CGI has signed a five-year contract to support the City of Edinburgh Council’s plan to become a ‘smart city’.
The agreement includes deployment of the SensorInsights360 solution, a real-time data platform that delivers the Internet of Things technology, asset data collection and management.
It will be implemented through a Smart City Operations Centre, aiming to deliver more proactive estate management, creating better services for citizens, enabling safer social housing with increased sustainability and regulatory compliance, along with improving waste management through the utilisation of smart bins, sustainable recycling and route optimisation.
Procurement of this city management asset is supported via a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant as part of the ‘Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’ programme.
The council is delivering three projects budgeted at £6.4m, of which £2.5m is part of the ERDF grant.
CGI has already started the smart city work by implementing Edinburgh Learns for Life, deploying 39,000 iPads to 35,000 pupils and 4,000 teachers in more than 120 schools through a phased rollout of digital devices to every school pupil from P6 to S6 beginning this month, with additional iPads issued to P1 to P5 year groups.
The council’s Leader Adam McVey said: “Through our partnership with CGI, we’ve already been able to bring real innovation to the council.
“We’ve used that expertise to develop and drive improvements for our communities and more effectively use public funds by delivering more high-tech and strategic services proactively across Edinburgh.”
Tara McGeehan, UK and Australia president at CGI, said: “Edinburgh is a vibrant and diverse capital city that is home to more than 518,000 citizens and CGI has been the primary provider of transformational ICT services to the City of Edinburgh Council since 2015.
“CGI has a global track record of smart city success in cities such as Montreal and Helsinki, where efficient use of modern technology has made the relationship between citizens and their cities simpler and more transparent.
“We very much look forward to taking Edinburgh’s vision of a smart city and making it real through our innovative use of technology, analytics and data.”
Separately, CGI has announced plans to create more than 700 new jobs across the UK over the next 12 months – with around 200 of these being in Scotland.
Source: Insider