity-assessment

●       Online procurement helpdesk: An online service where local authorities could ask questions directly to procurement experts, access templates and get guidance on digital procurement. This helped cities navigate often complex procedures.
The helpdesk is expected to continue operating after the end of the project, but this needs to be confirmed. 
Check it out here: https://living-in.eu/eu-support-services/online-procurement-helpdesk-smart-communities

●       Local Digital Twin (LDT) toolbox: The EU LDT Toolbox is a suite of advanced tools that enable urban planners to optimise urban functioning based on data-driven decisions relating to areas such as mobility, energy and public health. These tools allow cities to test and visualise urban scenarios before implementing them in real life. The final version of the developed tools will be available from June 2026 onwards. More information can be found here and here.

●       Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs): MIMs serve as a common set of standards and technical specifications to achieve interoperability of data, systems, and platforms among cities, communities, and suppliers worldwide. They are key to scaling up smart solutions and can be found here.

The Smart Communities Network members shared both successes and challenges in organising the project-related knowledge sharing and training events. Many municipalities see the urgency of digital transformation but face limitations in time, staff and expertise. The Smart Communities Network tries to help to close that gap by keeping things simple, relevant and community-driven.

Importantly, this is not the end. The European Commission strongly believes that collaboration with the local level is vital to achieving Europe’s digital goals.There are several opportunities for the network members to continue the collaboration beyond 31 August 2025 that were presented at the meeting:

●       The LDT CitiVERSE EDIC (European Digital Infrastructure Consortium): A new legal structure that brings together Member States and local authorities to work on long-term, cross-border digital projects. It will support a strong European ecosystem for smart and sustainable communities, going beyond individual research projects. The LDT Citiverse EDIC initiative aims to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral and smart cities by leveraging the power of digital twins and data sharing. 

●       BUILD project: This 36-month EU-funded project will help set up the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC from concept to implementation. It focuses on identifying the services that the EDIC can offer to cities, such as digital infrastructure, training and community engagement. BUILD will ensure that the local voice remains central.

Members of the Smart Communities Network are considered essential partners in this process of helping to shape the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC through the BUILD project. They will:

-        be invited to fill in a survey about their digital environment and level of maturity, especially in relation to local digital twins and citizen engagement,

-        be consulted to identify their needs and priorities, ensuring that the EDIC and BUILD outputs are relevant and practical,

-        have the opportunity to stay involved as contributors to the EDIC ecosystem for smart cities and communities, helping to shape future tools, services and funding opportunities.

●       LDT4SSC project: (Local Digital Twins for Smart and Sustainable Communities) project. Coordinated by OASC, this 42-month EU-funded initiative (total budget € 20 million) will offer open calls for cities and communities to experiment with and implement local digital twins.

Key elements of the project include:

o   building a federation of local digital twins to promote interoperability,

o   testing real-life use cases that demonstrate the value of digital twins in practice,

o   developing AI-based services that enrich the LDT toolbox,

o   delivering an interoperability blueprint, shared assets, and practical guidance for cities,

o   launching at least six pilot projects that are fully SIMPL-compliant (with a number of interconnected local digital twins relying on SIMPL in excess of 12) and reusing the EU LDT Toolbox in at least nine additional cases.

o   number of pilots relying on the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC more than 4.

The first open call will launch in November 2025, with selected pilots starting in May 2026 (each running for 18 months). More information will be shared via a.o. the Living-in.EU platform and OASC channels as the project progresses.

In this way, the Smart Communities Network serves as a bridge between the local level and European digital ambitions and will continue to play a central role beyond the current project.