Technology
Brussels Launches Smart City Plan: IoT Networks and AI Mobility by 2027
The Brussels-Capital Region plans phased launches of new IoT networks and predictive analytics platforms through the end of next year.
How we reported this
Brussels-Capital Region officials will install 1,800 additional environmental sensors across 14 neighbourhoods starting in January 2027 as part of the updated smart city roadmap released this week.
The move follows a 2025 pilot that cut peak-hour traffic delays by 11 percent on Avenue de la Toison d'Or through real-time signal adjustments. City planners now seek to extend similar data feeds to waste collection routes and public lighting in order to meet the region's 2030 emissions target of a 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels.
Sensor and Analytics Rollouts
Procurement documents show the next phase will focus on three products already tested at small scale. A modular air-quality node developed with local firm Citymesh will go live first along Rue Belliard in the European Quarter. A second item, an AI waste-bin monitor supplied by a consortium including Proximus, targets the Matonge district in Ixelles where overflow complaints rose 23 percent last year. The third element expands an existing traffic-prediction dashboard to include tram priority algorithms on lines 3 and 4 serving the Heysel plateau.
These deployments build on infrastructure already in place at the Anderlecht innovation campus, where a 5G test bed has run since March 2025. Engineers there recorded average latency of 8 milliseconds during vehicle-to-infrastructure trials, a figure the roadmap aims to replicate city-wide by mid-2028.
Budget and Timeline Details
The full programme carries a 48 million euro price tag through 2028, with 19 million euros allocated in the 2027 regional budget for hardware and data-platform integration. A separate 2.4 million euro contract will fund maintenance of the new sensor fleet for its first three years. Public dashboards displaying live readings from the expanded network are scheduled to appear on the Brussels Smart City portal in September 2027.
Residents can register for neighbourhood-specific alerts through the existing MyBrussels app beginning in October. The city will hold two open-data workshops at the Tour & Taxis site in November to explain how local groups can access anonymised datasets from the new installations.