Rafi Rich was apointed by Hebrew University in Jerusalem, as Professor in Practice, to teach in the new Garduate degree on smart cities and urban informatics, and assist in creating the new Centre for Urban Innovation (part time) aimed at promoting multidisciplinary applied research focused on the effects and benefits of innovative technologies, data and processes, on welfare, sustainability, governance and inclusive growth in cities in Israel and around the world.

Rafi Rich was hired by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) independent evaluator for the 100 climate neutral & smart city mission of the EU. aimed at ensuring that at least 100 cities and regions will act as experimentation & innovation hubs, to put all European cities in a position to become climate-neutral by 2050. 

SUITS was hired by the Or organization to develop the urban plan and regional context for the Israel 2048 plan, aimed at strengthening secondary cities and regional metropolises towards a sustainable urban & regional growth until 2048. the plan includes, new urban scales & typologies, new regional and local policies aimed at strengthening political & economic decentralization activities for all. the plan also introduces data led policies to improve accountability and validity of these new tools.

SUITS was hired to create a national playbook for integration of new urban solutions and urban technology to improve the wellbeing and paticipation of elders in urban life.
This important playbook focuses on creating policies and tools to enable implementation of improves solutions within the neighborhood scale- including  streets, public services, commerce, skills & Jobs, and residential complexes.

for a link of the final document (in hebrew) press here

SUITS was hired to create a roadmap and strategic plan for the renewal & growth of Netanya City's business park, sized over 5000 dunams (1285 acres), boasting companies such as CISCO, ELBIT, SIEMENS, IKEA, OUTBRAIN, EBAY, and others.
The plan includes strategies and actions  to answer local stresses & opportunities, as well as aiming at answering to 21-century disruptions to offices and businesses, and the effects of the COVID19 pandemic, in 5 main fields: (a) governance & connectivity; (b) urban innovation; (c) social & financial capital; (d) walkability & mobility; and (e) sustainability, waste & infrastructure
 

SUITS was hired to consult a planned industrial zone, resulting in a complete redesign from a heavy industrial zone in central Israel that included car-only access, unsustainable businesses & covering of an existing stream-  to a smart & sustainable plan, including smart water-sensitive design, rehabilitation of the river, utilization of solar-based district cooling, and an agrotech-based design to enable a full ecosystem of companies, beta sites, and IOT based management system for mobility, access, agriculture, services & utilities.   The project is part of a regional smart & sustainable strategy led by SUITS and has been endorsed by the ministries of agriculture, economy & transportation, with execution to commence in the following months

SUITS's Rafi Rich was invited to deliver a keynote in the Future World Forum about the new normal focused on mobility supply and demand and urban accessibility to services. amenities and work opportunities, while also discussing the difference between industrial innovation and urban innovation and the difference between the real impact of guerilla deployment ("try now ask for forgiveness later") and policy-based impactful innovation.
for a recording of the online lecture - click on the image to the left

SUITS's Rafi Rich was invited to deliver a talk about the need for revised smart & sustainable standards to enable flexibility, adaptability, and localized challenge-based processes and solutions.
the talk was part of a GFHS (global forum on human settlements)  annual high level event, partnered with WMO, ITU, ICS, IUCN, UNDP, and UNEP.

SUITS's Rafi Rich to co-authored the Israeli Municipal Playbook for Private EV charging & parking on public curbsides.
the playbook includes technical, statuary and strategic guidelines for promoting urban electrical vehicles in urban streets

to download a copy (in Hebrew) click on the image

SUITS was chosen to assist Tel Aviv's Strategies team to create urban scenarios, and action plans to enable growth and wellbeing for the city under the impact of the pandemic and the following economic recession, with a focus on real estate, tourism, data, and technology. governance and access to services 

 

Israeli Ministry of Housing chose the 'Sea Quarter' as Israel's urban innovation showpiece at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. This unique & innovative Master Plan includes an intensive mixed-use development of 10,000 units in multi-residential complexes, hospitality, offices, retail & public buildings, focused on creating a sustainable synergy between the built environment, natural habitat & the future community through flexible urban planning tools and integration of localized infrastructure & data-based local management systems.       

Rafi was invited to talk at a Chinese workshop in the beautiful city of Qingdao, organized by the municipality and IGMC. Rafi spoke about trust, planning, and stakeholder collaboration in a smart & sustainable city, explaining how this may be successful (or may fail), explained and presented in our projects and processes
 

The Municipality of Pafos has invited SUITS to create a new framework for  a new economic pillar for its city, by proposing a unifying thesis towards the re-creation of Pafos as the leading Innovation ecosystem in Cyprus and the to-go-place to study how to promote creativity, innovation and sustainable economy for a small-mid size city.

