- Wavre, Belgium, got its city status in 1222 — but it's not frozen in time.
- It's integrating 5G into city services, such as energy management, to build a smarter city.
- The project also includes affordable or free 5G internet access for residents, depending on needs.
The Belgian city of Wavre has had its city status since 1222. But the 800-year-old conurbation isn't happy to live in the past. A technology project in partnership with the European Union could bring 5G to all aspects of Wavre residents' lives — and make energy systems within the city work smarter than before.
Belgian private network provider and industrial connectivity specialist Citymesh has said its smart-city consortium project with the city of Wavre in Belgium has received a €3.9 million grant from the European Digital Fund to build a private 5G network to make the city, a half hour from the EU HQ in Brussels, a greener and smarter city. The funding is from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to support the region’s digital transformation through to 2027.
The consortium project, under the name CONNECTOW, outlines the construction of a city-owned 5G network for “leading-edge use cases and visionary applications”, nominally geared to support local socio-economic drivers (SEDs) and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The city wants “an innovative, greener and more energy-efficient, progressive and connected environment”, a statement said.
Read more: Citymesh heads €3.9m EU smart-city project with 5G build in Belgium
The municipality of Aalter is using the Ezkoms platform to keep its citizens informed 24-7 with additional data sources of approved information to protect lives and ease anxiety.
The Belgian municipality of Aalter has upgraded its public services communication technology to help the public sector efficiently communicate with citizens and to keep them safe and informed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more: Crisis communication platform keeps Belgian citizens informed amid Covid-19 outbreak
Following the announcement of a waste-management trial in Melbourne, Genk is to get Scene Analytics to crack down on vehicle noise.
Nokia has announced a trial smart city program designed to combat vehicle-based noise pollution in the Belgian city of Genk — by analyzing audio and video using its machine learning analytics platform.
Brussels residents and visitors will soon be able to share their opinions and recommendations on the city in three of the capital’s districts through the application "Brussels By Us." The Regional State Secretary for Digital Transition Bianca Debaets (CD&V), the Computer Center for the Brussels Region (CIRB) and VUB university’s SMIT research laboratory presented Friday their citizen participation project.
The Northern District, the pedestrian sector and the university U-Square site, on the Ixelles barracks grounds, are the three districts elected for testing. Each site has its own features, public and challenges.
Read more: BE: Citizen participation via smartphone takes off with "Brussels By Us" pilot project