IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

"We want to work with the ICT sector to draw on innovative, proven industry solutions as we transform the Government of Canada's technology platform," said Minister Ambrose. "Their input is vital to helping Shared Services Canada develop a more efficient, secure and cost-effective IT infrastructure to serve Canadians."

Drone service provider DroneUp announced that it has completed the first smart city drone delivery in Ontario, California.

Ontario, CA has developed Brookfield Properties at New Haven, a masterplan community – one of the developments defining Ontario as one of the most progressive cities in the U.S.  The plan provides residents with life-enhancing technologies which include robot carts, e-scooters, and smart hubs.  Clearly, these are services that communities value: New Haven is the fastest growing community in California, and the 5th fastest growing in the U.S.

After years of discussion and some early work with the centralized provision and management of IT services through Public Works's Information Technology Services Branch, the federal government announced the establishment of a broader-based department that will begin consolidating the bureaucracy's disparate tech systems.

Last week, Statistics Canada (StatCan) announced the launch of the Centre for Municipal and Local Data portal, designed to provide Canadians with more data and insights about the country’s economy, society, and environment at a local level.

With this announcement, StatCan deepens its partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to raise awareness and expand the use of StatCan’s data, and strengthen data literacy and reduce data gaps in all communities.

Doctors and front-line healthcare workers and administrators must be encouraged to play a more active role in EHR implementation, wrote Lead Author Robyn Tamblyn, MD, medical scientist at the Research Institute at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in Montreal, and colleagues.

Canada leads the world in the online delivery of government services for the fifth straight year, says a report released yesterday.

But it could still do better, noted the report by international consulting firm Accenture, which reviewed the quality of e-government services in 22 countries, including Canada and the United States.

The study, e-government Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value, found Canadian e-government practices ranked first in all categories including service breadth, service depth and customer relationship management, earning 80 percent out of a possible score of 100 -- 13 percent better than its closest challengers Singapore and the U.S.

In January, 2004, about 10 million Canadians visited a government entity on-line, says comScore Media Metrix Canada, an on-line marketing firm.

Canada Health Infoway launched the study to gauge the use of telehealth technology and the benefits achieved to date. The study included data from sources including the 2010 Pan-Canadian Telehealth Survey and data from Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) on telehealth utilization and descriptions of services. It was conducted by Praxia Information Intelligence and Gartner.

For the purposes of the study, telehealth was defined as the delivery of services by healthcare organizations using health information and communications technology when the clinician and patient are not in the same location.

With more than 5,700 telehealth systems in at least 1,175 communities across the country, Canada is a global leader in improving access to care by connecting patients and care providers in different, and frequently remote locations, according to a new national study released today, announced Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, Senior Vice-President, Clinical Adoption and Innovation, Canada Health Infoway.

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) commissioned the study, which was conducted by Praxia Information Intelligence and Gartner, in order to gauge the current use and benefits achieved from Telehealth investments made by the federally-funded organization, provinces and territories, the federal government, and others.

Pathologists at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles are consulting with their peers at Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University (HZU) in Hangzhou, China, through scanning technology offered by Aperio, a Vista, Calif.-based developer of digital pathology solutions. In Canada’s Northwest Territories, meanwhile, 18 community health centers spread out over 1.3 million square miles are having their radiological images read by specialists at Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife within 15 minutes, thanks to digital imaging solutions from Rochester, N.Y.-based Carestream Health.

The agreement was signed on July 25 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Ottawa, Canada.

The engagement was recently approved by the Cabinet to advance the establishment of the national communications and information technology framework.

The website, which uses Microsoft SharePoint and Google search technology, was available for public preview from August 8 to 12. During the preview process, Calgarians were able to test the new site by typing in keywords to find relevant information. Public feedback during the preview process was exceptionally favourable with very few problems reported.

"We were incredibly impressed with the amount of feedback we received. Comments on social media indicated this was a move in the right direction for the City of Calgary" said David Watson, General Manager of Planning, Development and Assessment and Project Sponsor.

The rise of smart cities is a global phenomenon that is transforming the way we live, work and interact with our environment. At the forefront of this revolution is Canada, a country that is leveraging its robust telecommunications infrastructure and integrating Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to create smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable urban environments.

Canada’s telecom infrastructure is a key enabler of the smart city revolution. The country’s telecom industry, led by giants like Bell, Rogers and Telus, has invested heavily in building a robust, fast and reliable network infrastructure. This infrastructure, which includes advanced broadband networks, 5G technology and satellite communication systems, forms the basis for the connectivity and data transmission required for smart city applications.

The three cities feature in the Smart21 Communities of 2008 list announced by the Intelligent Communities Forum's (ICF) recently.

New York-based ICF is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy.

Twenty eight leading Canadian urban infrastructure, internet of things and artificial intelligence companies are arriving in India on a five day visit from Sept 17 to explore collaboration opportunities with Indian businesses in the infrastructure and smart cities sector. The delegation will visit Lucknow, Mumbai and Bengaluru to engage with business and government leaders.

This week’s Smart City roundup features Australia’s need to focus on smart infrastructure, Canada’s lead in the race for smart infrastructure deployments, fresh smart city solutions to be featured in Ecobuild 2016, and India’s new list of cities included in the 100 Smart Cities project.

Australia’s need to focus on smart infrastructure

The population in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne is set to double by 2050 and now officials are looking at how to better approach infrastructure planning and operation to accommodate this growth.

U.S. and Canadian officials met in Detroit, Mich., earlier this month to announce the development of the 870-mile Binational EV Corridor that will connect Kalamazoo, Mich., with Quebec, Canada.

Transportation officials from the United States and Canada have announced plans to develop the first-ever U.S.-Canada EV Corridor, which would place fast DC chargers at 50-mile intervals along routes from Michigan into Quebec, Canada.

No serious discussion of e-government can leave out Canada. All its services are available online, and they are accessible through three portals designed around citizens’ needs: the customer gateway, the business gateway and the international gateway. They also use common infrastructure such as the ePass secure authentication system.