How can the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile attract the general public to their FIA Smart Cities initiative ?

In collaboration with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of motor sport, this thesis searched to give recommendations on how to attract the general public to their global FIA Smart Cities initiative. Currently, the participants of the three yearly events linked to the initiative are limited to attendees from the public and private sector. Representing the main users of smart mobility, the general public should however be one of the most important components of an initiative promoting just this, smart mobility. Based on secondary and primary research as well as the analysis and participation of past FIA Smart Cities events, some recommendation could be given to the FIA. The recommendations were created based on a Design Thinking approach, putting the end users in the center of the analysis. Having chosen Paris as showcase city, Parisian residents represented the general public the recommendations given were based on. The recommendations were split into three subsections: Communication, Content and Structure. In the first section, this thesis recommended the FIA to integrate a digital communication strategy in order to spread awareness of the event. In this prospect, the utilization of the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook were found to be the most appropriate. Furthermore, the cooperation with influencers and ambassadors was recommended as well as the elaboration of partners and sponsoring of the event. The second section searched to ensure that the FIA Smart Cities event covers the topics perceived as the most important and urgent in the eyes of Parisian residents in terms of mobility and transportation. Three topics could be recommended, touching the public transportation, road safety and the inclusion of minorities. Finally, it was found that the structure of the event needs to be adapted in order to be attractive in the eyes of the general public. It was recommended to stay with physical events but to plan much more interactive exchange sessions, digitalizing a part of the sessions. In addition, it was found that a lot more entertainment and animation content need to be added in order to sustainably attract the general public. This adds a fun part to the event, creating unforgettable experiences. In order to enhance the above recommended main three topics of the event, this thesis recommends to plan the experience part in line with those topics