This week’s Smart City roundup features a new partnership for smart city initiatives, a $3.3 billion investment for smart infrastructure, and how one search giant is rethinking office spaces.

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IBM to aid Vodafone Spain in its smart city plan

Vodafone Spain announced its Vodafone Connected City initiative, which is in partnership with IBM. This initiative aims to provide intelligent services that will ensure effective management of city resources as well as to address the city’s most pressing problems. It will also aid in the development of  solutions for both public administration and private sector companies.

IBM’s role in this partnership will be to provide hardware, software and services to improve the efficiency of Spanish cities and address issues such as mobility, building design, security and emergency management, energy, water, education, tourism, commerce, and healthcare.

Vodafone will be investing €243 million over the next two years on telecommunications infrastructure to foster development and growth for the region in Seville, the capital city of the province of Andalucía, Spain, where a control and development center will be created.

“This collaboration is aimed at improving competitiveness and progress throughout Spain’s cities.  The new center will help municipalities provide citizens better public services in important areas ranging from sustainability to education and healthcare,” said Antonio Fernández, regional Andalusia director, Vodafone Spain. “Furthermore, this project will help turn Andalucía into an innovation center as well as create new employment opportunities linked to data analytics.”

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A $3.3B investment in smart grid infrastructure

Central America and the Caribbean are dealing with high energy costs, so the region’s developed a plan to invest $3.3 billion in smart grid infrastructure to lower electricity costs. The plan includes the use of more renewable energy.

“The Central America and Caribbean region is endowed with a wealth of untapped renewable energy resources. Smart grid infrastructure investment is critical to incorporating solar, wind and other renewables into the existing grid,” said Ben Gardner, President of Northeast Group.

“Additionally, the region’s transmission and distribution losses average nearly 20 percent, largely due to rampant electricity theft,” Gardner went on to say. “This is among the worst rates in the world, behind only Africa and South Asia. Incorporating more renewable generation capacity and reducing losses can help bring down the region’s high electricity prices.”

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Google rethinks office spaces

As one of the most innovative and resource-rich corporations on the planet, Google is focusing on blurring the lines between nature and its office buildings by creating “lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily” allowing the company to change and expand as it invests in new product ideas.

The movable buildings will feature large translucent canopies that controls the climate inside while letting light and air in. This approach will also help Google reinforce its efforts in using renewable energy sources with its recent agreement to purchase local wind energy to power its North Bayshore campus in Mountain View.

Bjarke Ingels at BIG and Thomas Heatherwick at Heatherwick Studio will be leading Google’s Mountain View renovations.

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc