Today, Technopark Pomerania and EXATEL signed a letter of intent regarding their cooperation. Joint activities will involve developing and implementing smart solutions. The planned results are solutions intended for urban spaces.
We cannot imagine our everyday life without technology. It allows us to save time and money, know more and do better at work. The advantages of being hi-tech are also starting to be appreciated by … cities.
Smart means supporting residents
What is Smart City? It is a city that communicates with its citizens. Embodiments of Smart City technology are dusk-activated lighting, smart cameras notifying dispatchers about threats to personal safety or infrastructure or intersection directional lighting adapting to traffic intensity. In other words – a smart city is an entity actively supporting its inhabitants.
Poland’s city authorities are increasingly active in supporting and implementing new technologies. Already today, cameras in Gdańsk help commuters avoid traffic jams, and sensors in Warsaw continuously monitor air quality. These are just a taste of the numerous actual possibilities provided by a smart city. This is why it is important to select and implement these solutions quickly, but wisely.
Strategy of being smart
The leaders of the global Smart City rankings today, treat technology as an important element in urban development. London, Oslo, Berlin – these are just some examples of agglomerations that already have and are implementing specific interconnected solutions for their residents.
“We need smart solutions. In many cases we are not even aware of the possibilities modern technologies offer. Today, there is a lot of talk about Smart City 2.0 – applying the technology in cities. But the real challenge is the development of Smart City 3.0, which will be a place where residents are city’s partners.” – said Andrzej Feterowski, President of Technoparku Pomerania.
EXATEL is of a similar opinion.
“It may seem that implementing the Smart City idea is trivial. We know from our experience in working with other cities, that this is not the case. Since Smart City is supposed to serve the residents, it should primarily take their needs into account. In putting such technology in place, you should be aware of what the city has and what it needs. This is why I am very glad that our knowledge and experience drawn from working with cities such as Rzeszów, Gliwice, Jarosław and Przemyśl will now be utilized by Technopark Pomerania” – said Rafał Magryś, Vice-President of the Board at EXATEL.
Subsequent actions
Signing the letter of intent was just the beginning of a path towards developing smart city solutions. A working team that is supposed to draw up a specific schedule of activities is being formed at the same time.
***
About Technopark Pomerania
Technopark Pomerania is a research and technology park that supports the development of innovative micro-, small- and medium-sized IT enterprises within the entire Pomorze Zachodnie region. In addition, it cares about the growth of entrepreneurship, the industrial utilization of scientific knowledge, as well as the transfer and commercialization of modern technologies. The park has one of the largest data centres in the region, which satisfies the highest security standards in terms of digital data storage and processing. It is located in a complex of four buildings surrounded by greenery.
ABOUT EXATEL
EXATEL is a Polish telecommunications operator, as well as an ICT and cybersecurity service provider. It was founded in 2004 as a result of a merger between Telbank and Tel-Energo. It has constructed and now manages one of the largest fibre-optic networks in Poland – one that is over 20 000 km long. It develops solutions for business, other operators and the public sector. EXATEL provides data transmission for all of Poland’s commercial banks and 83 companies of Poland’s energy sector. It has also designed and built the OST (Nationwide ICT Network) for government administration communication. The entity manages connections with 265 domestic and 135 foreign operators and is present in international traffic exchange points in London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Moscow and Kiev. Since 2017, it has been fully state-owned and has been supervised by the Minister of National Defence.
