Kelowna is getting smarter.
Or at least it’s trying to, with its first-ever Intelligent City Strategy.
On Monday morning (Jan. 20), Kelowna city council reviewed the strategy, which builds upon Kelowna’s designation as a smart city and moves towards being an intelligent city.
While smart cities use technology, data and sensors to improve the way cities work, intelligent cities use technology to create better cities, improving the lives of those who spend time in them, the city explained in a news release.
“As a smart city, we have been able to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and improve departmental outcomes – something we should be very proud of,” said Andreas Boehm, the City of Kelowna’s intelligent cities manager. “That said, the city and community are facing increasingly complex issues that often require creative solutions born out of collaborative problem-solving and community partnerships. This is why we are planning the move from smart to intelligent.”
The Intelligent City Strategy embraces Infrastructure Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge goals of achieving outcomes for residents, empowering local innovation and forging new partnerships by working closely with stakeholders in the city and the community.
The strategy’s vision is to find ways to improve the lives of residents through access to online services, technological innovation and collaborative problem-solving, creating local solutions to local problems.
Following existing strategic direction from council priorities and Imagine Kelowna, as well as consultation with stakeholders, the city developed four principles to guide the strategy:
- Collaborative – the city will look for ways to work with others, both across city departments and in the community, to meet collective challenges
- Innovative – the city believes that embracing risk and being innovative can transform our city
- Connected – the city will work to provide high-quality digital access and services to staff and the community anywhere, anytime
- Responsible – the city will make sure that it only collects the information it needs and will protect the privacy of those it collects from
Some intelligent city initiatives are already underway, including the recently announced CCTV camera registry partnership with the Kelowna RCMP.
For more information about the Intelligent City Strategy, check out the interactive Intelligent City Strategy executive summary or visit kelowna.ca/intelligentcity.
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michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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