Cisco aims for lead role in connected cities of the future

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 10 March 2009 00:50

IT Industry - Market

Following hot on the heels of its 'Intelligent Urbanisation' initiative Cisco has signed an MoU with Metropolis, an association comprised of 106 of the world's largest cities, to develop its 'Vision 2030' for sustainable cities around the world.

Under the MoU Cisco will advise Metropolis on how to build a collaborative operating model between Metropolis member cities and establish an Urban Leadership Academy to demonstrate how future cities can effectively use technology to advance clean public transportation, decrease pollution through intelligent urban development, offer pervasive access to citizen-centric services and support sustainable economic growth.

Cisco will also collaborate with Metropolis over an initial two year period to develop new practices and enhance existing models in urban development and sustainability. The MoU builds on an existing collaboration between Cisco and Metropolis on the Connected Urban Development programme, a public-private partnership that includes cities such as San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Seoul, which develops replicable ICT solutions to help promote sustainable, intelligent urban development practices.

The move also follows the announcement in February (ExD 16 Feb) of Cisco's 'Intelligent Urbanisation', billed as "a global initiative to help cities around the world use the network as the next utility for integrated city management, better quality of life for citizens, and economic development."

Other specific initiatives covered by the MoU with Metropolis include:
- Cisco and Metropolis will develop a long term vision for sustainable cities enabled by networked technologies;
- Metropolis and Cisco will explore the possibility of establishing regional innovation centres that will anchor implementation actions on different policy areas, associating the selected cities and Cisco to develop new platforms and tools to manage urban services. Cisco will also provide strategic advice on the program and support the development of a partnership approach in urban innovation for Metropolis and its business associates, with a specific focus on technology and business partnerships;
- Cisco will use its collaborative solutions, such as Cisco WebEx and Cisco TelePresence, to facilitate the creation of a collaborative operating model between Metropolis and its member cities, using a Web 2.0 approach.

The Metropolis Association was created in 1985 and operates as an international forum for exploring issues and concerns common to all big cities. Its main goal is "to better control the development process of metropolitan areas in order to enhance the wellbeing of their citizens." Both Melbourne and Sydney are members.