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e& boss urges demand-first smart city approach

LIVE FROM MWL UNWRAPPED: Alberto Araque, CEO of enterprise IoT and AI at e&, argued a human-centric approach to smart cities is the best way to ensure technology fulfills expectations across a city, while enhancing operations and experiences for citizens.

Speaking on the opening day of Mobile World Live‘s second Unwrapped series, Araque said Middle East-focused operator e& is intent on ensuring smart cities are able to fulfill expectations for various stakeholders, as he opened up on numerous use cases it is working on.

“There are different stakeholders in a smart city,” he said. “There are citizens, but there are also visitors, authorities, businesses and associations, and for all of them the smart city has to respond with the right information at the right time.”

Araque explained the operator had found the most popular use cases in a smart city were ones that had a “direct impact and outcome on the user”.

For example, in improving the general living experience, a community portal in a city center for both citizens and visitors provided access about various information points in real time, even allowing for interaction with city authorities.

Second, he highlighted environmental monitoring, allowing for people to track noise levels, water quality of lakes and even identify anything causing disturbances which could then allow city managers to take action.

Araque also pinpointed smart parking, which will improve the driving experience and benefit the environment, in addition to waste management safety measures.

While identifying numerous examples, Araque added the most successful projects were those that combine different use cases.

By doing this, he said e& used AI for the data generated to create a better overview of the needs of a city.

Unwrapped is an online event hosted exclusively on Mobile World Live, where industry experts and top executives will be discussing the subject of Making Money from the Mobile Enterprise. To view the stream and content from the event click here.

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