Chaotic traffic, violence, lack of security, pollution, poor access to basic services, poor infrastructure, economic crises, scarcity or rationing of water are the main problems facing the most diverse urban spaces around the world. These are bottlenecks that disrupt people’s quality of life and can hardly be solved by traditional solutions alone. Therefore this depletion added to the growing technological development and opportunities for entrepreneurs. It has been giving force to the concept of intelligent cities that already began to gain followers in several countries.
Opportunities for Entrepreneurs
In essence, this concept aims to improve the quality of life of the population from the optimization of resources and existing infrastructure. For this, information technology emerges as a great ally and an important tool to improve services and make urban spaces more dynamic, functional and above all sustainable.
Within this context, there is huge opportunities for entrepreneurs who are willing to innovate and develop solutions that make cities smarter. This is because one of the premises of the concept is precisely the economic aspect, which is based on improving the business environment, encouraging entrepreneurship and creating new technologies. This is what is being called the intelligent economy.
So, those who want to take on technology must be aware of the trends, study, research, and be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that arise or even create the demands. Governments, large companies and incubators usually create programs, invest and provide the environment necessary for this development.
An example of such technology was created in MedellÃn, Colombia. This is the intelligent urban mobility system. Connected by a system, cameras and traffic lights pass information to a central, which transmits in real time news about traffic. For this, electronic panels, applications and social networks are used.
Another example is the city of San Diego, United States. The solution created there uses smart LED bulbs. The poles, in turn, form a system that sends, also in real time, information about the energy consumption in each point of the city. In addition, the equipment has sensors that measure the intensity of the winds and emit warnings about hurricanes, considering that these phenomena are recurrent in that region.
Finally, there are countless other examples of cities around the world, all with the characteristic we mentioned earlier, which is to improve people’s lives and optimize the use of resources and infrastructure. It is technology in the service of well-being and sustainability.
Technologies needed to create smart cities
There are technologies that allow the creation of smart cities. One of them is the Internet of Things (IoT), which is used by sensors, security cameras, the San Diego poles themselves, vehicles, Medellin traffic lights and a myriad of objects that connect, transmit and receive information.
Parallel to the internet of things is the big date. This technology allows the storage, manipulation and analysis of large volumes of data, which will be transformed into useful information for the population. This is what happens in the case of cameras and traffic lights.
Finally, cloud computing appears as the technology that enables the scalable and secure storage of large volumes of data, which can be accessed from anywhere, anytime through computers and mobile devices. It is a support for the internet of things and for the big data.
Opportunities for Entrepreneurs in data protection
In addition to the opportunities for developing their own technologies, entrepreneurs can also invest in data protection. This is because large volumes of data attract hackers and others interested in taking ownership of this information.
Therefore, there is a need to create solutions that address these challenges with privacy, security and the management of all these extremely sensitive and important data.
