Solutions for Society

In Japan, cities like Tokyo, Takamatsu and Hiroshima collaborated with NEC to solve problems related to disaster preparedness and to analyze crowd behavior. The company also collaborated with Tigre, Argentina, automatically analyzing AI-generated images to reduce auto theft by 80 percent. In Santander, Spain, cross-domain data was utilized to streamline the collection routes of garbage trucks.

NEC, a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, has collaborated with city governments globally to help work towards targets set out by the UN Sustainable Development Goal No 11, which aims to 'make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.'

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In collaboration with NEC, the Portuguese capital is preparing for a smart future. NEC's applies their expertise in three ways. Firstly, through physical security solutions to improve the safety of the city - proficiency honed via NEC's in-house research around biometrics and video analysis capabilities.

NEC can also integrate with specific verticals, applying their technology to public transport, smart parking and waste management systems. While those are useful, the real value lies in building and operationalizing data platforms in partnership with city governments.

Mr Shinya Kukita, NEC's Chief Engineer, said while they can provide infrastructure through digital systems, the greatest value smart cities provide is data. The data are collected and prepared by the city, and that could be very good resource for the city. NEC can build and operate the data utilization platforms jointly with the city.

In these cases, an essential ingredient for success, Mr Kukita notes, since the utilization of various data across the boundaries of organizations and business is important for the implementation of smart city, strong national government leadership and a solid organization overseeing the adoption of technologies is critical for success. This ensures investment and knowledge is shared across agencies and efficiencies are maximized.