Connect · Innovate
CEUS
The unified monitoring centre: a single view of the city for police, fire services, traffic and municipal services.
Project page →
17 September 2026 · Council Chamber
Murcia recognised as a 2026 Smart21 Community by the Intelligent Community Forum
On 25 March 2026, the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum named Murcia among the Smart21 Communities of the Year, the first selection in its annual programme. For the first time, the recognition places the city within this international network of 21 communities.
On 17 September ICF presents the certificate confirming this recognition in the Council Chamber.
About ICF
What is the Intelligent Community Forum?
The Intelligent Community Forum is a New York-based think tank and global network of cities and regions. For more than two decades, it has helped communities around the world use technology to generate inclusive prosperity, improve governance and enrich residents' quality of life, evaluating them each year against its Intelligent Community Indicators.
Visit intelligentcommunity.org →The ICF annual process
01
Smart21
21 semifinalist communities worldwide — Murcia is one of them.
02
Top7
Seven finalists selected after detailed assessment of each application.
03
Intelligent Community of the Year
The highest distinction, announced at the ICF Global Summit.
2026 Smart21 Communities
Intelligent Community Forum · 2026
Murcia City Council
Murcia is not intelligent simply because of the sum of its projects.
It is intelligent because it built the ecosystem that generates them.
City-owned infrastructure, data, talent, innovation, engagement and inclusion working as a single system. Technology is the enabler: intelligence lies in the community's capacity to connect everything and keep evolving.
CEUS live
1,250 smart cameras235 sewerage sectors monitoredrisk recalculated every 10 min100,000+ manageable lighting points2 redundant data centres91 km of new fibre for mobilityFIWARE standard · UNE 178104 · NGSI-LD
1,250 smart cameras235 sewerage sectors monitoredrisk recalculated every 10 min100,000+ manageable lighting points2 redundant data centres91 km of new fibre for mobilityFIWARE standard · UNE 178104 · NGSI-LD
194
Most advanced European cities in digital transformation. Murcia is among them, according to the European Commission (2025).
1st of 305
Highest technical score in Spain in SEGITTUR's assessment: €5,143,000 for the Smart Destination Platform.
2028
Candidate city for European Green Capital, validated by the European Commission in April 2026.
01 — The model
A city that generates intelligence
This is not a catalogue of technology: it is a cycle. Each turn leaves the city better prepared for the next, because the information Murcia generates comes back to Murcia in the form of decisions.
1/7 · Connect
01
Connect
City-owned networks, sensors and services stop operating in isolation.
Municipal fibre · 2 data centres · IoT
02
Understand
Data is standardised and combined into a single view of the city.
MiMurcia · FIWARE · UNE 178104
03
Anticipate
Digital twins test the future before it happens.
Flooding · traffic · AI
04
Act
A single centre coordinates police, fire services, traffic and municipal services.
CEUS · Civil Protection
05
Evaluate
Real outcomes are measured, not money spent.
Indicators · audit · SECAP
06
Learn
Universities, companies and residents work with real data.
Living Lab · university chairs · APIs
07
Improve
The validated solution is deployed and the cycle begins again.
Scale · transfer · standards
“The City Council provides capabilities; the community generates intelligence.”
Technical details, investment figures and documentation are on the inner pages. Here we show only what is needed to understand the model.
Strategy and roadmap →
02 — The six ICF Factors
Six Factors, one system
Each Factor represents an idea of the city, not a list of projects. Open any one to see its main evidence.
Connect
A city that connects
City-owned infrastructure, interoperability and public administration that works without a service desk.
01Municipal network of networks with two redundant data centres and city-owned fibre rings.
0291 km of new fibre and 1,250 smart cameras for mobility management.
03295,829 applications submitted through the e-Government portal in 2025, 26% more than the previous year.
Explore the CONNECT Factor →Work
A city that prepares its people
Training, skills and employment connected to the real business fabric.
01Combined employment and training programmes with a contract from day one: 54.93% employment rate.
02More than 6,000 university-business agreements managed by COIE.
03Dual Vocational Training with FREMM: 80% hired on completion, rising to 90% in metal and automation.
Explore the WORK Factor →Innovate
A city that experiments
The city as a laboratory: research, entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer focused on real problems.
01Murcia Living Lab: open CEUS APIs for universities, companies and startups.
