Potentially inspired by Sidewalk Labs’ decision to work on a smart neighbourhood in Toronto, Huawei and the city of Duisburg in Germany have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together on a smart city. The two said they will begin work to make the city an “innovative and digitalised Western European model city.”
While not as ambitious as Sidewalk Labs’ project, Huawei and Duisburg will still greatly improve connectivity in the city. Huawei plans to build a Joint Innovation Center in the city and outlines an expansion of the city’s WLAN network to include the zoo and public transport, and classrooms are set to be fitted with Wi-Fi and broadband connections too.
Other plans could see the city be fitted with intelligent street lamps, supply networks and traffic management, and cloud based eGovernment solutions which will be available to the public. Additionally, Huawei wants to offer its solutions to bring 5G LTE technology and wireless broadband networks to the city which will be required for further advances such as autonomous driving, smart logistics, and Industry 4.0.
Wang Yonggang, CFO of Huawei’s Enterprise Business Group, said:
“We are pleased to be able to use our digitisation skills to develop the city of Duisburg into a smart city. Our products and solutions, will help simplify daily living of citizens and visitors in Duisburg, and to increase security.”
The newly signed MoU provides the framework for further discussion of the project and both parties will decide who is responsible for the implementation of the various projects.
Source: Huawei