DataCity Paris

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DataCity is an open innovation program co-organized by start-up accelerator NUMA and the City of Paris since 2016. The program brings together data-intensive startups to solve urban problems in the city.
What are the main aims and objectives?
The central aim of DataCity is to find innovative solutions to the problems faced by the City of Paris. More specifically, the program sets out to make Paris a better place to live by addressing urban challenges through open innovation. A further objective is to make Paris and its essential infrastructure more resilient to disruptive forces.  
How does the program work?

DataCity Paris selects data-intensive startups to collaborate with the City Government to address problems that have been identified by the Mayor of Paris and their team. The city authorities and NUMA identify the main challenges faced by the city (such as increasing citizens’ awareness of air quality) and then scout for innovative startups who may have solutions. The program is highly selective: only five startup ideas were admitted in 2016. However, selected startups receive a grant of €10,000 to support their experiment, plus access to data and live test sites. 

Startup ideas are selected by DataCity Paris through a meticulous process that involves identifying challenges and selecting startups that can provide innovative solutions. Each edition of DataCity Paris is conducted in several steps over a ten-month period: 

Step one: identifying challenges 

The program, facilitated by NUMA, starts by working with industry stakeholders and local authorities to determine the urban challenges that need to be addressed. These challenges concern key issues for the future of Paris and improving living standards of inhabitants such as smart buildings, energy, logistics and waste management.  

Step two: call for startup projects: 

Once the challenges are published, NUMA and its partners invite startups to apply and present their ideas. The selection process focuses on finding startups with innovative and data-driven solutions that align with the program's main policy areas, such as environment and climate change, and social inclusion and equity.  

Step three: testing solutions

After evaluating the proposals, DataCity Paris selects the most promising startups to participate in the program and work on their projects. Startups test their solutions in the field with data provided by partners, access to NUMA”s network of experts, support fro the Mairie de Paris and €10,000 in funding. Depending on the results of this testing, startups and partners can develop service and product offers together.  

Key program attributes: 

  • Citizens  are located at the very core of the DataCity approach. Future users are testing prototypes at every step of their development.  

  • DataCity projects start with on-site experimentations at a small scale to answer users’ needs and ensure an effective development at a larger scale.  

  • DataCity brings together local authorities, corporate groups and startups. 

What is the overall cost?
There is currently no information available on the overall costs of running DataCity Paris run. However, we can estimate that the latest edition cost at least €130,000 to run with 13 startups receiving €10,000. This figure does not include the cost of providing access to data and live test sites.  
How was it implemented?

DataCity is an open innovation programme, created by a partnership between Paris City government and NUMA, an organisation which operates multiple accelerators. 

DataCity's acceleration program brought together industrial partners (Vinci Energies, Setec, Suez, Nexity and Cisco), public actors (the City of Paris), the startup accelerator Numa, and the startups themselves.

The various industry partners are involved in the process, from definition of the challenge, through acceleration to testing. 

What impact has been measured?
  • The first edition of DataCity Paris selected 5 startups to participate and produced three successful offers 
  • The second edition selected 9 startups and 9 partners to meet 11 challenges  
  • The third edition selected 14 startups and 14 partners to meet 11 challenges 
  • The fourth edition selected 13 startups and 13 partners to meet 11 challenges 

No impact studies that explore the impact that the DataCity Paris program has had on addressing the challenges facing the City of Paris, however, some notable outcomes from the first edition of DataCity Paris include a 10% energy savings in street lighting costs and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. 

CURATED BY

Chris Haley

Head of Research
United Kingdom