Urenio Watch Watch: Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities

IEEE Smart Cities Initiative

smartcities_bannerIEEE, the world’ s largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, announced the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative aiming to assist local government leaders in planning smart cities for growing urban populations.

Municipalities are invited to apply for consideration to receive strategic and practical advice from a dedicated team of IEEE experts, as well as education and training to help them address the huge demands on land, resources and services associated with expanding urban living environments.

“Designing successful and sustainable smart cities requires careful planning about citizens’ energy, water, transportation, communications and public health and safety,’ said Gilles Betis, chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative. “IEEE has cultivated a powerful and talented brain trust that can assist municipalities in addressing all essential services that need to be managed in unison, to support the smooth operation of critical infrastructure while providing a clean, economic and safe environment for inhabitants to live, work and play.’

A municipality selected for the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative will have the opportunity to work with an IEEE team of insightful experts who will collaborate with members of the public, private and volunteer sectors to explore the issues and address what’ s needed to prepare for ever-increasing urban population growth. The effort in each selected municipality will consist of an inaugural workshop, graduate student support (PhD and Masters), funding to develop content for “MOOCs’ (Massive Open Online Courses), organization of an international conference on Smart Cities, and access to IEEE Distinguished Lecturers. Focusing on the particular thematic issued from their on-going ‘˜smartification’ process, the selected municipalities will get the opportunity to join the active community of the 10 cities that IEEE aims to engage in developed and developing countries through 2016.

For more information on the new IEEE Smart Cities Initiative, including criteria and how to apply, visit http://smartcities.ieee.org.