The multi-faceted digital transformation of Barcelona City Council

A holistic digital transformation of its services, comprised of many technological initiatives, earned Barcelona City Council a place as a finalist for Public Entity of the Year at the CIO 100 Awards Spain 2023 in December. And as its CIO, Nacho Santillana Montiel was the central figure of this distinction due to a series of innovative projects including integrating various emerging technologies into daily life at the City Council and for Catalan citizens. 

“The project stands out for its social commitment by addressing emerging problems such as loneliness in the elderly,” Santillana says. “Ethics and social responsibility are fundamental elements in decision-making and the implementation of new solutions.”

Among these solutions, artificial intelligence stands out as something integrated in all municipal services, as well as how work methodologies and protocols for the deployment of these systems are defined, and ensuring they’re used in accordance with legal, ethical, and technical standards. Plus, a public registry of algorithms and an external advisory board to prepare algorithmic impact studies was launched.

Laying the groundwork

Last year, the Municipal Data Office (OMD) was created, which is responsible for the management, quality, governance, analysis, and dissemination of data from the Barcelona City Council and its associated entities. The OMD also serves as the main system to organize and plan sociological research, and monitor public opinion, statistical production, and socioeconomic analysis of the city and environments of interest, which allows the publication of high frequency data and the development of evidence-based public policies. It also includes the set of applications derived through the CityOS platform, the main municipal data repository. 

Barcelona has also created its own digital twin to check whether the city meets the requirements of the so-called “15-minute cities,” in which public services, equipment, and facilities, such as metro stops, electric charging points, bus stations, health establishments, and green spaces, are less than a 15-minute walk from any point in the capital. This project is the first phase of a collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, the Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), which, together with the support of the Municipal Institute of Informatics (IMI) and Barcelona Regional (BR), has allowed simulations and predictions about the impact of certain projects or public policies.

In addition to the chatbots that combat loneliness among the elderly and disabled, Barcelona City Council’s portfolio of technological initiatives also includes payment of fines and taxes through Bizum, the payment system that’s prevalent throughout Spain; the digitalization of Barcelona cemetery services; real-time monitoring of children’s play areas to improve their usability; and the Zoobot chatbot, which makes visits to the Barcelona Zoo more inclusive for visitors with specific needs.