Trento to engage in Smart Cities Initiative
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has announced the municipalities of Wuxi, China and Trento, Italy, have been selected by the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative Steering Committee to join Guadalajara, Mexico, the initial city participant.
Trento and Wuxi were among many candidates that submitted applications to participate in the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative. Wuxi was selected for its focus on the Internet of Things applied to energy, environment and intelligent transportation; Trento for its focus on quality of life and leveraging on data to understand and act on the city with the participation of the whole citizenship.
“We had a difficult challenge as so many of the applications we received from municipalities to participate in the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative were incredibly impressive,” said Gilles Betis, chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative and also EIT ICT Labs Action Line leader for Urban Life and Mobility. “We selected the cities of Trento and Wuxi because they provided compelling evidence that they were particularly well positioned to utilize the resources offered through the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative, and they demonstrated plans to invest their own human and financial capital into the project, indicating their commitment to improving the quality of life for their citizens.”
City planners from Wuxi and Trento will collaborate with a team of IEEE experts to explore and address what is needed for their urban populations. Their participation in the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative will comprise an inaugural workshop, white papers development, graduate student support (PhD and Masters), development of content for “MOOCs” (Massive Open Online Courses) and organisation of an international conference on smart cities.
“Being selected to participate in the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative is an honour, and collaborating with such an impressive community of experts will be of great benefit to Trento, which has always been attentive to its citizens’ needs,” said Chiara Morandini, general manager of Trento Municipality. “This collaboration will nicely augment our existing political and operational strategy for the ‘quality of life’ concept, intended to stimulate economic growth, improve social welfare, ensure sustainable urban services and provide access to advanced technological innovations to create a pleasant city lifestyle and well-functioning community.”
