VINCI Energies and the Aachen-based startup S O NAH have taken their cooperation to a new level in the form of a cooperation agreement for a strategic partnership. As a leading technology company, VINCI Energies sees itself as having a responsibility to make cities, transport and traffic flows more efficient and thus make a decisive contribution to greater sustainability. In this context, the VINCI energies brand Omexom is now cooperating even more closely with the start-up S O NAH. Together, the two companies are implementing an intelligent smart-lightning solution that, in addition to smart parking, creates further comprehensive possibilities for smart city applications.

The biggest lever for more sustainability is global road transport: it accounts for around 18 percent of CO2 emissions – and the less a car drives, the lower its emissions. VINCI Energies promotes the energy transition and thus more sustainability through various solutions in the smart city environment as well as diverse cooperations with startups such as S O NAH. The combination of the VINCI solution WE-LIGHT OPEN with the sensor innovation of S O NAH shows exemplified the development potential between innovative start-ups and the infrastructure experts of VINCI Energies.

“The company S O NAH, which we got to know through our Startup Connect program, has proven to be an ideal partner for our ambitions in the field of smart cities,” says Dr. Bernhard Kirchmair, CDO of VINCI Energies in DACH and Eastern Europe. “The start-up’s innovative approach complements our in-house development for intelligent street lights, which form the foundation for smart city applications. A strategic partnership was therefore the next logical step for us.”

“In order to digitise our urban infrastructure, we need precisely this form of cooperation. This is where the knowledge of countless infrastructure projects from over 100 years is combined with modern high-tech solutions,” says Victor ter Smitten, CEO of S O NAH.

Developed by VINCI Energy brand Omexom, the WE-LIGHT OPEN solution makes it easy to convert the standard street lights that are already everywhere to ensure continuous 24/7 power supply in the AC 400V and 230V range, as well as DC 24V, 12V and 5V. Additional infrastructure is not necessary. This gives operators the freedom to install a wide range of sensors and applications for street lights – for example, for parking space management, for traffic flow measurements, open WIFI or as their own charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and e-bikes. FOR S O NAH, WE-LIGHT OPEN is the ideal basis for its own solution: The uninterruptible power supply covers the energy requirements and the use of street lamps makes it possible to install the sensors nationwide and increased for the best possible measuring position. The start-up’s sensor platform is thus a pioneering addition to the VINCI solution by using an image recognition algorithm to determine up to ten centimetres of accurate anonymous metadata about the existing parking space. The data enters the S O NAH City Cockpit or can be integrated into third-party solutions via open interfaces. Other applications such as waste detection to carry out traffic censuses or the collection of backlogs for traffic flow optimization have already been added.