In order to achieve these goals, the project has been structured along several lines of action which are complementary to each other.

Smartainability®:ex-ante assessment of the sustainability-enhancing benefits that can be achieved in a smart city

The research activity designs a methodology and carries out ex-ante assessments of the sustainability-enhancing benefits that can be achieved by applying smart technologies in a certain area. The tool allows enables to direct public spending towards solutions characterised by maximum effectiveness and least error which maximise social benefits, allowing for quantitative assessment and ranking. Smartainability®, the original assessment system developed by RSE, can handle a very complex issue, given the highly articulated characteristics of the interventions and the wide set of repercussion domains. The ability to assess as early as in the planning stage the benefits brought by new services is crucial and makes this tool really unique. The research activities create a smart technology solutions database for the application of Smartainability® and produce a demo version of the serious game based on Smartainability®.

Supporting technological development for smart territories

It is important to support, in close contact with the industrial world, efficient technological development related to smart interventions in local areas and territories, as this can generate best practices. To this end, RSE develops methodologies and tools for the integrated development of utility, energy and water infrastructure in the city. This is the case of the integrated and efficient optimisation of city networks. It is precisely on the integration of heat and water networks that RSE conducts research, both because these sectors are important due to the consumption related to them, and because of the potential they reveal for the integration and provision of services. The activity is focused on research and experimental verification of methodologies aimed at designing protocols for efficient and joint management of electricity and water networks. Regarding the interaction between the Integrated Water Service (IWS) and the energy system, research completes the application of water and energy (metabolic) balance models for the strategic assessment of development plans for the Integrated Water System, through validation procedures.