Today during Smart City Expo World Congress, IBM announced that it is working with the towns of Irun and Hondarribia,
Spain, on a new Smarter Cities project. Using data from trash
containers that know how much is thrown away, smart street lights that
report out when they need maintenance, and parking places that know when
they are empty, IBM’s smarter cities technology is providing real-time
insight to help make better decisions.
The area known as the Bajo Bidasoa area in the Basque region of
Spain, with a population of 78,000 people, is leading the way in mining
patterns in vast quantities of diverse data, using real-time data to
make accurate predictions, and engaging citizens via social
collaboration to make the area a better place to live and work.
At the foundation of the project, IBM’s Intelligent Operations Center software
provides real-time insight into all city operations. It also powers the
Smart City Center, an integrated command center where data is analyzed
and shared. For example, city leaders can see the correlation between
water consumption and waste generation, monitor and predict the effect
of bad weather on incidents within the area, or visualize the amount of
resources used across water, waste management, transportation, energy
and public works departments.
Bold city leaders from the towns of Irun and Hondarribia set out to
work together to improve sustainability, encourage more citizen
participation and provide greater transparency. They did this by working
with technology partners IBM, Servicios de Txingudi, the local water and waste water management and street cleaning agency, and Smartland Technologies, a group of six companies including IBM Business Partner BuntPlanet.
“The possibility of analyzing large amounts of data through new
technology opens up enormous possibilities for better public sector
management,” said the mayor of Irun, Jose Antonio Santano. “We
live in an era of global crisis and it is precisely at this time when we
need to sharpen our ingenuity to better know how to apply talent and
technology for the benefit of our citizens.”
The region has also made numerous advancements to improve its water
systems under the leadership of Servicios de Txingudi by installing
32,000 sensors that collect water consumption data in real time. Water
leaks decreased by 70 percent; water supply pumping costs decreased by
14 percent; and unnecessary water treatment decreased by 40 percent as a
result of the ability see and manage water systems in real-time. The
area is also generating renewable and efficient energy by installing
small hydro plants, generating electricity from bio gas obtained from
wastewater treatment, installing solar panels on water tanks, and
building a combined heat and power facility (CHP facility) that allows
the water treatment plant to be energy independent when necessary.
To improve waste management and encourage more citizen participation
in recycling, more than 750 compost bins were distributed to citizens,
meanwhile volunteers are placing RFID tags on trash allowing waste
generation to be more accurately measured and provide better insight
into which social or environmental conditions create more waste and how
to prevent it. Citizens are also turning to smartphones to communicate
with city leaders. Incidents such as a fallen tree or traffic accident
or pothole can be reported and shared including a photo and geographical
information. Data is collected by the Smart City Center where issues
are resolved and tracked and citizens can check the status of each.
“We understand the importance of working with leading technology
companies like IBM in order to meet citizen needs and respond to their
problems,” said mayor of Hondarribia, Aitor Kerejeta. “But we are
also very proud to have worked with local businesses, most from the
Spanish region of Guipuzcoa, with entrepreneurs that promote economy and
jobs that are close to us”.
The community’s efforts to become smarter and more sustainable have
also resulted in economic development as local entrepreneurs have worked
alongside technology partners to create new technologies and in turn
added jobs to the local economy.
“The Bajo Bidasoa region of Spain has emerged as a model for other
European cities as they apply leadership, collaboration and innovation
to become a more sustainable, liveable area” said Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma,
vice president, Smarter Cities Europe.
IBM has deep expertise in working with cities of all sizes, helping solve their toughest challenges. By bringing together cloud computing,
mobile and social, IBM his helping cities realize the potential to
build more sustainable, efficient cities that are focused on the needs
of citizens.
By: IBM News Releases
Link: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42526.wss
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