Tag: Smart Cities

The transition to clean energy and sustainability is among the key elements for building our better future. But the success of this process depends not only on governments and local authorities, but also on bright minds in science and on bold entrepreneurs, who are ready to invent, invest and collaborate in the fields of renewables, energy efficiency and sustainability at large. This year, Webit.Festival Europe will gather under one roof some of the most innovative founders, scientists and startups. The event will be held on 25-26 April in Sofia Tech Park under the patronage of the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and the European Commission. During the Smart Cities Summit mayors, municipality administrations and representatives of government institutions from around Europe will discuss all of the crucial factors that are facing urban administrators in today’s digital world. The Smart Energy track of the conference will focus on the transformation of our local energy systems and dealing with problems, such as pollution and improving the quality of life. The Vice-President of the European Commission, in charge of Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič will speak about the series of EU initiatives for combating climate change and moving towards a low emission and resilient society. Europe is in the lead of global initiatives like Mission Innovation, which commits major economies to doubling public investments in clean energy innovation. The EU is also supporting the world alliance for efficient solutions to bring 1000 solutions to citizens and businesses by COP24. The commissioner is sure that there is much more we can do to digitize, energize and mobilize our cities and make them more livable, enjoyable and sustainable. The best part is that this transition is not about charity, but profitability. Because it serves investors just as much as it serves people and environment. Alliander’s Strategists for Energy Transition Manon Jutte will share her thoughts on what the city administrations must do to be able to meet the sustainable energy demands of tomorrow. She will also talk about The ZonCoalitie (Solar Coalition), who offers a standard process to speed up the formation of multi-stakeholder coalitions to realize solar energy projects in Amsterdam. Right now the Dutch capital aims at having a solar panel installed for every citizen. However, not every roof is suitable for solar energy panels. Not all house owners do have the money or time to install solar panels. Others do have the money available but their house roof is not suitable for solar panels. This requires cooperation amongst house owners, the local government and solar panels installment agencies. The Deputy Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Malcolm Johnson will speak about the role of the specialized United Nations agency. ITU has been at the forefront of standardization within the smart city domain. International standards and key performance indicators developed by ITU not only propel the momentum of the smart city movement but also help provide a feasible development path for aspiring smart cities. Together with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), ITU has created the United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative (U4SSC), a global platform for smart city discussions, to facilitate the refinement of the existing standards, among other things. The U4SSC enjoys the support of 16 United Nations agencies and programmes all of which have committed to advancing on the smart city trajectory and supporting sustainable urbanization. Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.

