Ingenieur Vol 77 Jan-Mar 2019 ingenieur 2019 Jan-March | Page 51

Cities have numerous requirements and a vast range of services, with no single company able to provide everything. A city is much like a human being in that it needs a brain and nervous system to perceive, see, and think. According to Dr Zheng Zhibin, President of the Global Smart City Business Department, Huawei Enterprise BG, “Huawei is committed to becoming a Smart City enabler and promoter by providing cities with a ‘nervous system’. Based on its Platform + Ecosystem strategy, Huawei is currently developing the +AI Smart City Digital Platform.” The platform is based on Huawei’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and, through an industry enablement platform, integrates five main resources: Internet of Things (IoT), big data + AI, video cloud, Geographic Information System (GIS), and converged communications. Huawei has also joined forces with its partners to build platform ecosystems. Practical application shows that a digital platform featuring resource co-ordination is vital for the sustainable evolution of smart cities. A powerful AI engine not only helps strengthen a city’s nervous system, but also enhances its self- learning and self-evolution capabilities. Oleg Logvinov, the chair of IEEE P2413, believes that technological advancement is a key driver of urban development, with AI at the core of smart city development. City managers have been harnessing AI in urban planning, public safety, transportation, and energy to help them make scientific decisions and create new digital economic models. Tianjin: AI + Smart City Spread over 2,000km 2 , Tianjin’s Binhai New Area (BNA) has a population of approximately three million and a GDP of around 700 billion yuan. At the heart of BNA lies the Tianjin Economic- Technological Development Area (TEDA). The development of TEDA has reinforced the fact that the merger of smart cities with big data is inevitable. The company TEDA was founded in 2007, with the aim of building simple Government administration platforms. But by 2017, TEDA had developed to the point that the smart city builder now faced a bigger challenge: building a big data system. TEDA’s smart city system is divided into three layers. On top is the service system, which includes various departments, such as approval, public transportation and healthcare, as well as integrated platforms, including cross- departmental systems, which provide services and management for enterprises and residents. Below this is the data information layer, which comprises data aggregation and analysis capabilities. Then under this layer comes the support system layer. Traditionally, this is the cloud and network, but when it comes to building a smart city with big data, the data platform has higher priority. The smart city system usually originates from the service layer and, in the past, data systems were used to support service systems. But this actually wastes the value of data. Data can directly generate value through AI, and not just through application platforms, but by providing more direct services for Governments, enterprises, and 49