State govt to develop Asia's first IoT hub in Bangalore

The Karnataka government is all set to develop Asia’s first Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation  Hub in Bangalore as part of the Smart City initiative, said  Minister for Infrastructure Roshan Baig on Tuesday.

Delivering the inaugural speech at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference on ‘Infrastructure and Technology Opportunities in Smart Cities’, Baig said the IoT Innovation Hub would be developed by Cisco in partnership with the Electronic City Industries Association (Elcia). “It will provide smart parking, CCTV surveillance, streetlighting, water management and community messaging. The first phase of this project will be rolled out in January 2015,” Baig said.

Electronic City project is currently the only brownfield ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing) cluster in the country to receive approval for financial grant from the Centre.

The minister cited the pioneering role of Karnataka in promoting Smart City solutions. A knowledge paper on ‘Infrastructure and Technology Opportunities in Smart Cities’ was released by the minister along with Infrastructure Development Department Principal Secretary Vandita Sharma.

Manipal Education Services Pvt. Ltd Chairman Mohandas Pai said many of India’s growing cities are suffering from years of inadequate investments in basic infrastructure, especially, technology infrastructure.

“These gaps have kept cities from realising their full potential, and in turn, leads to a unsatisfactory economic development, besides constraining the ability of city officials and government to make informed, data-driven decisions. Smart cities should be created with a definite purpose, with goals like reduced congestion, access to health and sanitation,” he said.

“The development of smart cities depends on how comprehensively the industry is able to respond to the needs of city administrators and dwellers,” Pai said. Cisco President and Smart+ Connected Communities and Deputy Chief Globalisation Officer Anil Menon said that business opportunities in smart cities are estimated at $19 trillion worldwide and management of smart cities is a $3-trillion dollar opportunity.

For India, smart cities will be a $35 billion opportunity over the next five years, he said.