Cisco is betting that advanced networking technologies can be used to spur an new era of “Intelligent Urbanisation,” where the network serves as the next utility for integrated city management, better quality of life for citizens, and economic development. Building on the thought leadership developed through Cisco’s ongoing efforts with Connected Urban Development (CUD), the Intelligent Urbanisation initiative will bring together a broad portfolio of Cisco’s products, services, partners and solutions. The initial focus will be on global sustainable solutions for public safety and security, transportation, buildings, energy, healthcare and education.
“With the number of people living in urban areas growing from three billion today to five billion by 2030, urbanisation is a global trend impacting citizens, governments, and industries. This trend will also significantly impact the environment – the 20 most populous cities alone are responsible for 75 percent of the planet’s energy consumption. In a world where all things are becoming connected, the network has become the next utility, enabling the holistic, intelligent and environmentally sustainable creation and management of cities, industries and public services,” said Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers, speaking from the launch at Cisco’s Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, India.
Cisco has a number of pilot programs underway, including:
The Indian State of Karnataka, which is developing a roadmap for an intelligent, smart and sustainable Bengaluru city. This collaboration builds on Cisco’s Connected Urban Development (CUD), a public-private partnership that includes cities like San Francisco, Amsterdam, Seoul and Singapore, which develops replicable ICT solutions to help promote sustainable, intelligent urban development practices.
Korea’s Incheon Metropolitan City, which is working to transform the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) into a center of globalisation expertise in Asia Pacific. As part of this collaboration, Cisco will provide its experience and technologies around creating intelligent urbanisation for Incheon Metropolitan City. The model will be partly based on Cisco’s previous globalisation projects in major cities in Singapore, India, Malaysia and the Middle East. The two parties also agreed to launch a joint task force to investigate legal, technical aspects of this cooperation.
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