With the central focus in leveraging the use of infrastructure and technology for building smart cities, being effective in the delivery of services with great response time is in priority. The budget 2020 recognized the impact of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Big Data, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning and Robotics on the economy of the country. It is critical to understand ways in which technology is already been used and how better to leverage its potentials.
Satyaprakash Patel, Commissioner, Aligarh Municipal Corporation speaking at an event on the panel to build cities intelligent and response, shared ideas on how technology helped in building smarter cities stated that during CAA protests, they facilitated the drone coverage to let the police know what is happening. He informed many technologies have come but the crucial thing to notice is how the technology is being used to manage the city. Sanjiv Krishan Sood, Retd. Additional Director General, Border Security Force shared a prediction from the United Nations that by 2050 around 68 per cent of the world’s population living in urban cities, which will require servicing of these population backed by the technology.
Abhishek Nigam, IT- Association of Nasik, speaking on the developments happening from his region of work, informed that there are 350 plus IT companies at work, though somewhere behind Mumbai and Pune in terms of IT is concerned. Nigam advised that IT exports are going to be big in revenue and there is a need to go international.
Prakash Thavil, CEO, Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation on the transformations happening in the city of Nashik, said that a command control center infrastructure has been established with citizen services integrated with it along with flood sensors, public guidance system, environmental sensors, street lighting, etc. has been integrated. The latest work is being done on the issue of how a mob can be tackled through the command control center.
Taking the discussion further, Vivek Tyagi, Senior Director, Sales, Western Digital reminded of the key fact that the digital data is being generated everywhere. Consequently, in the local storage a lot of analytics will be installed in the future, he added. He pointed out that there needs to be the right selection of products, installation of proper network video drivers and proper analysis should be made based on looking at the scalability and cost of storage. Vikram Sahgal, Inspector General, Central Reserve Police Force, who moderated the panel, gave a key insight on the security of the cities that the fear of being caught is a good deterrent in the step towards a criminal carrying on with his/her ill-intent.
The above experts were presenting at the BW Businessworld organized 8th Smart Cities Conclave.