The metropolitan region government of Chile, which includes capital Santiago, expects to award tenders worth a total of US$1.6 million in July for five smart city projects.
The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati.
The strategy also includes private funding and resources from other public entities. In the private sector, Spanish firms509 Indra and 6883 Telefónica have already financed the installation of sensors in some parts of Santiago, which provide information for website that gives users real time information on how long their journey will take or how fast traffic is moving.
Abbagliati's team gave the universities a rough outline for each project, one being the idea of smart mobility. "We'll place sensors in a part of Santiago and that will generate open data that anyone can access and use to develop an app," he said.
Each project will be designed to span 18 months and they are expected to go live in December 2016.
The government is hoping that smart city projects like these will pay for themselves in terms of savings and therefore fully expects to continue investing. "We hope to put up a similar figure next year and run the contest annually," Abbagliati said.
The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati.
The strategy also includes private funding and resources from other public entities. In the private sector, Spanish firms
Abbagliati's team gave the universities a rough outline for each project, one being the idea of smart mobility. "We'll place sensors in a part of Santiago and that will generate open data that anyone can access and use to develop an app," he said.
Each project will be designed to span 18 months and they are expected to go live in December 2016.
The government is hoping that smart city projects like these will pay for themselves in terms of savings and therefore fully expects to continue investing. "We hope to put up a similar figure next year and run the contest annually," Abbagliati said.