The document included: identification of the unique factors in Pafos making the city attractive for innovation;  What fields of innovation should be applied to the city, and  how and where should innovation occur within the city and how will it impact the city’s economy, experience and sustainability

Rafi was invited to speak at the UN initiated conference at the UN campus in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, The keynote and the following discussion was about the role, dangers and opportunities of distributed ledgers, self-governance and data-based management of urban communities. SUITS believes that current application knowledge and regulation may reduce the potential of inclusive development within the cities, as they may seclude communities and areas, due to the distribution of data and reduction of privacy. while this may create trust and better business ecosystems, we believe that communities and regulations should be co-developed to ensure the opportunities without the risks.

the Angolan government has decided to sign an MOU with SUiTS to develop a smart city masterplan for the country and the capital Luanda. The plan will include mapping local challenges, linking local and international opportunities, and creating a roadmap that will include policies, training, community engagement and implementation of synrgetic projects.

the city of Holon, a mid-size city just outside of Tel Aviv, branded as Israel's  ‘children’s city’ selected SUiTS to develop the smart city road map and to create a synergy between the municipal strategic plan and urban innovation.
the plan will include strategies in 6 themes: planning & the public realm, economic development, Education, Youth and community, municipal services & digital transformation. one of the main aspects would be enabling a"city-for-all" 

Rafi Rich, gave a keynote on urban innovation and the shared economy and the important role of municipal city planners in answering to the huge complexities of managing cities in an era of uncertainty. the lecture was  in front of Israel's leading city planners and municipal planning teams in and was later on transformed into an article in Israel's "local authorities" magazine   (link below to thearticle in Hebrew)

Rafi Rich was appointed Innovation Advisor to the distinguished Maoz fellowship for leaders in local authorities. The unique program includes training and networking for leaders from Arabs & Jews from Ultra-orthodox, modern orthodox and secular backgrounds. at the end of the one-year program, the group spends two weeks in the Boston area, including one week at Harvard Business School

photo: dialogue with the police chief of Lawrence, MA about trust, governance, and service innovation

SUiTS has won the Tender to lead the municipal strategies for Smart & Sustainable solutions as part of the masterplans aimed at tripling the size of the southern town of Ofakim Town.
the multi-million plans to be executed over the next few years will include the creation of an innovation district, shared economy policies, local energy & water management & shared Autonomous vehicle strategies linking the old & new quarters 

​SUiTS & IDC International Training Unit has led a unique 5-week Smart City & urban Innovation workshop for city officials of the municipality of Pafos led by the Mayor Phedon Phedonos. The training is the first stage of the citywide smart city municipal activity, and included a critical study of the current smart city trends, lean innovation training and a urban innovation workshop, in which 4 teams created innovative solutions for local challenges

the Eastern Jerusalem Economic cooperation has chosen SUiTS as the urban innovation consultant for an ambitious strategic plan to overcome challenges and barrier for sustainable economic growth in the Arab Communities of Eastern Jerusalem. among the strategies proposed by SUiTS are data-based commerce policies, mobile municipal services, innovative hybrid commerce strategies, dynamic mobility & localized resources & infrastructure

honored to be on the front page of The weekend edition of the Marker, Israel's leading financial magazine, speaking about the flaws of existing smart city models, based on fast-track gains and not of real value to the cities and their communities. we spoke about how robust strategies and inclusive offerings may change the trend for the better

press on the image for a link to the article (in hebrew)- for more info please contact 

the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya launched the Israel Smart & Sustainable City Rating System to examine the journeys made by Israeli cities, examining cities in four main fields: strategy, data-based planning & Management, Infrastructure & Services  & innovation & economy. the rating system examined how the planned and implemented the strategies, and how they relate to the UN's SDG.
The unique standard and related handbook were designed and led by SUiTS
for more information on the rating tool and how it can be relevant for your cities & countries please contact us 

SUITS was among the business leaders invited to participate in the Israel-Tanzania Business Forum in Dar Esalam, discussing future projects with entrepreneurs, cities and governmental officials.

completing a very successful & comprehensive East African tour, including 5 flights, 2 ferries, 1500 km by car, 11 cities, 20 meetings, and 5 crates of Stony Tangawizi. the highlight was signing of innovation agreements with 5 cities & Counties- two in Kenya, two in Uganda and one in Tanzania . looking forward to the future  

(in the photo: Rafi Rich & Shirley Ben-Dak of SUiTS, with Mayor Kayanja of Entebbe, Ismail Semyalo, the secretary General of LVRLACC and the LVRLACC Team)

​Kenya’s first planned smart and sustainable city located just 60 km south of Nairobi, has signed on Friday, in the presence of Israel’s Ambassador to Kenya, Noah Gal Gendler, a strategic MOU with Israeli company Smarter Urban & IT Strategies Ltd. (S.U.iT.S), a smart city and urban-tech integrator.

This MOU positions SUiTS as an innovation partner in the experimentation and implementation of Israeli technologies and solutions, and in promoting Konza Technopolis as a central global focal point in innovation, smart urban policies and planning, and sustainable economic development and green infrastructure.  (for more info, press on the photo)

Rafi Rich giving a lecture at the Personal Democracy Forum in Kyiv: "the future of cities is shared" 

The event is an annual conference launched in 2004 in New York as an event gathering each year approx. 1,000 top technologists, campaigners, hackers, opinion-makers, government officials, journalists, and academics. PDF Ukraine was organized for the second time in Kyiv to focus both on the positive tendencies and possible risks that can be brought by technology. “How to use technology for human-oriented solutions without creating new risks?”
for a link to the youtube recording of the lecture, press on the photo

the Rwanda Smart City Masterplan has been launched and presented at the Transform Africa summit, by Minister of Youth & ICT, Jean-Philbert Nsengimana & President of Rwanda Paul Kagame. The plan was the Joint venture of Smart Africa Alliance and the Ministry of Youth and ICT, and has been prepared by UN-HABITAT, with SUiTS as the lead Auther as the UN-HABITAT's Smart City consultant. 
for requests of e-copies of the document please send a message