The massive development of digital technology in recent years increased the pressure on the local government officials to invest resources in the integration of multiple information and communication technology and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in secure fashion to manage their city’s assets. Urbanisation processes and the proliferation of private automobiles create huge problems for the old infrastructure and have unwanted side effects, such as air pollution and heavy traffic. And although we can’t deal with them all, today’s technologies provide multiple solutions to create a better and more comfortable future for all of us. By the end of this year, 75% of cities worldwide will fail to take full advantage of Smart City Data and digital assets due to lack of process, project management and change management skills. According to IDC by 2019 30% of urban consumers will use bots or intelligent assistants for multimodal route planning to manage costs, carbon impact and other travel preferences. At this year’s Webit.Festival you can listen to some of the top experts in this innovative field of digital industry. During the Smart Cities Summit they will share their thoughts on Smart Administration, Smart Mobility and Transport, Smart Energy, Sustainability, Cleantech, Cities' Digital Transformation and City innovation through collaboration with the startup world. The Summit will be chaired by the Mayor of Sofia Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova. It gathers mayors, municipality administrations, EU Commission and European Committee of the Regions members, Cities Council members, Cities' Agency heads, Smart City solution providers and selected innovative startups from around Europe and aims to address all of the crucial factors that are facing urban administrators in today’s digital world. At Smart Cities summit you shall meet mayors from Bulgaria, including from Burgas, Varna, Stara Zagora, Gabrovo, Vidin, Yambol, Lovech, Shumen, as well as from the region, such as the mayor of Tirana, Mostar, Rijeca, etc. Among the partners of the Summit are Sofia Municipality, Oblak.bg, MasterCard, Cisco, The Bulgarian Chamber of Architects, Basscom, BAIT and major Bulgarian and International media. The event gives unique opportunity for direct access to mayors, deputy mayors, top level municipality administrators and all interested parties within the city administrations responsible for Smart City Solution implementations. The CIO of the City of Palo Alto Dr. Jonathan Reichental will tell us what happens when we begin to build intelligence into the fabric of how our cities operate and what opportunities present themselves when we are smart about connecting the right things together. The Director of Technology Evangelism at Built.io Kurt Collins will share his vision about a future, where AI creates and maintains integrations between SaaS services and hardware is a requirement for smart cities. The CEO of Amyx+ Scott Amyx will explain how to innovate and execute in IoT and how to turn disruption into innovation. Innovate UK’s Interim Head of Urban Living & Built Environment Mike Pitts will talk about the challenges before urban populations around the world and how cities can satisfy the needs of their citizens. The Global Managing Director for Smart Cities of Cisco Systems Amr Salem will share his expectations about the growth opportunities driven by improving the quality of life for citizens, and therefore technology functions as a mere enabler to create added value in efficiency. International Telecommunication Union's Deputy Secretary General Malcolm Johnson will explain his organization's role as the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies. The Director of Communications and Marketing at Xerox Richard Harris will explain the latest trends in the implementation of intelligent transport systems. Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.

It’s morning rush hour. You are on your way to leave the kids at school and then to go to your office. There are hundreds of vehicles in front of and around you, you’re stuck in the traffic, but you listen to your favorite radio station, you’re in your own car and you already got used to it. That’s the current situation - traffic is unavoidable, you think. But as cities nowadays get bigger and bigger, researches predict 70% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. What does that mean? Crowded, polluted and an uncomfortable urban environment, a lot of you would quite reasonably imagine at first. But just here, the idea of smart cities comes to the rescue. When looking forward to the bright tech future, we can think of connected technologies, ensuring a better quality of life, conscious use of natural resources, instant communication and bettering of all that needs to be bettered. Imagine sensors showing you whether there are free spots on the parking lot, technologies limiting the water you’ve unconsciously wasted and cameras identifying the thief who has just stolen your bag. Imagine, but with your eyes open - in the years ahead, these appliances won’t be dreams, but reality. And not just in the big, distant cities. Just like with human brain whose full potential we don’t always use, by now urban cities use a very small part of their full capacity in terms of smart, friendly appliances and connected technologies. But it’s just the right time that this is going to change. Now, why don’t you watch this video and think again about the morning rush hour? What if you had this vehicle on your way to work? This ‘Straddling Bus’ was shown in action in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao, in the Hebei province. The citizens have probably been reasonably shocked at first: The enormous vehicle-prototype “eating cars” which they’ve seen is around 22 meters long, 8 meters wide, around 5 meters tall. It provides 2 meters of underneath space for cars to travel and is able to carry up to 300 passengers. Maybe now this technology still feels too futuristic, but its creators and many others think it will give the perfect solution to overcome traffic. While driven cars may still seem long-lasting for many customers, tech innovators show us self-driven automobiles are soon to be widely affordable. While it may seem smart cities are only reflecting on humans’ lives, truth is technology connects to nature to help us save, not destroy it. While many big cities’ governments already embrace the concept of being a smart city, there are a lot yet to be convinced. To learn more on the topic of Smart cities and innovation, visit the Smart Cities Summit of Webit.Festival 2017 and hear the latest trends in Digital Transformation, Smart Mobility & Transportation, Smart Energy and many more. Amongst the confirmed speakers is Erion Veliaj, the current Mayor of Tirana, thanks to whose efforts the city was awarded for successfully applying innovations in communication between government and citizens. You will also see on the scene Alexander Renz, Managing Partner at New Mobility World, who works towards a future where mobility is environmentally sustainable.