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Dimitri Schuurman, IMEC,  presented CitCom.ai at the ICE IEEE conference in Porto, comparing TEFs to testbeds, Living Labs, and regulatory sandboxes, and joined a panel on Smart Cities and citizen engagement, highlighting how TEFs bridge cities, researchers, and startups to drive responsible AI innovation.

Belgian tech company Macq is using the CitCom.ai TEF platform to expand its smart mobility and data-driven solutions into new markets, forge partnerships, and help shape EU regulations around mobility technology. Representatives Jean-François Coppieters and Jean-François Delplace see the initiative as a way to harmonize fragmented city-level standards through shared data fusion and common platforms. Ultimately, Macq hopes CitCom.ai will help launch collaborative smart city projects that bring consistent, scalable solutions across Europe.

One of the first to test and develop their AI-powered technology at CitCom.ai’s facilities is a Belgian company with a history that pre-dates both the personal computer and the television. Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Macq has plenty of experience in adopting new technologies and is now investing in AI across its product range, hoping CitCom.ai can offer proof of a new concept for safer roads.

An initiative within EU’s Testing & Experimentation Facilities (TEF) aims to help companies demonstrate that their AI systems can be trusted without slowing innovation down. Rather than acting as a formal certification, the initiative offers documented third-party evaluations of key trust dimensions such as fairness, robustness and accountability, giving companies a practical way to demonstrate responsible AI in fast-moving markets.

The first issue of CitCom.ai newsletter 2026 was sent out to all subscribers on Tuesday the 19th of May.

This edition features success stories from pilots in Belgium and Sweden, insights on AI bias testing from Luxembourg, a new white paper on AI adoption for small and mid-sized cities, and the latest CitCom.ai numbers showing steady growth across the network. There’s also a look ahead to the Wild Technologies festival in Aarhus this August.

Swedish startup Tempivo AI is piloting a wireless sensor solution that continuously monitors water temperatures in municipal buildings — replacing manual spot checks with real-time data and automated compliance documentation. Tested at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden in Kista as part of the CitCom TEF programme, the system uses AI to detect Legionella risk as it develops, rather than after the fact. For property managers overseeing schools, care homes, and hospitals, it offers a practical path to safer water and simpler regulatory compliance.

A new report from RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, supported by the CitCom.ai Testing and Experimentation Facility, provides an open analysis of security risks both targeting AI systems and enabled by them.

From Barcelona to Copenhagen, CitCom.ai made its mark at major European events in 2025 — championing trustworthy AI adoption for smart cities and communities. Across conferences, workshops, and matchmaking sessions, the initiative advanced its mission to help cities scale AI responsibly, strengthen data infrastructure, and build cross-border collaboration. Here’s a look back at the key moments that defined CitCom.ai’s most successful year yet.

The City of Luxembourg partnered with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) to independently assess a multilingual citizen-facing chatbot before any large-scale deployment. Through LIST’s AI Assessment Sandbox, the chatbot was tested for bias and fairness across multiple languages — revealing discrimination patterns that were subsequently addressed. The case illustrates how cities can take an assessment-first approach to AI adoption, building resident trust without slowing down innovation.

CitCom.ai continues to consolidate its position as a leading European TEF for urban AI, expanding its experimentation pipeline, strengthening industry engagement, and accelerating the deployment of market-ready solutions. The latest indicator update reflects steady growth across all operational dimensions.

In a CitCom.ai experiment in Mechelen, the city and Telraam explored whether data from their low-cost multimodal sensors can reveal patterns linked to cyclist risk. Early results are promising and suggest such data could help cities move from reactive to proactive traffic safety measures.

The French CitCom.ai Node, led by LNE, helps you develop, test, and validate safe, reliable and ethical autonomous mobility solutions. By combining decades of testing expertise with advanced AI evaluation, it gives you direct access to high-value facilities and tailored experimentation environments.

Our first edition is packed with real-world stories of AI being tested and deployed in European cities. Discover how AI-powered cameras are reshaping urban data privacy, how digital twins are driving climate neutrality, and get highlights from our recent events.

Imec researchers presented findings at Belgian AI Week in March showing that transfer learning can enable smaller, data-poor cities to achieve accurate traffic predictions without large sensor networks. By adapting AI models trained in data-rich cities, even cities with limited local data can outperform models built from scratch, bringing scalable, inclusive AI within reach for urban mobility.

Small and mid-sized European cities are struggling to adopt AI for urban challenges due to limited budgets and fragmented data, while most advanced AI research is built for large, data-rich cities. This whitepaper tests whether AI models trained in well-resourced cities can be adapted for smaller ones through transfer learning, using traffic prediction as a real-world case study, and identifies the conditions under which this approach can work.

Cities that have already prioritised and budgeted for green transition are now becoming a stronger driving force for AI-demand within CitComTEF’s network of cutting-edge solution providers.

In 2024, the City of Mechelen explored a new way to improve cycling safety through the CitCom.ai project. Instead of buying a ready-made solution, the city launched an innovative procurement process that allowed multiple companies to test emerging, data-driven ideas in a real urban setting—showing how procurement itself can drive learning and innovation.

In CitCom, the interaction between companies, cities, and other public institutions is crucial. They can all bring different perspectives. The role of cities is largely to focus on the challenges that society faces and in this way contribute to qualifying technological development.

The latest customer satisfaction survey paints a very positive picture of CitCom.ai and confirms the growing value of the TEF for SMEs, startups, public-sector organisations, and academia.