From left: Therese Langan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council; Marguerite Bourke, Enterprise Ireland; and Nicola Graham, Dublin City Council. Image: Gareth Chaney Collins
Five projects seek to solve challenges and improve city life in Dublin.
Smart Dublin has revealed that €900,000 in funding, spanning five critical projects, is available for entrepreneurs and organisations, including tech firms and universities.
Dublin’s four local authorities have created the Smart Dublin initiative to use technology to improve city living as part of the Dublin Action Plan for Jobs.
Organisations who can deploy technology in areas ranging from the internet of things (IoT) to bathing water quality, and foster better inclusion, are being sought to apply for the five Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) competitions.
The call will be open for applications from 26 April, and you can apply here.
The funding has been increased from €600,000 in 2017 to €900,00 in 2018 after the successful implementation of the strategy last year.
SBIR Ireland’s aim is to drive innovation across all sections of the Irish public sector via robust engagement with technology-rich companies and organisations, through competitive challenges.
“This is an excellent opportunity for small and emerging companies to get involved in demand-led projects through the development of innovative solutions and technologies to address future challenges that impact on the quality of people’s lives,” explained Therese Langan, transformation project manager at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
Smart city challenges for Dublin
The challenges will seek smart, low-cost solutions for the following:
- Bathing water quality: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Waterford City and County Council want to collate and communicate the quality of bathing water using all sources of information for the use of all stakeholders.
- Smart mobility hubs: Dublin City Council is looking to test shared mobility options for staff through integrations of e-cars, e-bikes and push bikes through the piloting of a smart mobility hub service solution.
- IoT: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council seeks to facilitate connections over DLAI/TALQ to an IoT radio frequency mesh network in order to allow connectivity and communications over the entire network infrastructure.
- Last-mile delivery: Dublin City Council is looking to optimise freight and cargo deliveries in urban centres in order to reduce the number of goods vehicles and improve air quality and noise pollution.
- Unheard voices: Fingal County Council and Cork City Council want to encourage engagement of the unheard voices in decision-making about the future.
