Sparkpark's Smart Parking Solution Reduces Urban Clutter and Increases Mobility
– No one should be forced to stay at home. Smart cities must be inclusive for everyone. That is Sparkpark’s vision.
Igor Pancevski, CEO and co-founder of Sparkpark, says this as he describes an irritation most people have experienced: stumbling over an e-scooter left lying on the sidewalk.
– For most of us, it’s no worse than simply walking around it, but if you use a wheelchair or have impaired vision, these are very real challenges that get in the way of everyday life, says Igor, and continues:
– Increased mobility for some means less mobility for others, and that simply cannot be the case.
The idea for Sparkpark was born while walking to a café in Oslo. On a sunny day in the pandemic year of 2020, Igor was sitting with a former collaborator, Thomas, looking out at all the scooters scattered around.
– I was actually meeting Thomas to end another collaboration we had been working on together, but we ended up sitting there talking in frustration about these e-scooters lying in the street, says Igor, and continues:
– And instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem, we thought we might as well solve it ourselves!
And that is how Sparkpark came to be. A planned breakup turned into a new entrepreneurial adventure. They have now developed a Bluetooth-based solution that ensures centimeter-precise parking for e-scooters, city bikes, and other futuristic modes of transport that have yet to be invented.
After three years of thorough work, they found their way to Nordic Edge. They were ready to tell the world about their solution and, not least, make new strategic connections.
– As the Nordics’ leading smart city network, Sparkpark is exactly where it belongs with us, says Torill Steinback Hoel, business developer at Nordic Edge, and continues:
– The core of the cluster community is that we can work holistically with all the companies toward shared goals. It’s a bit like doing a puzzle—you don’t complete the puzzle without the right pieces.
Image: Screenshot of Sparkpark’s solution.
Parking is an important piece of the puzzle
Micromobility will only continue to grow in the years ahead. It provides simple transport solutions for more people while also reducing emissions and car use. Still, there are some very obvious challenges that must be solved for it to take its natural place.
– Parking is a major challenge with a simple solution. But if the challenge is not taken seriously, there is a risk of losing the service. That has already happened in places such as Madrid and Prague.
Cities, with their responsibility to residents, must address the frustration caused by misuse and improper parking. Without good solutions and regulations, frustration will grow greater than people’s appreciation of the service.
– Imagine that for every 77 meters you walk, you come across a wrongly parked e-scooter blocking the way. That’s five times over 500 meters. For able-bodied people, it’s not difficult to walk around, but for people in wheelchairs or those who are blind, these are very real challenges that hinder them in everyday life.
Several cities already have pilot projects with Sparkpark to solve the parking issue. Helsinki in Finland, Denver in the United States, Bari in Italy, and Dublin in Ireland all now have pilot projects with Sparkpark.
– Everyone agrees that micromobility belongs in cities, and that smart parking solutions are part of the picture. We work well with several cities, and EIT Urban Mobility, the largest mobility hub in the EU, has invested in Sparkpark, Igor concludes.
Image: Parked e-scooters in Madrid, one of Sparkpark’s first pilot cities.
Connecting us with the right people
– The network-building we gain through Nordic Edge is very important to us, says Igor.
He highlights both the opportunities that arise within a cluster community of other companies and the opportunities that come from being introduced to different investors.
– And not least, being able to take part in larger events and trade fairs as a community is valuable. It gives us greater credibility and weight to be under a shared umbrella.
The fact that Nordic Edge travels as a Nordic community to different cities in Europe is absolutely central for a company like Sparkpark, which wants smart European cities as customers.
– Traveling together is a door opener in itself, because it’s easier to say to someone, “I’m already in town anyway—can we meet?” than to send an email asking for a meeting in another country and signal that you’re traveling only to meet them. It lowers the threshold when you’re already there, and it feels less binding to say yes to a meeting.
Igor highlights “How to Enter” as one of the offerings that is especially important for Sparkpark and says they make good use of traveling together. It creates added value beyond the events themselves, Igor believes, because it makes it easier to connect with people.
– For example, we’ve had several meetings with senior transport officials in Madrid after meeting them and having an informal conversation. It would have taken us a long time to achieve the same result if we hadn’t been there with Nordic Edge.
– That is exactly the kind of door opener we want to be for our members, says Torill. It can be difficult to measure the value of networks in numbers, but we know that we have connected more than 300 companies with different investors. That not only has a major effect on the companies, but also a significant impact on climate footprint and innovation.
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