Why Smart Cities Turn to Analytics for Managing Water and Electricity

While there is always interest in the exciting innovations in cities – such as intelligent transportation systems – the backbone of any city, operation is comprised of efficient water pipes and reliable electrical wires.

The availability, delivery and consumption of natural resources like energy and water is far more important to cities than a new fleet of buses. Optimising resources is particularly relevant for cities because of their impact on both ‘liveability’ as well as resilience.

One clear path to such optimisation is through the combination of analytics, mobility and predictive maintenance. With such solutions, city leaders can not only improve the delivery of services, but also better engage their citizens in the process.

IBM and Veolia, the world’s leading water services company, have come together to do just that. Announced today during Smart City Expo and World Congress, in Barcelona, IBM will help Veolia create and manage a new set of digital services and solutions to improve system performance for utility clients. In addition, they will create new turnkey, ready-to-use digital solutions for cities currently managing their own services.

Understanding the water-energy nexus is necessary if we want to contribute to solving both issues simultaneously and stop moving problems from one resource dimension to another.

Technology like analytics and mobility are tools available to cities of all shapes and sizes, and the solutions that these tools can yield are replicable and cost effective.

Partnerships between public and private entities, as well as among private companies with shared interests, are crucial if we are going to meet the challenges of global urbanisation. Let’s get to work.