BARCELONA INNOVA LAB MOBILITY

Get up to €100,000 to transform Barcelona’s traffic light system

NEW CHALLENGE NOW LIVE!

The Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility (BILM) is an initiative led by the Mobility Area of the Barcelona City Council with the support of BIT Habitat and Fira de Barcelona. It aims to boost the implementation of innovative projects and pilot tests in smart and sustainable urban mobility.

The Lab is calling on innovators to reimagine urban mobility. The most promising AI-driven traffic light solutions will receive up to €100,000 in funding, with up to 80% of project costs covered. This is your chance to pilot a real-world solution in Barcelona and leave a lasting mark on how a city moves.

CHALLENGE #5

Advancing intelligent traffic management with AI

Barcelona is evolving towards a more sustainable and people-centered mobility model, yet challenges such as congestion, inefficient traffic flows, and air pollution remain pressing across the city.

This year’s challenge envisions a future in which the city’s traffic light system evolves into an AI-driven network, where each intersection acts as an autonomous agent making decisions based on real-time traffic conditions, user demand, and urban context. The goal is to improve traffic flow, reduce travel times, lower emissions, and enhance urban quality of life.

At the same time, solutions must respect strict safety requirements, ensuring pedestrian crossing times, managing movement conflicts, and complying with regulations.

Existing systems often prioritize private vehicles, overlooking pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport. This challenge seeks innovative, inclusive, and multimodal approaches aligned with Barcelona’s sustainable mobility objectives.

Your proposal should contribute to one or more of the following system components:

Data Infrastructure & Integration

Capture and integrate real-time mobility data from multiple sources into a unified system to enable smarter traffic management.

AI Decision-Making & Traffic Optimization

Develop AI models that dynamically adapt traffic signals, balancing efficiency, safety, and multimodal priorities.

Scalable Deployment & Operations

Design robust solutions that integrate with existing infrastructure and are ready for safe, real-world implementation.

Phase 2 Closed: Winners to be Announced Soon!

The finalists of the Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility Challenge #4 have already submitted their proposals. A big thank you to all the projects for their hard work and dedication throughout this phase.

Selected Finalists:

  • CIMNE – Spain

  • CITET – Spain

  • Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya – Spain

  • Kale AI – United Kingdom

  • Algorae – Spain

  • Coding the Curbs – Netherlands

  • Vaive Logistics – Spain

  • Shargo Tech – Spain

  • NRG4YOU – Italy

  • Parabol – Turkey

The challenge is now entering its final stage, and the winners will be announced on October 8. Stay tuned!

What will you gain from participating?

  • Up to €100,000 in grant funding to pilot your solution in a real-world environment.
  • A premier platform to showcase your innovation within the official program of Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress (Nov 3-5, 2026).
  • Institutional and technical support from Barcelona City Council and strategic partners.

What should your solution achieve?

  • Explore how AI can balance efficiency, equity, and safety, and how it can adapt to different public policy goals.
  • Leverage cutting-edge technology, ensuring operational and technological feasibility.
  • Demonstrate clear potential for scaling, replication, and coexistence with existing infrastructure.

DISCOVER THE WINNER!

After a highly competitive call, DUMH-BCN, led by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and in collaboration with ADISCAT, was selected as the winning solution of our 4th challenge.

WINNER!

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya



Spain

HORECAHub BCN - UOC

The winning project is DUMH-BCN, led by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in collaboration with ADISCAT. The initiative aims to improve urban distribution in Barcelona’s HORECA sector by creating exclusive DUMH zones where a time-slot micro-hub vehicle centralizes deliveries and collections. From these points, last-mile distribution is carried out on foot or with light vehicles, reducing traffic, emissions, and irregular use of public space. The system is digitally managed through automatic RFID registration and IoT sensors, ensuring traceability and objective performance data. The project was selected for its high level of maturity and its strong connection with the urban freight distribution sector.

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