Piloting Smart Community Projects
Here at SDS we are keen to move forward with the Smart Communities agenda. For us this boils down to using information and technology to make life better for people. Here is a great quick video that helps to demonstrate how Smart Communities can work.
Smart Kent and Medway Working Group
Recently SDS attended the first meeting of the Smart Kent and Medway working group. The group currently includes Matt Pinder, Smart Cities Project Officer at Medway, Ganesh Thangarajah, Head of IT at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and Julie Johnson at Kent Connects.
We discussed some potential pilot projects we could work together on, all of which utilise information and technology to improve outcomes for residents:
- Using wearable technologies (think fitbits) to help monitor people’s health and allowing for early intervention and appropriate support.
- Using real time air quality sensors to help people to avoid areas of high air pollution.
- Increasing and improving connectivity so that more people can benefit from the smart communities approach.
The working group are now writing up brief descriptions of these projects and are planning to meet again soon with Kent County Council to discuss how to get the projects up and running.
If you are interested in finding out more about the group or would like to get involved in these projects, please get in touch.