The city of Alba Iulia, Alba County, (central Romania) could become the first smart city in Romania following a pilot-project to be concluded by 2018, Communication and Informational Society Minister Marius Bostan said in Wednesday, capital.ro informs.
“Why Alba Iulia? Besides the fact that we are talking about 100 years since the union in 2018, Alba Iulia is the only city to have a long-term strategy for development and has worked according to it. It’s a city confirmed by several international institutions as a well managed city which has taken important steps ahead,” the minister said.
Bostan said it’s important that the entire telecom industry takes part to the project, which should start in September.
“Let’s start this project in September so that the entire industry takes part to it. The telecom players have assumed the carrying out of this pilot project by 2018,” Bostan further said.
Smart City defines the cities involved in intensively using new technologies for improving public services, the level on comfort, rendering the resource consumption more efficient and cutting expenditures on medium and long term.
The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications – ANCOM – has launched on Wednesday for public debate the Project for regulation strategy in the field of electronic communication on medium term, on the occasion of Communication Day 2016.
The International Day of Telecommunications and Informational Society is celebrated on May 17, the topic in 2016 being ‘The social impact of entrepreneurship in the ITC field’.
Singapore Named ‘Global Smart City – 2016’
According to Juniper Research that revealed the top ranking smart cities globally for 2016 on Tuesday, Singapore is a world leader in applying smart mobility policies and technology. Meanwhile, the city’s fixed and cellular broadband services, city apps and strong open data policy led to it taking the top spot for 2016. 2015’s Global Smart City Barcelona ranked second this year and London third. San Francisco came fourth and Oslo fifth.
Barcelona was found to be particularly strong with regards to its energy and sustainability policies. London’s score suffered as a result of weak renewable energy sourcing and relatively poor energy use reduction initiatives.
The report notes that Europe has seen smart grid progress slow owing to market unbundling which has led to a fragmented distribution grid landscape. Nevertheless, the ‘end-game’ is expected to deliver a market more open to innovation and new services.
Overall, Juniper anticipates that the smart grid technology deployment will deliver $18.8 billion in cost savings in 2021. This will be achieved through reduced energy use and avoided economic costs from emissions. The reduced emissions are equivalent to those produced by nearly 15 million homes annually.