This blog is dedicated to BigClouT field trial to be conducted by Grenoble-Alpes Metropole.
* Use Case 1: Monitoring of Economic Impact of Events
Description
Grenoble-Alpes Métropole hosts several large events, trade shows and fairs every year in its Alpexpo, exhibition centre. In the future, it would like to host an increasing number of events in order to boost the attractiveness of the area and in turn too boost economic development.
The fact is that there is no way for the Metropole to measure the economic impact of these events (the use of hotels, shops, restaurants, and transport) by the people attending these events. Thereby, the Metropole would like to develop a tool that allows this monitoring to take place. The objective is to measure the impact of those events in the local economy, to better attribute public resources to improve public services, as well as to improve the quality of experience of the business tourists in Grenoble (better information, personalised transportation service, tourism information, discounts in shops, etc.).
Otherwise, this use case could be interesting for all cities hoping to attract international events and the event organisers. It would require personalisation for each city and each event.
Objectives and stakeholders identified
Four objectives have been identified:
- To measure the economic impact of events in the City Area
- To provide a better service to visitors
- To optimise resources in the City
- To attract more events to the area
Several stakeholders have also been identified for this use case:
- Grenoble-Alpes Métropole
- Exhibition Centres (Alpexpo exhibition centre, Word Trade Centre, Minatec exhibition centre)
- Insight Outside (events management company)
- Chamber of commerce and Industry
- Tourism office
- Club des hoteliers (grouping of hotels)
- Réseau Label ville (grouping of shopkeepers)
- Business tourists
Most of these actors have already been contacted concerning the BigClouT project. At least one physical meeting per stakeholder has been organised with the participation of the Grenoble Métropole and CEA. A clear interest in the results of the project has been identified. The fact that currently an evaluation tool for the economic impact of events is missing clearly represents a significant problem for event organisers.
Surveys and results
In October 2016, we asked to the Grenoble Semicon Europa visitors eight questions:
- Where are you from?
- Is this your first time in Grenoble?
- Do you regularly attend similar events abroad (exhibitions, conferences, etc.)?
- Do you use smart phone applications for your business trips?
- Would you be interested in a phone application to guide you around Grenoble (transportation from hotel to conference centre, souvenir shops, restaurants, etc.) during your time in the city?
- Would you be interested in phone application that combined professional usage (eg. A networking tool for exhibitions) and a tool to guide you around the city?
- Would you be interested in receiving offers giving you discounts in local shops & restaurants?
- Would you give some “anonymized” personalized information (amount you spend during your stay in Grenoble at restaurants, hotels, shops, etc., access to your calendar) for the benefit of receiving further better services during your stay in Grenoble such as personalized offers, transportation service, etc.
We got a positive feedback from potential users through this Survey.
State of play
All stakeholders have been contacted and are interested in developing an app that visitors to the Area can use during events (plans of the exhibition, networking tools…) and also while they are staying in the city (transport, restaurants, shops…)
Nevertheless, this use case is on stand-by because we are concentrating on use case 2.
* Use Case 2: Monitoring of Industrial Estates
Description
Grenoble-Alpes Métropole owns or manages several different industrial estates on its territory. These estates range in size and in the areas of activities, from high tech companies to artisans to shops and services.
The Métropole wants to be able to know who is using these estates and how. For example, how many people arrive each day by different modes of transport, how many people leave the sites for lunch, how many deliveries are received on the site, etc.
The goal is to be able to improve the services proposed by the Métropole in these zones, (for example, is there a need for improved public transport? Is there a need to put in place a canteen?) and also to create a social network enabling for grouped orders and potentially car-sharing solutions. Moreover, the goal is to be able to better attribute public resources, to improve the working conditions on these zones and also to improve their environmental impact.
Objectives and stakeholders identified
Four objectives have been identified:
- To improve the services proposed to users in the different zones
- To increase awareness of the services provided in the zones
- To optimise public resources (from all stakeholders)
- To attract users to the zones
The following stakeholders have been identified for the specific use case:
- Inovallée Industrial Estate
- Presqu’île group of employers
- Espace Comboire Industrial Estate
Surveys and results
As the most organised industrial estate in the city area, it has been decided to use the Inovallée area as a test case. It is therefore with the management of this estate that discussions have progressed the most.
Three physical meetings were organised with the management of the Inovallée zone to detail the use case. During the discussions, the project was steered towards becoming a tool which could be used by the people working in the zone.
In April 2017, a survey was carried out with 61 people working in the Inovallée industrial estate.
The questions were:
Do you have a smartphone?
Do you use apps? What kinds?
Would you be interested by an Inovallée app ?
What kind of information would you like find on this app?
- Food: Sites of restaurants and food trucks / Alerts in case of problems / Opening hours / Menus and prices
- Travel : Information about different transport options (alerts in case of problems, predicated journey times) / Real time traffic information
- Events and activities
- Training
- Sporting activities
- Cultural activities
- Work in the area
- A plan of Inovallée
- The contact information for the Inovallée team
- The contact information for the different companies on the zone
- Local shops
- Job offers for the zone
- News from Inovallée
- Information about childcare centres
Anything else you’d like to see on the app?
Would you be interested by a conciergerie ? A pick up point for parcels ?
83% of interviewed people would be interested by an Inovallée app. Among those who are interested, most of them would like find food information on this app, and especially information about menus and prices (78%). Otherwise, lots of them would be interested by travel information on the Inovallée app (more than 70%). 81% of the interviewed people would like information dealing with local shops on this app whereas only 41% of them would be interested by contact information for the Inovallée team.
Development
Based on responses from the people interviewed and the Inovallée management team, development began in May2018, due to unforeseen circumstances, the development was delayed by several months and ws taken over by Inovallée staff in December 2018.
Mobile phone application
The mobile phone application is now ready to be downloaded from Android and Apple platforms.
The app currently features the following services:
- News from the Inovallée zone
- Contact information for all services, companies and businesses in the area
- Information about events planned in the area
- A map of businesses, services, shops, transport in the area
- Public transport information
- Menus and opening times of canteens in the area
In a second version of the app, users will be able to upload information about their own events and to receive alerts with information that interests them.
An official launch is planned in the Spring of 2019 with the Inovallée community.
Evaluation
This use case is in progress. A close partnership with the management of the zone to define objectives and potential services has been established and the goal is to carry this over the evaluation of the app.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) were defined with the Inovallée team and will be monitored through the Big ClouT Knowadge tool.
Scale-up
Unfortunately, the scale-up of this use-case to a second industrial estate (the Espace Comboire) had to be cancelled when the stakeholders involved in the project abandoned their plan to create a « smart retail zone ».
If you want to share ideas or be involved in the definition and validation process, please contact us!