Medellin (Colombia): A Case of Smart City

Marco Peres Useche, Juan Carlos Noriega Silva, Carolina Vilafañe

Externado University of Colombia
Street 12 # 1 – 17 East
+ 527 3537000 ext. 1159
{marco.peres, juanc.noriega} @uexternado.edu.co, carito.villafane@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In this paper we analyze the case of Medellin, using the
methodology of the Smart Cities Service Integration Project, led
by Smart City Consortium [1,2]. Externado University of
Colombia as member of this Consortium, carried out in 2013
Medellin’s case study. Medellin was voted as the innovative city
of year in 2012 by the conquest organized by Wall Street Journal
Magazine, the Citi and the Urban Land Institute, due to its efforts
and results in reduction of CO2 emissions, construction of cultural
spaces and reduction of crime [3]. In 2014 we will study the case
of Bogota in order to characterize smart cities in Colombia.
Figure 1 Map of Antioquia and Medellin
In the first part of this paper we provide some basic data of the
Medellin in order to contextualize readers about this city. Then, According to one of interviewees, the current transformation
we provide background information to justify the implementation process of Medellin started in 2004 when Sergio Fajardo (current
of smart city initiatives in Medellin. After that, we highlight governor of Antioquia) became Mayor of Medellin. During
differences and complementarities of these initiatives. Finally, we Fajardo’s administration, Mayoralty started implementing high
identify lessons learned during the implementation of Medellin’s impact projects centered on education, culture and social
smart city initiatives, and how they could be avoided to resolve inclusion. The program Digital Medellin was one of these
problems and to successfully implement similar initiatives in their initiatives. This program was created in 2006 in order to promote
own cities. These lessons are organized according to factors of the digital inclusion, specifically in education, government,
Smart City Initiatives Framework, defined by Chourabi et al [2]. entrepreneurship and culture. Next Mayor continued this program
and led the implementation of others projects related to smart
Categories and Subject Descriptors cities in different sectors as mobility, economic development,
K.4.1 [Computing and Society]: Public Policy Issues. health and safety. Most of these initiatives were formulated in a
context of local technological backwardness and global
General Terms consolidation of sustainable and smart cities as city models [4].
Documentation, Economics, Human Factors
2. SMART CITY INITIATIVES IN
Keywords
Smart cities, Government innovation; Urban Innovation
MEDELLIN
For the study of Medellin as smart city case, we selected four
1. INTRODUCTION initiatives, two of which are analyzed in this paper. These
Medellin is the capital of Antioquia, one of 32 departments of initiatives are Medellin Smart City and Route N Medellin’s
Colombia, as shown in Figure 1 [4]. Medellin has a population of Corporation - Strategic Plan of Science, Technology and
2’488.080 habitants in urban area and 3’592.100 habitants in Innovation (onwards STI Plan). We selected these initiatives
metropolitan area. It’s the 2nd biggest city and economy of because they are long term efforts guided by a strategic vision of
Colombia. In 2010 Medellin’s GDP was 17.069 million USD. the city. Medellin Smart City was established in 2007 and its
recent strategy projects until 2020. Route N STI Plan was
Medellin is the 15th best city in Latin America for making formulated for the period 2011-2021. In this way they are state
businesses, and the 12th city with greater visibility in Latin policies which transcend government periods.
American.
We also selected these initiatives because they tackle innovation
from complementary approaches. The also have been recognized
as flagship programs for present government. Anyway, it should
be remembered that these initiatives are part of a broader set of
projects like Medellin’s Intelligent Mobility System or the
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or Integrated System of Metropolitan Emergencies and Safety,
classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed among others.
for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full
citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others Medellin Smart City is City is the continuation of the program
than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, Digital Medellin. Medellin Smart City aims to improve the quality
or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific
permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from Permissions@acm.org. of life through smart city services as well as using ICT as means
to potentiate opportunities in 12 fields like education, safety,
ICEGOV '13, Oct 22-25 2013, Seoul, Republic of Korea mobility and environment. On the other hands, Route N is an
Copyright 2013 ACM 978-1-4503-2456-4/13/10…$15.00.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2591888.2591930
initiative created to transform Medellin’s economy into a new

