SPICE

Researching Smart Cities with a special focus on sustainable scaling is a focus of our institute. We work in a consortium of four Swiss research institutes on a three-year project titled “Scaling Smart City Projects - from Individual pilots towards a Common strategy of industry Emergence (SPICE)”. The SPICE project is part of the National Research Programme on “Digital Transformation” (NRP 77). As experts in innovation and business models, we seek to analyze and conceptualize smart city initiatives from a business model perspective. The business model lens allows us to assess the economic and managerial viability of current developments in Swiss smart cities and derive concrete implications for the scaling of smart city endeavors. Our research also aims at introducing the “triple bottom line” concept – environmental, social, and economic value alongside each other – into the business model thinking. As a tangible outcome we seek to inform city administrations, policy makers, and business leaders on how to steer their smart city development endeavors in an economically, environmentally and societally sustainable manner.