Letsgocity: your region in your pocket! Young Walloon entrepreneurs launch a free tool for citizens
Faced with a blocked road, just missing the bus or missing an interesting event in your area: we’ve all had this happen, haven’t we?
Two young Walloons entrepreneurs with atypical career paths have just launched Letsgocity, the web and mobile street companion for residents of Wallonia. On 22 November in Namur they presented the pilot version and their action plan to a whole series of partners.
Fresh from a major fundraising drive, this start-up is offering a totally innovative concept in Belgium: a tool that can be contextualised by users to suit their everyday needs (micro-services, local information, etc.) that is available free of charge. “This 100% smart concept is not a replacement for any other solution, but rather galvanises the existing Walloon eco-system”, explains co-founder Pierre Labalue. Combining everything close to people in a single tool (website or app), Letsgocity is designed with everyday use in mind, allowing users to gradually add all the micro-services and local information that make up their everyday lives. For example, every citizen is connected to their child’s nursery, their hair salon, the nearest bus stop from their home or the car park next to their office”.
Having been working on this project for several years now, the young founders of Letsgocity have managed to win over some major partners, such as the NRB Group. Through our subsidiary Afelio, NRB has taken over the technical development of the platform’s new version, consisting of a website plus iOS & Android apps.
“For NRB, Letsgocity’s appeal is that it allows public bodies (city councils, regional authorities, etc.) to communicate more effectively and interact with its citizens by offering them a user-friendly, comprehensive and relevant tool, together with the option of eventually implementing and monitoring administrative initiatives”, explains Olivier Lefèvre, Innovation Manager and Mr Smartcities at NRB.
Letsgocity is likely to be extended: “The pilot version of Letsgocity is a first base that we have built, but like the entire Walloon eco-system, it will need to grow and evolve over the coming months”, emphasises Labalue, the start-up’s manager.
The integration priorities for the pilot version include the development of integrated micro-services for the towns and municipalities of the regions covered (connected car parks, geo-localised traffic alerts, connected bicycles, waste collection, public transport, connected cinemas, connected restaurants, etc.). The Letsgocity team also wants to expand its services beyond Wallonia to encompass Brussels and Flanders, and last week, they were in Barcelona as exhibitors at the Smart City Expo World Congress.
