Skip to main content

Santiago to award smart city projects in July

The metropolitan region government of Chile, which includes capital Santiago, expects to award tenders worth a total of US$1.6 million in July for five smart city projects. The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati. The strategy also includes private funding and r
April 13, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The metropolitan region government of Chile, which includes capital Santiago, expects to award tenders worth a total of US$1.6 million in July for five smart city projects.

The government's fund for innovation in competitiveness is part of its smart city financing strategy and is aimed at generating proposals from universities, which have until the end of April to submit them, according to Metropolitan Region smart city plan coordinator Enzo Abbagliati.

The strategy also includes private funding and resources from other public entities. In the private sector, Spanish firms 509 Indra and 6883 Telefónica have already financed the installation of sensors in some parts of Santiago, which provide information for website that gives users real time information on how long their journey will take or how fast traffic is moving.

Abbagliati's team gave the universities a rough outline for each project, one being the idea of smart mobility. "We'll place sensors in a part of Santiago and that will generate open data that anyone can access and use to develop an app," he said.

Each project will be designed to span 18 months and they are expected to go live in December 2016.

The government is hoping that smart city projects like these will pay for themselves in terms of savings and therefore fully expects to continue investing. "We hope to put up a similar figure next year and run the contest annually," Abbagliati said.

Related Content

  • July 17, 2012
    US economic stimulus package highlights ITS technology
    US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in
  • June 6, 2014
    Glasgow’s new Operations Centre has a key role in city’s future
    David Crawford investigates a control centre with a future. Destined to play a central role in keeping the city and its transport running smoothly during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in July, the new Glasgow Operations Centre in Scotland’s largest urban centre formally went live earlier this year. The aim was to dry run its far-reaching integration of previously distinct core systems and familiarise the public with the initial phase of what will be a long-term post-event legacy. The centre brings together, i
  • February 1, 2012
    Include ITS in policy decisions from the start, not as an afterthought
    DG TREN's Fotis Karamitsos, on why the European Commission's new ITS Action Plan is looking to the past for future direction. The European Commission's (EC's) new Action Plan for the Deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe, which was announced as 2008 drew to a close, intends that transport and travel become 'cleaner; more efficient, including energy efficient; and safer and more secure'. At first sight, that wording might be interpreted as marking a significant policy shift within Europe, wit
  • January 25, 2013
    Glasgow wins future cities grant
    The city of Glasgow has won a Future Cities Demonstrator grant from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), a body set up by the UK government in 2007 to stimulate technology-enabled innovation. The grant, worth US$37.8 million, is intended to make Glasgow one of the UK's first smart cities; the money will be used on projects to demonstrate how a city of the future might work. Plans include better services for citizens, with real-time information about traffic and apps to check that buses and trains are on tim