The first concerns artificial intelligence. The second focuses on “Smart Mobility”. This second challenge was made possible thanks to the decision of the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure to open up the country’s mobility data and make it available to the participants. It is a prime example of the Luxembourg government’s policy in favour of open data, being taken proactively by minister François Bausch.

"Our ministry is the first to open up our data systematically. We are highly committed to this process, which is bound to open up new possibilities."

Mr. Bausch, why did you decide to provide access to the country’s mobility data as part of this “hackathon”?

“The ministry that I run is responsible for developing mobility, and in particular promoting multimodal transportation. I am convinced that nowadays, providing open access to all public mobility data (public transportation infrastructure, real time bus timetables and routes, self-service bicycle borrowing facilities and usage data, geolocation data, etc.) is a vital step towards this development. All kinds of applications are going to arise based on this data, start-ups will be launched, jobs will be created, and citizens who use these applications will find their quality of life improved. Everybody will come out a winner. We are the first ministry to open our data systematically. We are highly committed to this process, which is bound to open up new possibilities. One should not fear open data. After all, we’re only talking about public data, and under no circumstance personal or private data.”

"Innovative models will therefore emerge, and hopefully be exported worldwide."

What kind of results do you expect?

“I hope that innovative applications will emerge from this hackathon, and from the opening up of the data in general. Ideas that will generate value for all the mobility operators on the market, for instance for the trains and buses, and that will facilitate the life of the users. In London, people can receive messages via twitter to inform them about bus and tube delays. This is a concrete example of the possibilities that the opening up of mobility data might result in. Unlike other countries, we in Luxembourg are fortunate in that all the mobility data covering the entire country happens to be held by a single organisation: the Verkéiersverbond. By providing access to all of its mobility data, Luxembourg will in effect be a virtual experimental laboratory in this field. Innovative models will therefore emerge, and hopefully be exported worldwide.”

If you were a coder rather than a minister, what application would you develop? 

“Multimodal transportation is the holy grail of mobility in the 21st century, so I would develop an application that would interlink the various means of transportation. This application would offer real time information about the best journey from point A to point B, depending on the cost, the journey time, and the amount of CO2 generated. That’s basically the idea behind the expression ‘Smart Mobility’: helping the users to move about better, to gain time, and saving money by wasting the minimum of energy. All this with one sole aim: improving people’s lives.”

What are your views about the future of open data in Luxembourg now that the project has been launched?

“We are on the cusp of a digital revolution. In all fields, and specifically in that of mobility. The government of Luxembourg has decided to foster the development of digital technology in this country via its Digital Lëtzebuerg initiative, and mobility is a key element of this strategy and of the changes in society that are now under way. Thanks to open data and to the development of new technologies, we are going to experience fundamental changes over the coming years. For instance, I am convinced that in a 10 years’ time, nobody will own a car. Instead, we will all ‘buy’ mobility. When that time comes, digital technology will be our best ally for optimising our mobility.”

"A self-driving car is above all a connected car, which must be able to ‘communicate’ with the infrastructures. We are already working on it."

What is a “Smart Nation” in terms of mobility?

“When all the means of transportation of the country are interconnected, and multimodality is enabled thanks to technology, we might finally be able to use the term ‘Smart Nation’ in terms of mobility. But things won’t stop there. For instance, there is the matter of the development of self-driving cars in Luxembourg. This is a colossal endeavour that is progressing very rapidly and for which, once again, digital technologies are a central element. The self-driving car is above all a connected car, which must be able to ‘communicate’ with the infrastructures. We are already working on this. The stakes are very high, for apart from simplifying people’s lives by improving their mobility, the aim is to cut down on the number of accidents on our roads.”