Uni of Adelaide launches Smart Cities Consortium

The University of Adelaide will lead a new Smart Cities Consortium, working with local and state government as well as industry to help transform Adelaide with smart city initiatives.

Experts from across the university’s five faculties are involved in the consortium, which launched today. The consortium will aim to support the development of policy as well as new products and services.

The consortium will engage in initiatives aimed at improving city life for Adelaide residents.

One such project will be a smart parks collaboration between the consortium, the City of Prospect and five other local government bodies.

This initiative is aimed at helping Prospect and other local councils use low-band Wi-Fi and other technologies to gather information about use of public spaces to better manage and maintain them.

City of Prospect Acting Mayor Mark Groote said the smart parks initiative “is another step towards a digital future, which will ultimately benefit communities using our public spaces and councils in the way we manage parks, gardens and play spaces. This collaborative project will see a linked series of sensors that will provide useful data for a major swathe of Adelaide’s northern, western and eastern suburbs, from the coast to the foothills.”

University of Adelaide Interim Vice Chancellor Mike Brookes added that the university is well-placed to lead the consortium.

“Our smart cities initiative is unique because of our ability to link smart science and technology to social wellbeing and business outcomes, because of the broad range of research disciplines the consortium brings together,” he said.

“Our students will have the opportunity to work alongside researchers in computing, engineering and sciences, together with urban design and other social and economic disciplines — producing real benefits for the people of Adelaide.”

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook