The European Commission actively supports local administrations and other actors with challenges related with  interoperability services to citizens and businesses. 

In recognition of the importance of interoperability and the specific challenges it presents in a city context, The Commission (DG DIGIT and DG CONNECT) published the Proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities. While an European Interoperability Framework EIF for eGovernment has been in place since 2004 local context was not included. Therefore, EIF4SCC aims to provide EU local administration leaders with definitions, principles, recommendations, practical use cases drawn from cities and communities from around Europe and beyond, and a common model to facilitate delivery of services to the public across domains, cities, regions and borders.

The EIF4SCC includes three concepts (interoperability, smart city or community, EIF4SCC), five principles (drawing on the Living-in.EU declaration), and seven elements (consisting of the five components of interoperability, one cross-cutting layer/ Integrated Service Governance, and a foundational layer of Interoperability Governance).

Interoperability is a prerequisite for electronic communication and the exchange of information between different actors, but it is much broader than technical in nature. Taken in the broader sense as presented in the EIF4CC, interoperability is a necessary condition for achieving and further developing Smart Cities and Communities in Europe. Interoperability is crucial to overcome challenges in cities and communities. Lack of interoperability leads to fragmented service delivery at local level as well as a lack of communication among different platforms, technologies and stakeholders, resulting in suboptimal services to the public. The EIF4SCC as such fits into the multi-level governance context of the EU, where all levels of public administration play a key role in achieving interoperability at local, regional, national, European and global level. The aim of this project is to expand the current notion of the eGovernment European Interoperability Framework to other scales and actors through Smart Cities & Communities.

Proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC)

Final study report: Proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC)

The proposed Framework  is initiated to support EIF at local and Regional level and was jointly managed by DG DIGIT as part of the ISA² Programme (2016-2020), and by DG CONNECT in the framework of the Living-in.eu movement.  A co-creation process with city/community administrators in the European Union was  created and together with Deloitte and KU Leuven e a proposal for the European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities/Communities (EIF4SCC) was developed.

Relevant News items:

• Proposal for a European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities (EIF4SCC) published
• Connecting the EIF with Smart Cities & Communities (EIF4SCC)