This project is part of a research programme developed by Limerick City and County Council in collaboration with LERO, the Irish Software Research Centre, to define the structures which can boost integrated digital services, use of data and community engagement leading to a boost in investment and jobs in the region.
Lero is investing €500,000 in a Science Foundation Ireland funded research designed to develop the IT and Enterprise architecture needed to create Smart Cities of the future. Limerick has been selected as a national case study for the project. The challenge is to find the best way of integrating urban services, processes, data and systems; remove duplication and facilitate data flow from sensors and systems with the goal of enabling council employees, management, politicians and the public to make better, evidence-based decisions.
As part of the case study, researchers from Lero at Dublin City University and LCCC developed the foundations for “Insight Limerick” – the portal for information sharing, open data and data visualisation while analytics will be used to gain insights leading to better services.
Research is continuing in other domains including Internet of Things (IoT), sensors and communications for energy efficiency, environmental practices and climate change. It is envisioned that there will be data capture from potentially thousands of sensors and devices from water, soil and air quality, traffic, cycling and pedestrian movement, parking event management and more.
SFI funded Lero Investigator, Dr Markus Helfert, Director of the Business Informatics Group at DCU said that one of the big challenges facing Smart Cities “is to develop an IT and Enterprise Architecture which suits the needs of the entire city and this “needs to take account of a broader range of stakeholders and more complex functional requirements than in an enterprise situation”.
LERO researcher Dr. Markus Helfert, director of the Business Informatics Group at Dublin City University. Beatrice Heneghan, Digital Strategy Programme Manager and Limerick City and County Council Head of Digital Strategy Dr. Mihai Bilauca. Photograph: Denis Tierney
For more information see: smart.limerick.ie
