Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you.
Today I'm here before the committee to talk about the municipal perspective on smart cities and hopefully provide some information that might help form a program for Canada and to advance Canada's reputation as a leader in smart city technology.
I have a short presentation to go through today to demonstrate some things that can be done and where I think we should go as cities across Canada.
One of the things driving the smart city idea is expectations. The public expects connectivity everywhere. At Celebration Square in Mississauga, we have 23,000 users every month using free public Wi-Fi. It's an expected service.
The workforce expects connectivity. When you go to an airport or a coffee shop, no matter where you go, you see that connectivity is an expectation.
A modern city relies on connectivity. Our services are all connected. Whether it's an advanced traffic management centre or a transit control room, everything is connected. We need that kind of technology both to enhance customer service and to be more efficient in how we provide services.
Smart cities need to plan. This picture from the Ontario Summer Games shows the volleyball courts that were built, and one of the mandatory requirements was Wi-Fi for reporting on the games in real time.
One of the challenges is that the consumer is setting the pace of technology and change, and it is a challenge for cities to adapt and to meet that expectation when delivering city services.
The other challenge is that everything is connected. As we're seeing when we buy things such as buses or fire trucks, any service that is now being implemented is connected, and we have to be prepared to connect those devices and to take advantage and use that connectivity to evolve a city in the way it provides efficient services.
What we're seeing around the globe is countries stepping forward and figuring out how to be competitive globally by leveraging smart city technology. We're also seeing industry redefining itself. I've been working with ITAC as well, and the tech sector has gone to saying that IoT—the Internet of things—and the smart city concept are really defining the technology sector.
I think some of the biggest opportunities in smart city technology lie in innovation and partnerships. Collaboration is how we will advance smart cities, working with post-secondary education, the tech sector, and other public agencies collaboratively on defining the smart city and new services.
As an example, in Mississauga we have a private fibre network throughout the city and throughout the Region of Peel with over 45,000 strand-kilometres of fibre, but it doesn't just connect one agency: we've partnered and we've worked together. The agencies that now share that private fibre network to deliver our services. Collaboration makes things cost-effective and allows speed, and really is foundational to having a smart city.
One of the challenges around implementing smart city technology is that you have to improve service. Connecting does not necessarily achieve what the goal should be. As you connect, whether it's your advanced traffic management system or bus rapid transit or light rail transit, you have to look at where connectivity and integration across agencies can improve service.
What does it look like on the street? It's pylon signs, cameras, and cabinets. An example is this pylon sign that we had during the ice storm. Another example is that we had quarantine areas for the Asian longhorned beetle. We were able to disseminate that message quickly through connected signs.
The message is to invest for the future. The network and the connectivity needs to be driven out to where the service is consumed. These are just examples of the new way of building smart cities. You need to show the linkage and show how it improves service, whether it's LED lighting and smart lighting or whether it's taking information in real time back to a traffic management centre, managing incidents in real time, modifying services, improving the flow of traffic, and then coordinating it.
I think one of the biggest challenges is that when you build your infrastructure, whether it's fibre or other, you plan and work with other agencies and share the cost and move much more quickly.
At the end of the day, a broad set of services and multiple agencies can share the infrastructure and all benefit together. The challenge with smart cities is to find your partners, find the benefit, and work together, and then you can work much more efficiently. Everything is connected—the snowplow, the fire truck, the bus, the light rail transit, the worker, and our consumers.
In summary, I think that modern city planning must really integrate the smart city. In building cities, technology has become a major factor, so encourage and reward partnerships, and look at innovation and proof of concepts. Proof of concepts reduces risk. By trying something at a smaller scale, you can learn, retune, and then move on to solve real-life problems that people care about and improve city services.
I think another opportunity is to get a baseline measure of smart cities across Canada. Let's ask the cities across Canada about the types of things they are doing today so we can use that information as a baseline, tell our story, and then tell Canada's story.
Thank you.