SPIE launches SMARTbourg in France: solutions tailored to the rural environment of the 21st century

Saint-Denis, 1 June 2023 - SPIE CityNetworks, a subsidiary of SPIE France and the partner of the performance in territories, specialising in energy and digital networks, city services, and transport and mobility, is launching the SMARTbourg offering designed for rural areas. It offers adapted uses (connectivity, energy, security) and enables small and medium-sized municipalities to access highly available solutions and services, improve the well-being of their residents, while making savings.

SMARTbourg: an offering designed for small and medium-sized communities

According to the French Mayors' Association, 70% of France's municipalities have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. SMARTbourg was designed by SPIE CityNetworks by listening to the needs and constraints of elected representatives and those involved in the life of small and medium-sized municipalities. The offering was born out of the realisation that rural communities can now benefit from 'smart' solutions in the same way as major cities, thanks in particular to the deployment of very high-speed broadband and, more generally, to the energy and communications networks already in place.

The SMARTbourg offering includes a range of services that address the issues facing rural communities in the 21st century.

• Services for new uses

SPIE CityNetworks adapts mobility to the needs and expectations of local residents, making pedestrian routes and school bus stops safer and installing charging stations for electric vehicles. In addition, SPIE CityNetworks is able to enhance the connectivity of local authorities and residents with broadband solutions (FTTH, WiFi) based on existing infrastructures, to ensure that essential uses such as teleworking, remote medical consultations, dynamic information panels, online administrative procedures, citizen relationship management, etc. are met.

• Optimum security

SMARTbourg is also helping to improve safety in public spaces, particularly along school routes and at bus stops, by deploying intelligent video protection solutions. The installation of cameras also provides invaluable assistance in the fight against illegal rubbish dumping.

• High-performance, sustainable public lighting

SMARTbourg offers local authorities the opportunity to renovate and modernise their public lighting systems, as well as lighting their heritage assets, switching to LEDs and deploying supervision solutions (remote management) to achieve significant energy savings. Against a backdrop of rising energy costs, the renovation of public lighting, coupled with effective equipment maintenance, is a major way of optimising energy costs.

Appropriate financing solutions and a pragmatic approach

Financing infrastructure and renovation work is not always easy for a small community. That's why, in addition to installing new equipment, the SMARTbourg approach also aims to advise local authorities on the solutions best suited to their needs, and to point them in the direction of complementary financing methods, including subsidies, where available. It's also about being pragmatic: for example, by favouring interconnections with existing infrastructures to minimise costs; or by proposing the deployment of photovoltaic panels to enable self-consumption of certain equipment.

 "As experts in urban and regional services, we are convinced that the inflationary shock (energy prices) and the density of communications infrastructures (FTTH, etc.) are the triggers for virtuous uses in rural areas. Adapted solutions exist, and we are mobilised to meet the needs of these communities," comments Hugues Jouffroy, Chief Operating Officer of SPIE CityNetworks.

An initial event to launch the service was held in Donchery in the Ardennes on 10 May, attended by the mayor of the town and elected representatives from the department: "This local approach is extremely useful for our local authorities, which have to adapt to these changes, without forgetting the need for human contact," commented Patrick Fostier, vice-president of Ardenne Métropole, after the event.