Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) has been selected as one of the 16 winners in IBM Smarter Cities Challenge program for 2015 and 2016.
The program helps cities address some of the pressing challenges ranging from jobs creation, transportation, and public safety, to healthcare, revenue, social services, and public works.
As part of this project, a team of six IBM experts is reviewing the emergency management system at Vizag that would help disseminate information to all stakeholders during and after a disaster such as HUDHUD, which was amongst the strongest and most destructive tropical cyclonic storm to ever hit any Indian city.
The implementation will use Watson Analytics Professional Edition to uncover trends in city data. This might include studying travel patterns, public health, or the effects of man-made and weather events. The tool can understand questions posed in natural, non-technical language, and help its users collaborate, predict and plan.
IBM Smarter Cities Challenge program in Vizag was launched in the presence of M Yuvraj, district collector, Vishakhapatnam.
The 16 cities and regions were selected as winners for 2015 -16 from a highly competitive pool of more than 100 cities around the world.
By the end of 2016, IBM aims to make Smarter Cities Challenge grants to more than 130 cities worldwide chosen from more than 600 applicants, with nearly 800 of IBM top experts delivering pro bono services valued at more than USD $66 million.
Each consulting engagement has a commercial value of USD $500,000.
Rajani Baburajan
editor@infotechlead.com
