Opening the city for testing at the U23 European Championships

This article series presents cases of innovations built here in Espoo that strive for a better tomorrow for all.

The city, together with its local sports club partners and the Finnish Sports Federation, leveraged the Leppävaara Stadium in Espoo as a test bed for novel solutions when Nokia's Camera-as-a-Service platform made its debut at the European Athletics U23 Championships in summer 2023.

By opening the city for testing, Espoo enables both better services for its citizens and opportunities for its businesses to grow. Espoo provided Nokia with a real-world testing environment, public engagement and feedback. The partnership between Nokia, headquartered in Espoo, and the city, showcased the product’s potential to revolutionize the spectator experience in sports events, providing unparalleled viewing opportunities, personalized replays, and real-time insights on crowd flow and concession queues for the 14,000 spectators present.

The initiative exemplifies social responsibility by processing data locally, ensuring privacy and reducing network strain. With applications extending beyond athletics to entertainment and industrial sectors, the platform promises safer, more insightful engagements in an evolving world.