«Smart City»: at USI researchers, businesses and institutions discuss the intelligent cities of the future

On Tuesday, September 1st, the Faculty of Informatics at USI, telecoms provider Salt and IP500 Alliance, the international consortium of automated systems for buildings, organises on the Lugano campus a full day event to discuss the topic of ‘smart cities’, the set of strategies for transportation and urban planning providing innovative solutions for public services through the widespread use of new communication technologies. Mobility, environment and energy efficiency are, in fact, only a few of the areas where the use of technology - if planned in a systematic way - can have a major impact on the quality of life of citizens. 

The Mayor of Lugano, Marco Borradori, will inaugurate the event at 2 p.m. in the Auditorium. Keynote speeches will be given by Miroslaw Malek, USI professor and director of the ALaRI Institute, Britta Reinhardt-Moser, Chief Business Officer at Salt, and Helmut Adamksi, CEO of IP500 Alliance. The event will showcase a series of different technological applications designed to improve everyday life, even in our region, from the issues of parking to road safety, from farm production to energy efficiency. 

According to Britta Reinhard-Moser, Chief Business Officer at Salt, “Mobility is a significant element of our private and professional lives. We can access information and content anywhere at any time. The next step will be to remotely control and command devices and machines, where and when we want. This would not be possible without personalised, reliable and vanguard mobile services. This is just what Salt can offer to help develop smart cities and the Internet of Things”. 

Miroslaw Malek, director of the ALaRI Institute: “From telephones to automobiles, from home alarm systems to traffic lights, and also hospitals, banks and airports; our cities are full of interconnected sensors, the so-called embedded systems, upon which much of our lives depend on, literally. Since 1999, ALaRI conducts research and trains students in this specific sector, and therefore I am very pleased that thanks to Salt and IP500 Alliance we can make a true contribution and transfer our theory to the urban realities in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland”. 

For Helmut Adamski, CEO of IP500 Alliance, “This conference at USI represents an excellent opportunity for displaying the IP500 platform, which was specifically designed to develop an “ecosystem” shared among researchers, the industry and public institutions, encourage the swift and safe interaction between many wireless devices scattered all around the city and in our everyday lives.” 

For information on the ALaRI Institute at USI and its activities: www.alari.ch

For information on Salt: www.salt.ch

For information on IP500 Alliance: http://ip500.org