IBM urged LGUs to embrace the "Smarter City" initiative

CEBU, Philippines - Technology solutions giant IBM is set to intensify its promotion to encourage more local government units (LGUs) to embrace its “Smarter City” initiative to make the Philippines more globally competitive.

IBM Philippines country general manager James Velasquez said that 2011 is a promising year for IBM, as it sees good prospects for LGUs to embrace the “Smarter Planet” initiatives.

Promoting the Smarter City concept is under IBM’s global campaign for introducing a “Smarter Planet” adoption. Key people that are seen to play major roles in embracing this initiative are the government officials both in local and national levels.

Although, IBM has been holding dialogues with different cities in the Philippines to embrace its “Smarter Planet” initiatives, the company is confident that Cebu will lead in the implementation of this proposal.

According to Velasquez as the Philippine LGUs embrace the intelligent technology in pursuing to become one of the best cities in the world, it will open doors for a lot of Cities in the Philippines to be recognized for its competitiveness.

IBM Philippines chief technologist Lope Doromal said that there are seven areas that need to be improved in order to become a “Smarter City” include; the strong implementation of smarter —telecommunication infrastructure, education, public safety, government services, transportation, energy and utilities, and smarter healthcare.

Cebu for instance, which is aiming to become a globally renowned referred or emerged BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) destination, must immediately employ this concept, Doromal said.

In 1900, only 13 percent of the word’s population lived in cities. By the year 2050 that number will have risen to 70 percent. “We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year.”

This unprecedented urbanization is both an emblem of the world’s economic and societal progress, especially for the world’s emerging nations—and huge strain on the planet’s infrastructure.

According to Doromal, it’s a challenge felt urgently by Mayors, heads of economic development, school administrators, police chiefs, and other civic leaders.

Doromal mentioned an example of a “Smarter City” “—the Masdar City, which is being built from scratch near Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He said planners there are working with top scientists, engineers, and innovators to create interconnected systems and manage them through an integrated city dashboard.

Masdar City’s leaders want to be able to fine-tune their metropolis in real time—and thus shape what could be the world’s first economically and environmentally sustainable city, with zero carbon emission, as they go.

According to Doromal, the lessons they learn—both technological and in terms of citywide collaborative management—can be spread around the globe.

In the Philippines, although IBM has been promoting its “Smarter Planet” campaign, is still facing several challenges, although he expressed confidence that pro-active cities like Cebu, can immediately employ this modernized technique.

“The challenge we are facing is the challenge of system. There should be a collaboration and openness to innovation, [especially among government officials” Lope said.

The solutions presented by IBM’s “Smarter Planet” platform provides the answers of some problems the Philippines is facing today, specifically in water and power shortage problem, inadequate infrastructure, poor healthcare and public safety services, deteriorating quality of education. (FREEMAN)