• Five new FIWARE iHubs in the U.S, Brazil, Morocco and Spain will expand the potential for local businesses and further disseminate FIWARE technology;
• FIWARE iHubs break traditional barriers for technology enablement and business acceleration with the usage of Open Source technologies and standards, and access to an international network;
• With the new joiners, the FIWARE iHubs network reaches roughly 30 on a global scale.

Berlin, November 02, 2021 – FIWARE Foundation, the non-profit organization that drives the definition and encourages the adoption of open standards – based on Open Source technologies, reference architectures and over 800 Smart Data Models – to ease the development of smart digital solutions across multiple domains, announces today the opening of new FIWARE iHubs in Atlanta (U.S), Santana de Parnaíba (Brazil), Casablanca (Morocco), Barcelona and Mallorca (Spain), in addition to the official opening of the ASTRID Innovation Hub office (Wolfsburg, Germany).

Serving as innovation and business growth engines, FIWARE iHubs support companies, cities, developers and academia in their innovation and digitalisation journey by offering easy access to Open Source technologies, business development support, and community networking, thus accelerating regional business opportunities and expansion.

By breaking the traditional barriers for technology enablement and business acceleration with the usage of Open Source solutions and standards, FIWARE iHubs encourage the development of scalable, interoperable and disruptive smart digital solutions across domains like smart cities, mobility, industry, agrifood, energy, water, and tourism, among other areas.

Think global, act local

FIWARE iHubs have a successful track record in facilitating collaboration between scientific research, non-for -profit, public and private businesses, providing training and mentoring, as well as fostering an entrepreneurial culture and new paths for business to flourish. They demonstrate how to build communities that, in turn, enable local digital businesses to thrive not only at a regional but on a global level. Spanning across a range of industries, the new joiners to the FIWARE iHubs network play a clear role in delivering on these goals.

DigiCityConnect FIWARE iHub (U.S): Located in Atlanta – the number 4 fastest-growing metro area in the U.S – DigiCityConnect is a solutions company providing IoT/5G platforms for smart city applications. It will use the iHub to broker public and private data for application within smart cities to solve problems that only an open community can address. The iHub aims to drive the adoption of FIWARE tech within the region and leverage Atlanta’s smart city infrastructure and IoT capabilities: housing 13,000+ technology companies, Atlanta is recognized for its strengths in telecom, cybersecurity, digital media and a thriving mobility ecosystem.

MOA GLOBAL (Brazil): MOA is an IoT hardware and firmware developer mainly focused on smart cities, agri industry, health as well as tracking and logistics. By joining the FIWARE iHubs Network, MOA aims to benefit from the IoT ecosystem that is part of the FIWARE community and connect companies, universities and research centers that are currently working on IoT projects.

Maroc Numeric Cluster (Morocco): A public-private governance association, Maroc Numeric Cluster has been promoting digital innovation in Morocco and internationally since 2010, due to its large network of members and partners (large companies, SMEs, startups, academic institutions, research centers). The organisation’s main goal is to create technological and commercial synergies to ensure a better digital and economic development in Morocco. By joining the network, the organization will contribute toward helping entrepreneurs that will, in turn, create jobs and develop innovative solutions to solve African problems.

ATIO: Advanced Technology and Innovation Organization (Spain): An association aiming to foster the use of digital technologies for the intensive agriculture production systems and the sustainable development, ATIO has a clear vision: to help mediterranean farmers achieve auto-sufficiency in their agrifood production with a sustainable and green ecosystem. Focused on automated intensive farming systems, and smart water, the iHub will use the FIWARE platform to help and support farmers and practitioners of intensive farming systems in the region of Catalunya (Spain) through training and technical assistance.

Digital Innovation Hub of the Balearic Islands in Artificial Intelligence in Tourism and Agri-food – DIHBAI-TUR (Spain): The Balearic Islands Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) for artificial intelligence within tourism and agri food, DIHBAI-TUR aims to promote digital entrepreneurship, support and boost a digital ecosystem of companies, specially SMEs. DIHBAI-TUR strives to be part of the growing FIWARE iHubs ecosystem, learn from successful use cases, and generate specialised knowledge within the region by sharing lessons learnt, for instance.

ASTRID Innovation Hub: “born under a lucky star”

On October 06, 2021, the city of Wolfsburg (Germany), WOBCOM and FIWARE Foundation officially opened the ASTRID Innovation Hub office. Whereas the iHub has been operational for a year working on the development and implementation of concepts in the areas of digitization, with the aim of making Wolfsburg more digital, its mobility more intelligent, its industry more networked and applications more secure, its official launch has been delayed due to the pandemic. The inauguration took place as part of the international ‘FutureCongress_digital’ conference, organized by Wolfsburg and WOBCOM. Stefan Muhle (State Secretary of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, Labor, Transport and Digitalization), Ulrich Ahle (CEO, FIWARE Foundation), and Tonia Sapia (Project Manager, FIWARE Foundation) were among the speakers from the city administration, politics, business and research.

Around 200 participants took part in the on-site and digital discussions on open source, 5G and AI. By collaborating intensively with national and international technology companies, Wolfsburg city and WOBCOM want to create the conditions to promote an attractive open source ecosystem for targeted investments and leverage the region’s potential already identified in the Wolfsburg Digital initiative even more efficiently. In this context, the ASTRID iHUB will be able to push the development of smart city applications and apps in Wolfsburg as well as bundle core competencies, with the aim of developing the region into a preferred investment hub for technology companies.

Collaborative platform aims to bring digitization closer to citizens

During the event, American multinational technology company NVIDIA became the first international technology partner of the iHub. The iHub will combine the know-how of strong international partners to develop innovations that sustainably improve the quality of life in the Wolfsburg region and beyond. As part of the FIWARE Foundation’s international open source community, the iHub will promote cross-border innovation activities of companies and startups, whilst also building bridges to local businesses. During the event, Stadtwerke Wolfsburg AG became a FIWARE Foundation Member.

Meet some of FIWARE’s iHubs at upcoming leading international events

If you want to meet some of the FIWARE iHubs that are helping the development of practical smart digital applications and business models to create added value for citizens, municipalities, companies and other stakeholders, stop by FIWARE booth at the Smart City Expo World Congress (Nov-16-18, Barcelona, Spain), Salon Des Maires (Nov-16-18, Paris, France) or join us at the FIWARE Global Summit (January 19-20, 2022, Gran Canaria, Spain). The 2-day Summit will showcase the disruptors that are driving the digital transformation of cities and regions.

About FIWARE Foundation

Together with its members and partners, FIWARE Foundation drives the definition – and the Open Source implementation – of key open standards that enable the development of portable and interoperable smart solutions in a faster, easier and affordable way, avoiding vendor lock-in scenarios, whilst also nurturing FIWARE as a sustainable and innovation-driven business ecosystem.
The foundation achieves this through the support of a fast-growing global community that shares a common vision and combines their efforts toward making FIWARE the Open Source technology of choice for industries, governments, universities and associations to reach their full potential and scale up their activities, thereby, entering new markets and growing their businesses. Founded in 2016, the foundation has Atos, Engineering, Red Hat, NEC, Telefónica and Trigyn Technologies among its 450+ members. For further information, refer to FIWARE’s Press Kit and follow the organization on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Press Contact

Val De Oliveira: valdirene.deoliveira@fiware.org