Last month, I wrote about Smart Cities \u2013 made possible by the Internet Of Things (IOT) and big data technologies that are becoming embedded in our daily lives. To recap \u2014big data is the harvesting and analyzing of data to define and focus on efficiencies, not just in business, but also in our daily lives.
\nIOT is seeing the deployment of more and more intelligent, connected, devices in every day tools \u2013 such as cars, household appliances and the like. This allows more data to be collected and analysed and better inform business decisions.
\nSmart cities are using this technology to now manage public utilities such as water, power and sewer systems, as well as manage healthcare delivery, traffic flow, safety at public events and urban crime.
\nI made a plea for regulatory and city authorities to explore this area with a view to better managing and improving the quality of life in our cities.
\nMalawi cities are in dire need of not just massive repairs to infrastructure (an example being Blantyre\u2019s drainage system and Lilongwe\u2019s recent issues with drinking water being infected by raw sewage), but also to expand on the services required to meet the growing urban populations.
\nWell, I am glad that it appears that some African countries are taking this initiative seriously. Rwanda currently has an initiative \u2013 called the Smart Coty Alliance where 20 joined countries have made technology part of their national development plans for their cities. Here are some projects that are already in place.Konza City, in Kenya, is expected to become the African version of Silicon Valley.
\nIt is planned that the city will gather data from smart devices and sensors embedded in places such as roadways and buildings, allowing traffic to be monitored in ways that optimise traffic flows.
\nJohannesburg in SA is aiming to be smart by 2040, Tshwane City planned for 15 years later, and Cape Town is now focussing on four main issues – digital infrastructure, digital inclusion, e-government and digital economy. Cape Town has already implemented remote utilities meter reading, enabling the government to analyse electronically captured consumption data and use it to plan how and where to invest new resources across the city.
\nOther cities include Ghana\u2019s Hope City and Lagos \u2013 with its Eko Atlantic project. Schneider Electric, a French energy management and automation company is investing heavily in this technology with public\/private projects currently in Egypt and South Africa. The prediction is that by 2050, 70% of the world\u2019s population will be living in smart cities. By 2030, at least six of the world\u2019s megacities – a population in excess of 10 million people – will be located in Africa.
\nSchneider Electric have created an online interactive graphic that makes predictions on smart cities. These predictions are amazing, and include flying taxies, talking to buildings to control light and temperature by 2040, and takeaway food will be delivered by drones by 2050. Amazing, no? It is hard not to be excited by the times we live in \u2013 and also, quite a bit frustrated at the slowness of relevant authorities to act in a timely and informed manner to harness benefits for Malawi and Malawians.
\nOn another note, 15 out of the 19 member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa have recently met in Lusaka and agreed to remove roaming charges on cross-border mobile phone calls to make communication in the region more affordable.
\nIf, and when, implemented, this will mean citizens from within the Comesa region will pay standard domestic rates for cross-border calls and text messages. This should help the rural clients in Malawi, where the 2015 ITU report has found that Malawians on average use more than US$12 on airtime a month, which is more than half of what an ordinary Malawian earns per month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last month, I wrote about Smart Cities \u2013 made possible by the Internet Of Things (IOT) and big data technologies that are becoming embedded in our daily lives. To recap \u2014big data is the harvesting and analyzing of data to define and focus on efficiencies, not just in business, but also in our daily lives. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58458,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58457\/revisions\/58458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}