02CEEIM, Wannaseed and Murcia-Ban: more than 2,400 companies advised and 600 projects mentored.
03UCAM HiTech and TicBiomed: more than 120 startups accelerated and the European HealthChain project.
Explore the INNOVATE Factor →Engage
A city that listens
Binding participation, open government and co-creation with neighbourhoods.
01TuMurcia: 34,383 active users and a 75% return rate on Android.
02Conexión Sur: 100% of the citizen mandate converted into completed or tendered works.
03Geoportal: mapping, planning and risk information accessible to anyone.
Explore the ENGAGE Factor →Include
A city that includes
Digital transformation must increase everyone's autonomy.
01Red NUBE and ALAS classrooms: more than 12,000 personalised digital-support sessions.
02NaviLens, technology born in Murcia and now used in New York and Tokyo.
0331 accessible cultural venues: the first Smart Tourism Destination with “culture without limits”.
Explore the INCLUDE Factor →Sustain
A city that endures
Water, energy, waste and shade managed as a resilience strategy.
01Smart irrigation in more than 100 parks: up to 35% less water consumption.
02Cañada Hermosa, an urban biorefinery: more than 175,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions avoided each year.
03Plan Foresta 2030 and Murcia Río: up to 8 °C lower temperatures on renaturalised streets.
Explore the SUSTAIN Factor →03 — Stories
How the system works, step by step
Four complete chains that cut across departments, technologies and stakeholders. They explain the model better than any list of investments.
Sustain · Connect · Engage
Anticipating a flood before the rain reaches the street
Sensors and weather data
Recorded rainfall, water level and flow rate across 235 sewerage sectors.
01
Sensors and weather data
Recorded rainfall, water level and flow rate across 235 sewerage sectors.
02
Real-time data
MiMurcia standardises the information using FIWARE.
03
Digital twin
Developed with EMUASA: runoff is recalculated every 10 minutes.
04
CEUS
The unified centre classifies risk into four levels.
05
Area-based prediction
The streets that may be affected are identified hours in advance.
06
Traffic and emergency services
Local Police, the Fire Service and Civil Protection work from the same map.
07
Preventive action
Storm-drain clearing, road closures and reinforcement of resources.
08
Public information
Murcia al Instante and TuMurcia warn people living in the affected area.
04 — Projects and initiatives
The components that demonstrate the model
This is not the full catalogue: it is the selection that best explains how the city works.
Connect · Sustain
MiMurcia
The platform that turns thousands of sensors into decisions on mobility, water, energy, waste and air quality.
Project page →
Engage
TuMurcia
34,383 residents reporting issues, making proposals and checking the city in real time from their phones.
Project page →
Sustain · Engage
Murcia Río
22 km of river corridor stitching north and south together and reducing surrounding temperatures by up to 4 °C.
Project page →
Include
NaviLens
Independent wayfinding for people with visual impairments. Born in Murcia; now used in New York and Tokyo.
Project page →
Sustain
ALEM
The local energy agency: climate governance and the first energy communities on public rooftops.
Project page →
Innovate
Murcia Living Lab
The city as a testbed, with open APIs built on CEUS and European projects under way.
Project page →
Innovate · Work
CEEIM + Wannaseed
Space, mentoring and smart capital to turn an idea into a company.
Project page →
Innovate
UCAM HiTech
More than 120 startups accelerated in health, sport and food, with a living lab and real users.
Project page →
Sustain
Cañada Hermosa
From landfill to urban biorefinery: green energy, compost for the huerta and 175,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions avoided.
Project page →Full catalogue
Geoportal, Plan Foresta, Acelera Pyme, NUBE, TicBiomed…
View all projects →05 — Figures and impact
The figures substantiate the story
Purpose, action and outcome. Never investment for investment's sake: what matters is what changes in people's lives.
295.829
Applications submitted through the e-Government portal in 2025, 26% more than the previous year.
66 %
Of municipal procedures are now completed online, compared with 25% in person.
1.250
Smart cameras analysing mobility in real time over 91 km of new fibre.
+100.000
Individually manageable lighting points: light is provided only where and when it is needed.
−35 %
Lower irrigation-water consumption across more than 100 municipal parks and gardens.
175.000
Tonnes of CO₂ emissions avoided each year at the Cañada Hermosa complex.
200.000
Trees targeted by Plan Foresta 2030: up to 8 °C lower temperatures on treated streets.
