The Smart City Hub, one of the key elements in the smart city project of Kiev (Ukraine), has collected less than US$ 11 000 on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, falling significantly short of the US$ 50 000 that the Ukrainian project expected to collect.

The Smart City Hub is presented as a place where citizens, businesses and authorities can meet and share ideas about the smart city concept. It is also an incubator where startups can experiment with ideas and projects related to open data, for example. The money collected was primarily aimed at renovating the building in which the hub is hosted, the project said on the Indiegogo website.

This project is part of a more global project, called Kyiv Smart City, the goal of which is to transform the Ukrainian capital into a smart city, comparable with the top five smart cities in Europe: Paris, London, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Vienna, as mentioned in the description of the project.

Providing a technological and social infrastructure

This project, which runs until 2020, should help to develop the city by improving the quality of life, developing a global technological and social infrastructure, better managing the city through technology, assuring sustainable economic development and environmental protection, and promoting the engagement of citizens in the life of the city. eGovernance, eParticipation and open data are at the heart of this project.

Some real projects are already being developed to build the smart city concept: ePetition, a participatory budget, mobile applications, eTendering, and an open budget, in the eGovernment area. The project is also focused on improving transportation in the city.

As part of the Kyiv Smart City project, Kiev wants to develop an IT platform able to provide services, and with API that allows the development of new services and applications for businesses and citizens.