FEATURE: SMART CITIES
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Traditional networks and
infrastructures are being
made more efficient
in the current digital
environment with the
development of Smart
Cities. Companies such
as Huawei and Telit are
taking the right steps
towards creating a
more digitised future,
particularly in Europe.
S
mart cities incorporate various
information and communication
technologies to fuel sustainable
economic growth. They are developed
with the aim to provide enhanced urban
services to reduce resource overall costs and
energy consumption. Continuous growth in
urbanisation leads to a surge in demand for
smart technology for efficient day-to-day
services for better resource management.
The wide adoption of Internet of Things
(IoT) devices supported by the rise in
number of connected devices drive the
deployment of smart devices. This also
helps enrich the data available to users and
managers of city services. According to
Cisco, total number of connected devices are
expected to exceed 50 billion by 2020, which
is anticipated to lead to higher adoption of
IoT devices in Smart Cities.
Various countries such as the UK and
Australia are aimed to reduce their carbon
emissions and improve their use of resources.
Major cities in these countries have set
their national goal of an 80% reduction in
carbon emissions in the upcoming years,
which is highly supported by smart energy
projects. Moreover, government initiatives
have been playing a crucial role in Smart
City implementation as countries continue
to rely heavily on innovation funding from
the government agencies and research
councils. For instance, Smart Cities in the UK
are being supported by European regional
infrastructure and R&D funding. Several
programmes are being evolved into more
long-term support from city councils or
through city deal programmes. Recently,
the UK government awarded more than
US$19,000 each to eight Smart City
projects under the Smarter London Together
programme that focuses on charge points
for electric vehicles, dementia support, along
with reduction of social isolation.
The smart governance and education has
been predicted to achieve substantial growth
during the forecast period. A significant
trend of a close relationship developing
between local government and the university
sector is being observed, which is expected
to drive the adoption of IoT in the education
sector during the forecast period. In addition,
Smart Cities market
to digitally transform
with the help of smart technologies
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