34.383
Active TuMurcia users, with a 75% monthly return rate.
54.93% employment rate in combined employment and training programmes, with 1,200 people trained in the last year.
22 km of river corridor operational, plus more than 50,000 m² of regenerated natural space in the urban centre.
€21M in Kit Digital funding mobilised in the municipality to modernise SMEs and self-employed businesses.
06 — Ecosystem
Intelligence is not produced by a City Council
The City Council drives, coordinates and enables. Intelligence is generated by a much broader network working with the same capabilities.
Residents
They report, propose and decide
34,383 TuMurcia users and neighbourhood forums with a binding mandate.
Universities
UMU · UPCT · UCAM
Murcia Smart City Chair, doctoral research and predictive models using real data.
Companies and SMEs
Local business fabric
Acelera Pyme: Spain's most active office according to Red.es.
Startups
They test in the real city
More than 600 technology projects mentored and open APIs for validation.
Technology centres
CEEIM · UCAM HiTech · TicBiomed
Incubation, clinical validation and access to the European market.
Associations
FREMM and professional associations
Industrial Dual Vocational Training with more than 1,200 companies involved.
Service operators
Urban services
EMUASA and municipal operators provide data to the digital twin.
Public administrations
Red.es · SEGITTUR · CARM · SEF
Co-financing and interoperability with the rest of Spain's public administration.
Europe
ERDF · NextGenerationEU · EDIC
CARMONY, GENeCity, CRedIBlE and HealthChain consortia.
The City Council provides capabilities. The community generates intelligence.
Ecosystem and collaboration →07 — Cross-cutting capabilities
What cuts across every Factor
These are not isolated blocks: they are the capabilities that make all six Factors possible. Open each one to see what it means in Murcia.
A single urban data model using FIWARE and UNE 178104, with open data and APIs that universities, businesses and residents can build on.
A cross-cutting accelerator for public administration, mobility, health and planning. Murcia runs models of up to 400 billion parameters on its own infrastructure, with privacy guaranteed.
Virtual copies of the city used to test before intervening: flooding and traffic. The test happens in the model, not on the street.
More than a thousand devices measuring mobility, air quality, noise, soil moisture, lighting and waste-container fill levels over a network isolated from the administrative network.
FIWARE today, NGSI-LD in 2026 and participation in the European EDIC framework: nothing is locked into a single vendor and everything can be transferred to other municipalities.
Microsegmentation between buildings and internal-traffic firewalls compliant with Spain's National Security Framework: an isolated incident cannot spread across the city.
City-owned network and municipal data centres. The city decides where its data is hosted, how it is protected and who can access it.
Digital empathy as a design principle: a hybrid tax portal, in-person support in neighbourhoods and outlying districts, and accessible signage with NaviLens and Bemyvega.
08 — Recognition and international reach
External validation of the journey
Awards are not the argument: they are evidence that the model stands up beyond Murcia itself.
2026
Candidate city for European Green Capital 2028, validated by the European Commission.
2025
Among the 194 most advanced European cities in digital transformation (European Commission).
2025
Ranked first among 305 proposals in SEGITTUR's technical assessment, with €5,143,000 for the Smart Destination Platform.
2025
Model Conexión Sur recognised as a regional benchmark for good governance.
2024
Smart City Awards for the traffic digital twin within the MiMurcia ecosystem.
2024
Award Socinfo Digital «Murcia TIC» in open government and mobility.
2017
Award enerTIC: MiMurcia among Spain's most ambitious smart eGovernment initiatives.
Red.es
Office Spain's most active Acelera Pyme office by volume of advisory work.
All recognition and international reach →
09 — Next horizon
Murcia's main asset is not what it has already built, but the capacity it has built to keep innovating.
2026
Smart Destination Platform
Migration of MiMurcia to the European NGSI-LD standard and connection to data spaces.
2026
Sovereign AI for residents
Large-scale deployment following the internal pilot phase, running on the municipality's own infrastructure.
2026-27
NUBE Cloud Hub
STEAM and robotics laboratories; more than 1,500 people trained each year.
2026
Low Emission Zones
Continuous-flow corridors and priority for public transport and emergency services.
2028
European Green Capital
Candidacy supported by biodiversity, climate adaptation and urban renaturalisation.
Explore the full ecosystem
Factors, projects, cases, data and documentation. All the evidence for anyone who wants to go deeper after understanding the story.