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knowledge based economy, through the development of business 3. LEARNED LESSONS FROM MEDELLIN
from three industries: ICT, energy and health.
SMART CITY INITIATIVES
Medellin Smart City is an initiative institutionally integrated to From the experience of Medellin’s case it’s possible to identify
Medellin’s Mayoralty, specifically within the Vice mayoralty of some lessons which could help other cities to implement similar
Science, Technology, Innovation, Economic Development, initiatives locally. We have organized these lessons according to
Internationalization and Public Private Partnerships. By contrast, the factors of Smart City Initiatives Framework.
Route N is a corporation separate from Medellin’s Mayoralty.
Government still has influence in the direction of Route N due to 3.1 Management and Organization
Mayor has a seat in its board of directors. However, this board is One of the lessons learned in the field of management and
also composed by managers of other private, public and mixed organization is that some legal figures can affect the development
companies like the Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia, the of smart city initiatives. According to some interviewees, the lack
Private Competitiveness Council of Colombia, EAFIT University, of legal representative in Medellin Smart City Program
Antioquia University, EPM (Medellin’s Public Enterprises) and occasionally stops its operation because it needs to sign a
Une (Medellin’s Telco). convention with an operator to spend the resources allocated by
Medellin Smart City Program coordinates the implementation of government’s budget. According to one interviewee, the provision
projects to provide connectivity, to develop electronic services of stronger institutionally has allowed avoid this kind of problems
and to appropriate ICT within the city. Instead, Route N co-funds in the case of Route N.
innovative projects, and seeks the establishment of knowledge- Another lesson learned from the case of Medellin is that the
intensive businesses, to promote economic growth, creation of implementations of smart cities projects usually have problems in
jobs and competitiveness of Medellin’s economy. This fact makes terms of coordination among entities. Changes in organic
that Medellin Smart City and Route N involve different structures can contribute to resolve these problems. According to
stakeholders. While Medellin Smart City Program interacts with some interviewees, the creation of 6 vice mayoralties which
directors, students, and teachers from public schools, common integrated similar secretariats and decentralized entities within
citizens, small businessmen and public entities of local and Medellin’s Mayoralty has facilitated coordination between them.
national level, Route N interacts with research centers,
universities, local and global companies and entrepreneurs as well Another lesson of Medellin’s case is that smart city projects can
as public entities of regional and national level. In the same way, be funded not only by local governments. According to an
Medellin Smart City is smaller than Route N, in budgetary terms. interviewee, Route N supports the development of STI Plan
According to the interviewees, the budget of Smart City Program providing just a portion of the initial capital. In turn, universities,
for 2013 is around 3,5 million dollars, while the budget of Route research centers, companies and/or entrepreneurs who formulate
N is six times that amount (around 23,2 million dollars). projects t be financed by Route N must provide the other portion
of capital required for it implementation. In 2013, some projects
Beyond these differences, Medellin Smart City Program and also applied for receiving funding from National Government to
Route N complement each other to the extent they addresses support Science, Technology and Innovation.
specific needs for the development of a smart city. Medellin
Smart City points to include people into the Information Society. Another lesson learned from the case of Medellin is that
For this, Medellin Smart City has developed several projects development of smart city initiatives requires specialized
which approach students, citizens and entrepreneurs to ICT personnel. Cities can meet this need by training programs for civil
through connectivity and training programs. Aditionatly, Medellin servants, or outsourcing the implementation and/or operation of
Smart City Program is developing an open innovation platform some initiatives.
for boosting citizen participation and to resolve city problems
through crowdsourcing. Medellin Smart City Program also seeks 3.2 Technology
to span open data for the generation of apps, solutions and One lesson learned from the case of Medellin is that governments
visualization on Medellin. According to one interviewee, can innovate without using the most advanced technologies. Some
Medellin Smart City Program and Route N are linked by social interviewees agreed that Medellin is an innovative city due to the
innovation and innovation platforms. use of existing technology for non-traditional uses. The cases they
cited were the electric stairs and air wagons traditionally used for
Route N complements also Medellin Smart City program by commercial purposes, to improve mobility conditions of
directing resources toward the development of projects related to communities who live in slums.
smart cities, specially on smart grids, energetic efficiency, e-
health, and digital contents. In this way, Route N articulates the Another lesson from Medellin’s smart cities initiatives is that
innovation ecosystem of Medellin, being Medellin Smart City an entities usually implement isolated information systems, which
element of this ecosystem, according to an interviewee. restricts their compatibility. According to an interviewee,
Medellin’s Mayoralty is facing this problem through the
Medellin Smart City and Route N complement each other because accompaniment of the IT sub-secretariat (a cross-agency
they bridge the innovation gaps towards smart cities, which, are department) in the development of smart city initiatives which are
digital skills gap, creativity gap and the entrepreneurship gap, developed by entities from different sectors.
according to Komninos[5].
3.3 Governance
It’s also important to note that Smart city Program embraces Another lesson learned from Medellin’s smart city initiatives is
subsystems, not considered by Route N, which also involve a the importance of involving stakeholders in the formulation and
smart city as health, environment, mobility, security, tourism, implementation of smart city projects. According to an
emergencies, communities, government, education and culture. interviewee, there’s a high risk that projects fail when people are
not involved. Through social media and open platforms, cities can

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open spaces for favoring participation of people and communities University at Albany (SUNY), University of Washington,
in the definition and implementation of smart city initiatives. National University of Ireland, Fudan University and Universidad
Externado de Colombia. The authors want to thank the valuable
3.4 Policy Context help and support from all the members of the Smart Cities and
One lesson learned from the case of Medellin is that transforming Services Integration research team. The conclusions expressed in
a society and economy takes time. Consequently, it’s important this paper are those of the authors and don’t reflect the views of
that cities propitiate the continuity of policies. One way to do it is the SSHRC.
establishing long term initiatives as Medellin Smart City Program
and Route N. We also thank members of Une and Medellin’s Mayoralty for its
collaboration in the research of this case study.
3.5 People and Communities
One of lessons learned from the case of Medellin is that digital 6. REFERENCES
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