Smart Cities
The Science Collaboration Symposium encourages scientific researchers to present their stimulating work and ideas for knowledge transfer related to Smart cities.
As part of the UK/UAE 2017 Year of Creative Collaboration, this Symposium will be attended by scientists and innovators from research institutions and start-up companies from the Gulf countries, as well as the UK. It will invite open discussions and potential investment to encourage the creation of UK-Gulf collaboration linkages to access the deep pool of information & technology sharing.
The Symposium is organised in collaboration with the British Council, the UK Science & Innovation Network (SIN) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Applications for the Science Collaboration Symposium are now closed.
Background
With over 80 per cent of global GDP generated in cities, forecasts show that there will be 30 ‘mega cities’ worldwide by 2020 and increasing demand for the concept of the ‘smart city’ as a way of providing a better quality of life and more sustainable living. Smart City technologies use cross-sectoral solutions to address key urban challenges. Our cities are already becoming living and learning environments which record data on everything from traffic, air quality, energy usage, occupancy and activities over time, to security and environmental change.
There’s a huge opportunity, right now, to develop liveable and resilient urban infrastructure in order to make sure that our cities are healthy and successful and how that would reflect on the citizen. The global Smart Cities market is valued at more than £900 billion by 2020 and there’s an estimated global infrastructure investment of £25 trillion required over the next 20 years to ensure sustainable urban futures.
The symposium will discuss the latest innovations, start ups, research and practice related to smart cities and it will cover the following themes:
1. Sustainable infrastructure
- Opportunities and challenges for smart city urban infrastructure and accommodation of future smart city technologies
- City design, transportation planning, lighting, public spaces, irrigation and urban waste management
2. Smart city technologies
- Technologies and systems that will serve as the foundations of smart buildings
- Sensing, communication and analytical platforms
- Heating and cooling systems, power, lighting, and distributed renewable energy
- Technologies and systems that will serve as the foundations of smart urban transportation
- Electric and autonomous vehicles
- Intelligent systems for shared and mass transportation
3. Social impact
- Links between smart city technologies and safe, secure societies
- Integration of citizen happiness with resource efficiency
- Citizen engagement and the evolution of government services
This Symposium will be held at Masdar Institute on 26-27 March 2017. It will be attended by scientists and innovators from research institutions and start-up companies from the Gulf countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, as well as the UK.
It will invite open discussions and potential investment to encourage the creation of UK-Gulf collaboration linkages to access the deep pool of information & technology sharing, which will catalyse the benefits to populations in the GCC and the UK and will enable a better quality of life and will open the door for commercial opportunities.
Get in touch
If you have any questions, please contact the UAE Science & Innovation Advisor, Mohammed Abouhashem.
