A total of seven applications were submitted for the second phase of project evaluations of the Test in Tallinn programme initiated by the city of Tallinn, of which six were accepted and hope to reach testing.

During the year of the European Green Capital, Tallinn invites both domestic and foreign companies to come and test their sustainable products and services suitable for a smart city. Estonian businesses have had the opportunity to test their products in Tallinn as part of the Tallinnovation programme, which, as a competition-based measure, supports companies’ product development monetarily; however, this new programme is also offering the opportunity to conduct innovation projects in an urban environment for foreign businesses.

“The purpose of the Test in Tallinn project is to use not only the Tallinn urban environment, but also city systems to test new technologies, services and products in collaboration with the private sector,” saidJoosep Vimm. “Currently, we are collaborating with nine businesses from four countries, and we can see that interest is increasing steadily.”

From the projects of the second round, six businesses moved forwards to the next phase: 
Futugrid Technologies OÜ (Estonia) wants to test smart consumption management with the city of Tallinn. The goal is to connect electrical devices into a unified network, which will form a rapid response capacity reserve that can in turn be used as a power grid frequency restoration reserve.

muniAI (Israel) is developing a smart dash camera, the purpose of which is to collect various data for the identification of road obstructions, potholes, potential hazards, etc. The aim of the company is to test their solution with the help of TLT transport units, which will on a rolling basis collect regularly updated data layers from a variety of locations. In the case of Tallinn, the company saw the opportunity to test their solution in a variety of weather conditions, including snowy road conditions, fog and heavy precipitation, as a bonus.

Elisa Corporation (Finland) is developing software based on a combination of an innovative 360-degree camera and artificial intelligence, the purpose of which is to identify and record the current state of objects. The company has previously successfully tested their solution in Helsinki harbour in evaluating the condition of shipping containers. As a next step, Elisa is interested in testing their solution in the Tallinn City Transport (TLT) depot, near the main gate, in order to test their technology’s capabilities when faced with the challenge of evaluating the condition of their transport units.

SSE Digital Services (UK) has developed an AI based hardware and software package solution, with the goal of collecting data on traffic flow, cyclists and the number and trajectory of pedestrians. SSE Digital Services and the technology developed by Intel necessitates the unique location and challenges of Tallinn in order to more quickly train their artificial intelligence.

Gruff Technology (Estonia) has developed a smart wall outlet in order to reduce power consumption. In collaboration with the city of Tallinn, the business wishes to adjust their value proposition, gain the necessary input for scaling and test established hypotheses regarding the product’s reliability of use.

Ampron OÜ (Estonia) is looking to test the transmission of crisis info using LED information boards, which will be placed at bus stops and train stations as well as in other high traffic locations. The company’s goal is to gain vital reference data from Tallinn in order to expand into other urban environments, to better understand the Tallinn-specific challenges related thereto, and to test their product’s value proposition and solution.
The first Test in Tallinn projects were approved by the innovation committee in April. Nine applications were submitted for the first project evaluations, of which three were accepted. Green Gravels OÜ, a fibreglass gravel production company; GScan OÜ, a company developing solutions for 3D modelling based on cosmic radiation; and Hydro Engineration OÜ, which deals in the hydrogen-based cleaning of internal combustion engines.

The city supports the testing of innovation projects for up to 12 months on a case-by-case basis.  In order to develop and pilot innovative solutions, the city is offering suitable opportunities and locations (city properties, objects, buildings); assistance in finding proper authorities and contact persons in the city organisation for the validation and execution of innovation projects; and, if possible, the public data necessary to conduct test projects.

More information:
Mark-Emil Talivere
Innovation Expert
Tallinn City Enterprise Centre
[email protected]