“Kythnos Smart Island” is one of the biggest research and development projects implemented in the Greek islands, delivering interdisciplinary innovative solutions in the broader area of sustainable and smart infrastructure management. As such, Kythnos Smart Island (KSI) represents a lighthouse project both for Greece and the international community.
Thanks to KSI, Kythnos, a historical test-bed island for renewable energy systems, evolves to a living lab, not only for clean energy and smart grids, but also for the coupling of energy with water, waste and mobility management solutions while in parallel smartening existing port facilities and delivering extensive urban regenerations of public spaces and retrofitting of the municipal building stock.
KSI aims to demonstrate that prerequisite for the transition of island economies, especially those significantly dependent on tourism, to more diverse, circular, and sustainable ones is the upgrade of their local infrastructure, through the deployment of integrated interventions that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, combined with stronger interdependencies and symbiosis among economic activities, especially tourism with primary and secondary sector, and extended tourism season.
For doing so the project foresees the active involvement and engagement of the local community and entrepreneurship which will be a catalyst for its successful implementation but also for the sustainability of its impact.
Eventually, “Kythnos Smart Island” may constitute a local development vision and strategy for the local municipality with the potential to bridge the integrated, smart and efficient infrastructure management with local economic development, all while creating a unique identity for Kythnos as green innovative destination.
KSI project is being realized as part of a broader initiative taking place at EU level, the Smart Islands Initiative, which is coordinated by DAFNI and portrays islands as ideal test-beds that can host pilot projects and produce knowledge on smart and efficient resource and infrastructure management.