Munich is leading the way in the field of smart cities. In an open call, the state capital is seeking ideas on how Munich's lampposts can become part of the city of the future. The deadline for applications is November 3rd.
The competition is seeking innovative ideas and technologies for sensor-based services that can serve as central elements of the smart city in specially equipped Munich lampposts. Startups, researchers, and companies in the fields of sensor and actuator technology are now welcome to apply.
Questions the innovation competition seeks answers to include: How can light poles collect data from their surroundings effectively and safely, and what kind of data should this data be? What potential uses do the data have for the project district? What additional functions can the poles themselves offer for nearby pedestrians? Possible topics for applications could include sensor-based environmental solutions for weather data, noise levels, and pollen counts. However, completely different ideas and combinations are also possible.
Experimenting on prepared light poles
The submitted applications can be tested on prepared light poles: The Munich Department of Building and Urban Development has expanded the light poles for this purpose, adding operating rooms and an additional power supply. M-WLAN is available as an internet connection for communication between the systems.
The innovation competition is part of the EU project "Smarter Together." The project aims to find answers to future questions of urban development with the help of cutting-edge technology and intelligently used data. This should improve the quality of life and sustainability in Europe's cities in the long term. Central areas of the project are IT technologies, mobility, energy, and citizen participation. In 2015, the EU Commission selected Munich, along with Lyon and Vienna, to develop and test such smart city solutions by 2021. The Munich project area is Neuaubing-Westkreuz/Freiham.
All information and application documents are available here.
