Seeking innovative smart city solutions for energy, lighting and heat management
Singapore enterprises will have the opportunity to work with industry leaders from Abu Dhabi to adapt and implement smart city solutions in the Middle East.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, houses more than 2.9 million people today, with its population rising at an average of more than 5% annually. One reason the bustling metropolis has been able to support its growing population is the extensive use of smart city technologies in everything from construction to energy and transport.
The city is set to get even smarter through the Abu Dhabi-Singapore Smart Cities Open Innovation Challenge, which is co-organised by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Enterprise Singapore and IPI. The challenge aims to bring together the Abu Dhabi government and leading corporates to collaborate with innovative start-ups and SMEs in Singapore to develop and pilot smart city solutions.
Participants of this challenge can look forward to solving challenge statements from three Abu Dhabi organisations – the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Department of Municipality and Transport (DMT), and Masdar.
Providing clean power to a bustling city
As the urban population and economic and industrial activity continue to grow in Abu Dhabi, so too does the city-wide demand for energy. Currently, utilising fossil fuels as a primary source of energy adds unwanted emissions to an increasingly polluted environment and puts a strain on rapidly depleting resources.
On the hunt for a cleaner power alternative, ADNOC is seeking new energy efficiency solutions for buildings and street lighting in Ruwais City, an industrial hub near Abu Dhabi City. The city hosts the Ruwais Industrial Complex, one of the ten largest industrial zones in the world, as well as the world’s fourth-largest refinery. Looking to meet the demands of an ever-changing energy market, ADNOC hopes to power the buildings in Ruwais City and its industrial plant with cost-efficient clean energy. To ensure sustainability, solutions submitted through this challenge should be able to be implemented in other industrial plants as well.
Hoping to keep ahead of the curve, DMT is also interested in innovative solutions that tap renewable and sustainable energy sources to power public recreational areas such as parks and beaches. To maintain the aesthetic appeal of such facilities, the proposed solution should integrate seamlessly into the existing design of these spaces. Challenge participants should also bear in mind the corrosive nature of sea salt, seasonal fog and seawater when developing the solutions.
Leveraging data for daily life
Aside from green energy technology, another way to make the leap to becoming a smart city is to leverage data and insights to connect and improve infrastructure, efficiency and convenience for residents.
To this end, DMT is looking for smart solutions to transform street lighting infrastructure for public engagement – for example, installing sensors on street lighting to collect data (e.g. weather, traffic and parking) to improve public services for its residents. By enhancing the Internet-of-Things (IoT) capabilities in Abu Dhabi, DMT can leverage insights from the collected data to enhance residents’ quality of living and better manage services like street lighting, traffic flow and public transport.
Similarly, ADNOC is keen to tap into Ruwais City’s existing real-time data collection tools, or possibly implement new tools and sensors, to improve public services and quality of life for residents. ADNOC hopes to improve emergency response and maintenance systems by providing a public digital platform for residents to easily upload images and/or notify the authorities of problems/issues in real time.
Beating the heat
While winter in Abu Dhabi offers its residents and tourists a lot of sunshine and pleasant temperatures, the emirate experiences hot and humid weather during the peak of its summer months in July and August. As such, renewable energy developer Masdar is looking for sustainable solutions to keep residents cool.
Designed to be a ‘greenprint’ for sustainable urban development, Masdar City is a planned city project in Abu Dhabi that has implemented a host of solutions to build a smart city fully powered by renewable energy. Masdar is looking for an innovative, cost-effective and self-contained solution that taps passive and active heat management technologies and designs to enhance comfort in the outdoors.
The solution should offer a comfortable sheltered space, of about 2m by 3m, for outdoor use. It should consider the aesthetics, ergonomics, safety, ease of maintenance and usability of their design that is suitable for the Abu Dhabi climate. For a truly sustainable city, the proposed solutions should also include water conservation methods by establishing a water recycling system.
Taking action towards a smarter future
The Abu Dhabi-Singapore Smart Cities Open Innovation Challenge welcomes solutions from all Singapore enterprises, including research institutes and Institutes of Higher Learning.
To find out more about the challenges and how to apply, you can head over to https://adsjic.innovation-challenge.sg/. Stand to win the opportunity to collaborate with top Abu Dhabi organisations to pilot and bring your smart city solutions to life, and access funding support from Enterprise Singapore. Winning start-ups also have fast-tracked access to Hub71's selection committee to be part of the global tech ecosystem’s incentive programme.
You may view the challenge sponsors’ briefing sessions here, and submit your proposals for specific challenge statements by 29 July 2021, 16:00 (GMT +8).
