Back from the PLEEC project meeting in Santiago de Compostela…

...we are highly inspired by the atmosphere of this important pilgrimage city and the fruitful discussions we enjoyed.

The third workshop of the PLEEC partner consortium - combined with a General Assembly Meeting - took place from 3 to 5 february 2015 in Santiago de Compostela.
Content-based work focused on Work Packages 3, 4 and 5 which are about to come to an end. The final reports of these Work Packages will be finished within march/april 2015 and will then be online available at the PLEEC website.
But get more insights about the meeting when visiting the PLEEC project website at www.pleecproject.eu   
Now we want to take up the opportunity and tell you more about our great hosts who made the week in Santiago de Compostela a very pleasant stay – our partner city Santiago de Compostela and one of our university experts Santiago de Compostela University (USC).

Santiago de Compostela is the capital city of Galicia, an autonomous region located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.

The population of the city is 95,800 inhabitants, but about 30,000 students and a lot of people from neighbouring towns who develop different activities in Santiago are added. There is also a large number of tourists: pilgrims on the Camino of Santiago or visitors attracted by the history of the city and its architectural, historic and gastronomic variety.
Currently, the economic activity of Santiago is based on various sectors: the university, politics and administration, culture and tourism industry, and especially telecommunications and timber, with leading companies such as RTVG, Blusens, Telcor  and Finsa.
Santiago de Compostela, among many other awards, was declared in 1985 a World Heritage Site by the Unesco, considering its urban beauty, the monumental integrity and the deep echoes of its spiritual significance as an apostolic sanctuary and destination of the most important religious and cultural movement of the Middle Ages: the pilgrimage along the Camino of Santiago.
As part of its heritage, highlights are Obradoiro Square, located in the heart of the city, where besides the cathedral, the Pazo de Raxoi (the city hall), the Hostel of the Catholic Monarchs (formerly used as shelter for pilgrims) and the Colexio San Xerome (hosting the Vice Chancellor’s Office of the University of Santiago de Compostela) can be seen.

The University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), founded in 1945, is one of the university institutions with a great tradition in Europe. At the USC, studies are organized into two campuses: Santiago de Compostela and Lugo. Research and Technology Development is one of the most important activities in the USC having the infrastructure facilities and human resources needed for the training of young researchers. More than 300 research teams offer a high quality scientific production in different areas of main socioeconomic interest which has allowed a narrow technological cooperation with regional, national and international institutions, companies and SMEs.
As one of the partners of the PLEEC project, the USC team is participating in the project with research groups at the Technological Research Institute (IIT), Information Technologies Research Centre (CITIUS) and the Faculty of Mathematics which together integrate research groups specialized in the energy efficiency sector as well as in other relevant fields for the project, such as Intelligent Infrastructure, Mobility, Data Acquisition, Supervisory Control, Big Data, Simulation augmented and Virtual Reality, Geographic Information Systems, Internet applications, Monitoring and Statistical Models.
In the PLEEC project, USC is mainly involved in the tasks related with WP3 (“Technology driven efficiency potential”) as well as WP2 (“Smart City Profiles”) and WP6 (“Synergy of perspectives and action plan”) –  thus contributing to the PLEEC cities´ transformation process towards a smart city status.