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Data key to transform cities into smart cities

Data is highly valuable for the future planning, efficient development of smart cities and to measure the happiness of the citizens, according to industry executives at the World Green Economy Summit in Dubai.
"Data is very valuable that needs to be stored, transferred and shared; even more importantly it needs to be refined. We can use data to use connectivity and bringing intelligent thinking whether for constructing buildings, transport or any other industry," said Norman Gilsdof, president, Honeywell, high growth regions, Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Central Asia.
Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said data is at the centre of everything. "Now every device or gadget is transmitting some kind of data. Now data is transforming into knowledge."
According to Yousef Ahmed Baselaib, executive director, sustainable real estate, Masdar, said: "We are focusing on building the city that is more convenient and where people can work and live and enjoy in free-time after work hours. Walkability, sustainability and efficiency - we are gathering all these aspects at Masdar. We faced a lot of challenges in the beginning but after 10 years we are moving ahead with our vision and we start to accommodate few tenants by the end of this year. So this journey will start."
Baselaib said during a panel discussion on the future of smart cities at the first day of two-day World Green Energy Summit at the Dubai International and Convention Centre which began on Tuesday.
He pointed out apart from technology, energy efficiency is also top priority with a focus on convenience of the residents.
Respond to a response about cybersecurity, he said Masdar. "We have our own servers and equipment and then we do have a data centre. We are doing some upgrade where we can have our own technology and data."
He highlighted that technology is important for Masdar but energy efficiency is top priority, offering convenience and happiness to the residents with focusing on R&D.
"Data is highly important thing in any work that we are doing. Because without data we can't judge our targets. We analyse to know the next step where we are going to. Data is very important for each and every industry.
Dr Aisha bint Butti bin Bishr, director general, Smart Dubai Office, said data is at the heart of smart city's transformation. Last 3 years, happiness meter
"We have to measure people's happiness and it's attainable and we launched first prototype of customer happiness in real time. And the now the meter is used at 1,000 points and even private sector is also involved in using meter to measure the customer's happiness," she said.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com