Propella’s Senior Industrial Advisor, Grant Minnie, led the talk entitled “innovating for a smart city”. While there are varied definitions of what a smart city is, essentially the smart city concept addresses the current challenges that the citizens of a city face, through the use of ICT (information and communication technology) enabled infrastructure, particularly as it is applied to the economy, mobility and the environment (including safety and security).
The objective of a smart city is sustainable development that results in improved quality of life and well-being of all citizens. The role of the citizens include identifying / conceptualising and configuring solutions is at the heart of the smart city concept. The smart city concept provides an opportunity for both established and emerging entrepreneurs to develop solutions to identified challenges.
The Nelson Mandela Bay SMART CITY initiative seeks to develop a smart city in Nelson Mandela Bay based on a partnership approach, to address social and economic challenges prevalent in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Grant Minnie addressing students and researchers.