Public safety to see $100 mn investments in smart city projects in 2 years

BENGALURU: Public safety holds the key to a smart city initiative, with 44% of those in a survey expecting their countries to invest more than US$100 million in public safety initiatives over the next two years.

Of those investments, 24 percent are expected to be allocated toward surveillance technology, with 19 percent earmarked for big data analytics, and another 19 percent for mobile and network technology.

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, revealed the results of the public safety survey conducted in May 2015 at the second annual Safe Cities Asia Summit in Singapore.

With recent reports predicting that the Asia Pacific region will see the largest growth in smart city initiatives over the next 10 years, many have focused on the cost saving benefits and efficiencies that technology can deliver. However, the survey revealed that making municipalities safer for people to live and work in is the primary concern of those involved in smart city planning.

Public and community safety ranked as respondents’ top priority, followed by transportation and urban infrastructure, and the advancement of Internet or IT capabilities. Crime investigation, transportation and traffic services, and cyber security were the top three public safety issues that respondents felt their countries had struggled with. A lack of alignment between government agencies was selected as the top factor that was holding back the implementation of public safety projects.

Safe Cities Asia is a leading event for the Asia Pacific region’s national security community. The annual summit focuses on key city planning initiatives that are supported through the provisioning of disruptive technology for government and industry leaders.

Tony Field, Senior Director of Hitachi Data Systems’ Social Innovation Business Unit for Asia Pacific, said, “The survey results highlight that many Asia Pacific countries are looking to implement technology solutions that can have a meaningful, measurable impact on public safety. While a willingness to invest in such solutions is apparent among respondents, the main barrier appears to be a failure to adopt an aligned and integrated approach to safety initiatives, which would allow cities to create a single holistic view of crime in their cities.”