Smart is easy to say: for cities to become really smart, it takes investments in research and innovation
At the BAIA conference (Business Association Italy America), attended by Thales Italia and SELEX Elsag, speakers agreed that all the tools are there to rebuild our cities in smart ways, by respecting their specific qualities.
The growing use of ICT technologies in sectors such as transport, energy management, health and environmental monitoring will lead to the development of a new model of sustainable city, in which citizens will have access to improved services, thanks to sensors distributed around the urban environment and the availability of a significant amount of information about the function and use of urban infrastructure. An important conference held at the Chamber of Deputies provided an occasion to probe the timeliest issues for developing Smart Cities in Italy.
Speakers at the event organised by BAIA (Business Association Italy America) agreed that all the tools and “rules of the game” are there, to rebuild cities in smart ways, while bearing in mind many of them are small and built up around historic centres, many of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Businesses such as Telecom Italia, Cisco, Enel, Carrick-Bend, Thales Italia and SELEX Elsag presented their solutions for Smart Cities, while Professor Carlo Maria Medaglia (CATTID coordinator – La Sapienza University of Rome explained the philosophy of these cities of the future.
“Two good examples of cutting-edge cities from the standpoint of technology and services (though on completely different scales) are Amsterdam, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions, and Paredes, a small city in Portugal that by 2015 may be the first city in the world to be completely connected by a network of 100 million sensors, to manage traffic, lighting, public parks, and innumerable other services”, Medaglia stated. “To continue in this direction will require national investments in research and innovation, but that won’t be enough. Innovation and technology must not be the end but the means for developing awareness and competitiveness, aiming toward energy savings, production of energy from renewable sources, sustainable mobility, activating new services by optimising resources, and involvement and active participation of citizens”, Professor Medaglia concluded.
Fonte: Planet Inspired
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