City of Hamburg and Cisco Launch Plans for Smart City of the Future and Lay Foundation for a Partner Ecosystem

 Hamburg to become connected “Smart City”
• Several pilot projects under the umbrella of Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities program and Internet of Everything
• Focus on improving quality of life for residents by enabling greater mobility, efficiency and sustainability

HAMBURG, Germany – April 30, 2014 – The future prosperity of cities lies in embracing the benefits of connectivity and the City of Hamburg is sharing that vision. Building on the Internet of Everything and innovative technologies, Hamburg aims to improve the quality of life for its residents by enabling greater mobility, efficiency, safety and sustainability. To this end, leaders of the City of Hamburg and Cisco today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The MoU follows on the Smart City Summit, hosted in Hamburg in December 2013, where representatives of public sector, research and education institutions as well as local and international companies came together to define a Smart City framework. The MoU foresees the creation of specific pilot projects around smart traffic, smart street lighting, infrastructure sensing and remote citizen services. A number of partners are supporting the first projects, including AGT International, avodaq, InnoTec Data, Philips, Streetline, T-Systems and Worldsensing. Additional partners are invited to join the open ecosystem.

The MoU also enables access for Hamburg to the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities™ (S+CC) reference architectures and provides a framework for defining and evaluating various related initiatives. In addition, Cisco is ready to assist the City of Hamburg in developing a digital agenda.

“By signing the Memorandum of Understanding, we are preparing our city for the future,” said Frank Horch, Senator for Economic Affairs, Transport and Innovation of the City of Hamburg. “Future possibilities through connecting people, processes, data, and things will not only revolutionize cities and communities, but will also bring additional convenience for citizens. Our job is to guide these developments in the right direction by establishing the appropriate framework and ensuring that we take advantage of opportunities and master challenges,” he added.

Wim Elfrink, executive vice president Industry Solutions & chief globalization officer at Cisco, commented: “Hamburg is quickly emerging as one of the world’s Smart City showcases through its visionary development of urban and inter-related port services empowered by the Internet that can improve how people live, work, play and learn. Already a pioneer in its use of technology, Hamburg is fast becoming the first true Seatropolis because of collaborative leadership that understands the economic and quality-of-life value that can be realized from the Internet of Everything.”

“Today, cities are in competition – same as companies. They are looking for ways to create jobs, drive profitable growth and productivity, become more efficient and – most importantly – increase the quality of life for residents. At Cisco, we are proud to partner with the City of Hamburg and Hamburg Port Authority to foster innovation and help embrace the opportunities offered by the Internet of Everything,” added Michael Ganser, senior vice president Central and Eastern Europe at Cisco.

Overview of planned pilot projects:

Smart City: Smart Traffic and Remote Services for Citizens

The following Smart City projects are currently planned:

• Deployment of smart street lighting
• Smart Traffic system to optimize traffic flows and detect incidents earlier
• Environment and infrastructure sensing
• Virtual citizen services solution, where administrative services are provided through a high-definition, remote video kiosk

Smart Port

“The port is at the heart of Hamburg’s economy. However, our intention is not to build out roads, rail connections and waterways without limits. Over the next years, we will be developing the Port of Hamburg into a smartPORT in order to further increase the efficiency of the current infrastructure and quality of services,” says Jens Meier, Chairman of the Management Board of Hamburg Port Authority (HPA).

An intelligent parking space control system for trucks and loaders is to be developed near the port to improve the traffic and parking situation. It will be complemented by a fully integrated traffic management system allowing an optimized flow of cars and trucks. This should help prevent traffic jams and detect potential incidents. Besides optimizing energy consumption through smart streetlights, HPA is also planning to capture and analyze emissions data in order to be able to provide more reliable forecasts on noise, temperatures, humidity, and pollution. Last but not least, port infrastructures will be monitored to ensure safe and efficient operations.

HafenCity

HafenCity is currently Europe’s largest inner-city development project. Here, city leaders plan pilot projects including an integrated e-mobility solution to help reduce and optimize traffic by offering alternative ways of transportation using cars/electric cars, bicycles/electric bicycles in a car-sharing model. Further on, a smart building solution will be tested.

The next steps

Workshops on designated pilot projects will be held at the end of May 2014, followed by the recruitment of additional partners. A final selection on pilot projects to be rolled out is planned by the end of June 2014.

To help secure the availability of future IT experts, Cisco Networking Academy® plans to expand its learning offerings for vocational and general schools and universities, as well as adult education. Over the past 10 years, almost 2,000 students participated in Cisco Networking Academy courses in the Hamburg area. Cisco also plans to offer new curricula in the areas of smart grid, cyber security, and the Internet of Everything via the Networking Academy platform.

Supporting resources:

• Visit the City of Hamburg virtually at www.hamburg.de
• Cisco’s view of the Internet of Everything
• Cisco’s view of the Internet of Things
• Cisco white paper on the Internet of Everything “Value at Stake”
• Cisco white paper: “The Internet of Everything; How More Relevant and Valuable Connections Will Change the World”
• Read more about Cisco Smart+Connected Communities

About Cisco:

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