This week’s Smart City roundup features a new report on the state of smart building adoption, the first smart city course offering, and a new Internet of Everything (IoE) innovation center to open in 2016.

Smart building adoption on the rise despite challenges

A report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan reveals that smart building adoption is on the rise as a result of numerous market drivers such as population strain on aging infrastructures, greater demand and improved affordability of building level sensors, and the evolution towards a connected world.

The report “The Smart Building Systems Market in North America” stated that in 2013, the smart building market boasted revenue of $2.5 billion and that value is expected to rise at a compounded annual rate of 9.4 percent, or as much as $4.39 billion by 2018.

In the report, the firm stated that those who engaged early in smart building adoption will greatly benefit, as more things in the physical world connect to the Internet. But widespread adoption is still hindered by a lack of understanding coming from building owners and managers as to how smart buildings can directly benefit them, as well as the high-cost involved in purchasing building automation systems.

“A concerted educational effort will be vital to effectively communicate the value proposition of smart building solutions and provide prospective customers with the tools to perform a thorough cost-benefit analysis of competing systems,” said Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Consultant Pramod Dibble. “These tools must be developed by an expert third-party organization with demonstrated excellence in economic modelling and exhaustive industry knowledge.”

India will be the first to offer smart city classes

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, has an ambitious plan of building 100 smart cities throughout the country, as it aims to transform its urban areas. CEPT University, one of India’s architecture, planning and design institutes, will start offering a smart city course as an elective for students in  masters degree level in architecture, planning, technology and management.

“In view of recent government announcement of ‘100 Smart Cities’ in the union budget and allocation of Rs 7,600 crore there is a great excitement amongst the states and cities all over the country to take advantage. However, the general understanding of ‘what is a Smart City?’ is not very known, nor there exists any trained manpower or expertise who could guide and handhold such development or at least make a road map,” said faculty for the Smart City court Saswat Bandyopadyay.

The four-month course will start on July 25 and many students were excited about the course.  The course sits 40 students, but over 120 students signed up for the smart city class.  In the long run, CEPT aims to make the course available to a larger audience, particularly to government officials involved in city planning.

Cisco to open IoE innovation center in 2016

Cisco announced that it will be opening an Internet of Everything (IoE) innovation center in Barcelona, Spain by 2016, which will greatly focus on smart city technologies.

Cisco has partnered with the Barcelona City Council to build the 1,720 sqm IoE innovation center in Ca l’Alier, a 19th century heritage building at the core of the 22@Barcelona district, as part of the new Smart City Campus.  The innovation center will provide a platform for research, technological development and new market opportunities related to smart city technologies.

The company plans on inverting $30 million between 2015 to 2020 for the facility’s restoration, innovation lab, IT equipment, as well as acquiring engineering, application development and research talents.

Aside from Barcelona, Cisco will also place IoE innovation centers in Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Germany.

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