The Amsterdam ArenA, home to Dutch football club AFC Ajax, has signed a deal with the Municipality of Amsterdam in order to help secure the stadium’s position as an innovative and progressive sporting venue.

The agreement will see the two parties progress the use of smart technological applications, allowing for the developed use of tablets and smart-phones in the stadium, as well as new methods of crowd management around the arena.

In the coming years the stadium will innovate the use of energy grids, improved connectivity and the use of applications for visitors attending the venue and its surrounding areas.

Ajax’s home stadium will also become a testing ground for new ideas, with its owners pushing forward with the formation of a Living Lab.

The logic behind the idea will allow for companies to test their inventions and ideas, with successful creations being promoted by the stadium and its partners for application in other venues and recreational sites across the world.

An initiative of the Amsterdam Economic Board, Amsterdam Smart City, the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam ArenA, the deal will also help to boost the ground’s environmental credentials by continuing with an earlier phase of green planning.

As a result, the Amsterdam ArenA will continue to help decrease CO2 emissions by using smart transport, reduce waste and save energy by using cleaner resources.