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ALLOCATE_ACoruña

A coruña

ALLOCATE - Accelerating Local Leadership by Open Computing and AI for Technological Empowerment

Technology in cities

Ongoing

ALLOCATE pilots an innovative model for enabling local SMEs to take advantage of the opportunities provided by AI for developing new solutions to local urban development challenges. The project will deploy public AI infrastructure and create a Local Computing Community (LCC), in which public institutions, businesses and academia co-develop AI solutions for urban services aligned with green and ethical principles. The project will engage SMEs in developing and testing AI-based solutions to urban challenges in the fields of mobility, waste and incident response. These measures will be supported by training and an auditing methodology for energy consumption and regulatory compliance across the AI lifecycle.

Our main challenges...

  • Limited SME access to AI infrastructure: high computing costs and dependence on cloud providers prevent SMEs from experimenting with AI. Most lack access to affordable, local infrastructure to develop, test and scale AI solutions.

  • Complex legal and regulatory frameworks: new rules like the EU AI Act are essential but difficult to follow. SMEs often lack the legal and technical know-how to develop AI solutions that meet ethical and regulatory standards.

  • High environmental impact of AI models: AI development can be energy-intensive. Most SMEs lack tools to measure or reduce energy use and emissions across the AI lifecycle, making sustainability a challenge in practice.

and proposed solutions

Key figures

112
SME employees and public workers trained in green and ethical AI
40
companies joining the Local Computing Community
3
AI-based solutions for urban use cases
3 200
beneficiaries of the AI-based solutions

Milestones

Definition of urban use cases
Dec 2025
Creation of Local Computing Community
Jun 2026
Creation of computing platform
Jan 2027
Urban use cases call for applicants
May 2027
Pilot testing of AI solutions
Dec 2027
1. Definition of urban use cases
01 Dec 2025

Three urban AI challenges will be selected through analysis, co-design and green criteria

2. Creation of Local Computing Community
01 Jun 2026

Start of a local AI community with SMEs, researchers and city departments

3. Creation of computing platform
01 Jan 2027

Installation of shared computing infrastructure and an urban data platform at the facilities

4. Urban use cases call for applicants
01 May 2027

Call launched locally, proposals evaluated, and three AI use case winners selected

5. Pilot testing of AI solutions
01 Dec 2027

Real-life testing of the three use cases proposed (in the field of cycling, waste & citizen incidents)