The Web Summit (Nov 4-6 RDS, Dublin) is Europe’s largest technology event with over 20,000 people attending last week.
Over 60% of the ‘Fortune 500’ companies were represented, many of who will be deciding where their companies will expand internationally in the coming years. Many exhibitors are active in the ‘Smart Cities’ space, which is an area of great interest to Ireland as part of the greater European energy goals.
‘Cork Smart Gateway’ had a major stand at the Summit, drawing awareness to Cork’s hi-tech ecosystem and the quality of life available in the region. It promotes Cork as:
- A Great Place to Live, Work & Invest
- A strong ICT Cluster with a global reach and focus
- A globally recognised Pharma & Biopharma centre
- Rich in Smart Assets and experience
Led and sponsored by Cork City and Cork County Councils, ‘Cork Smart Gateway’ will engage with stakeholders to develop the next generation Smart Agenda for the Cork Region once the project commences in early 2015. The Project Management Team includes representatives from both Councils, The Nimbus Centre for Embedded Systems Research at Cork Institute of Technology, and Tyndall Institute at University College Cork.
The aims of the Gateway are:
- Promoting Economic Activity, improving the Environment, enhancing Quality of Life
- Building on success in ICT and Pharma
- Designing the systems of the region for the ‘Internet of Things’
- Planning for a System of Systems – interoperable, interconnected, Smart
- Promoting the EU Horizon2020 Lighthouse Project
- Multi-platform Resident engagement
“We are surrounded by embedded systems. If they all ceased to work at once, the world as we know it would stop” – Dr Dirk Pesch, Nimbus Centre, Cork Institute of Technology.
The ‘Smart’ Agenda involves partnership between public bodies, the private sector and research organisations to implement targeted projects. It envisages a comprehensive suite of underlying enabling technologies across the region to stimulate innovation, give access to open data streams, and create seamless interaction between individual systems – a system of systems. Future living will rely on such systems across all domains of life.
