MTN Nigeria and Chams Resort will address a national audience on Smart City at the August edition of Ennovators Breakfast Series [EBS], themed ‘Building Tomorrow’s Cities’- an information technology knowledge-sharing forum.
Lynda Nwafor, MTN’s Chief Enterprise Business officer, would address the bespoke gathering on ICT as a critical driver for building smart cities, while Demola Aladekomo founder and CEO, Chams Resort, would speak on overcoming the challenges of building a smart city in a challenged economy.
As the chief initiator of Lagos Smart City development, Akinwumi Ambode, the governor of Lagos State is expected to give the keynote address at the forum, according to Sola Fanawopo, MD/CEO, eMaginations and organiser of the event
Smart City is a growing concept that draws from the success of Dubai’s innovative knowledge-based industry clusters, to empower business growth for companies and knowledge workers all over the world. The Smart City rides on the convergence of technology, economic development and governance.
Recently, Lagos State government and the City of Dubai have struck a historic partnership that would raise the status of Lagos as the first Smart City in Africa. The collaboration is part of the larger vision to make Lagos safer, cleaner, and more prosperous.
Fanawopo said the vision of tomorrow’s smart city holds an enormous amount of promise. “Picture a densely populated city like Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Onitsha, and Abuja, that is safer, more efficient, and environmentally conscious than today’s urban corridors.”
According to him, migrating a city’s energy grid, transportation system, or water supply to more efficient platforms that are interconnected “is an extremely complex undertaking that requires the cooperation of different entities such as telcos, tech companies, federal, state, and local governments.”
He, however, stressed that the wireless network of the future would be more sophisticated than today’s.
“Experts believe that tomorrow’s wireless network framework would have a mix of cellular, Wi-Fi, short-range sensors, M2M communications,” he explained.
The organisers have revealed among other subjects, the August edition of EBS would delve into services that make a smart city, how wireless carriers, tech companies, and cities improve connectivity and automation, how city officials and managers make their cities smarter with technologies deployment and big data, the revolution that will transform how we live, work and think in our cities.
JUMOKE AKIYODE
