India m2m + iot Forum has delivered yet another successful edition on 30 – 31 January 2018, New Delhi, India. The 5th edition of the forum, which hosted India Smart Cities Forum and India Smart Villages Forum, was jointly organized by Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (DMS, IIT Delhi), FI Media (Future Internet and Electronic Media) a project funded by the Delegation of European Union to India and India m2m + iot Forum.
The inaugural session on ‘smart cities journey so far’, witnessed the Honourable Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Mr Hardeep Puri addressing the audience comprising of distinct stakeholders from the ecosystem. ‘Smart Cities Mission is setting a new benchmark in terms of project implementation. This remains one of the fastest ever project implementations at this scale and geographic spread in the urban sector’, shared Mr Hardeep Singh Puri during his inaugural address to the audience.
Dr Sameer Sharma, Additional Secretary during his plenary address re-emphasized the significance of machine-to-machine (m2m) and internet of things (IoT) technologies in smart cities, ‘M2M and IOT holds considerable promise and potential for Smart Cities in India and the World to improve lives of the people through enhancing existing capabilities manifold and opening vistas of development.’
The forum also hosted the most significant ‘India-EU dialogue on ICT for Smart Cities’, moderated by the European Union, focusing on innovations, concrete cooperation experiences, and business partnership opportunities in the space of ICT for Smart Cities. ‘India and the EU share similar challenges and need similar solutions to ensure smart and sustainable urbanisation. The EU is impressed by India’s ambitious urban and digital agenda and committed to implementing the Urbanisation Partnership. The EU can bring together its 28 Member States, all of which have their own key strengths, competencies and technologies. Our Partnership will bring on board the relevant stakeholders to facilitate policy dialogue and provide best practices, business solutions and joint research & innovation, and to look at financing models’, shared H.E. Mr Tomasz Kozlowski, Honourable Ambassador of European Union to India.
The Smart Cities CEO’s + Industry Round Table invited representation from Smart City Projects that have very successfully kicked-off and are delivering from the front, including the Industry Partners and Players who are making the most ambitious project of the Government of India’s Smart Cities vision a success. Companies and organizations including European Union, FIWARE Foundation, Telular Corporation, SEAK Energetics, C-DOT, GAIA Smart Cities, Dolphin RFID, Osiris Smart Connected Systems, Parking Rhino and Smart Cities Lab, demonstrated m2m and iot solutions for smart cities, with case studies that showcased successful implementations of these technologies.
The discussion points and deliberations from the sessions were reported and will be delivered to the decision and policy makers of the Government of India.
The Forum also organized a dedicated ‘India Smart Villages Forum’ on 31 January 2018 that focused on empowering Villages through Technology and Creating Rural Innovation Clusters’.
This specialized session brought together the stakeholders from the eco-system addressing the basics of needs of any village encompassing the vision for a well-connected smart village highlighting key sectors that will contribute towards building scalable and sustainable smart villages in India.
While sharing about the latest works which have been initiated by Ministry of Rural Development, Dr Seema Gaur, Chief Advisory, Ministry of Rural Development shared that, ‘Under BharatNet which is the world’s largest broadband connectivity program, recently a significant milestone has been achieved by connecting over 1 lakh Gram Panchayats which is the basic administrative unit at village level.’
Mr Ajay Singh Yadav, Mukhiya (Village Head), Village Dharnai, District Jehanabad, Bihar shared his works with Green Peace International to bring electricity via Solar Power to his village. It took 1.5 years to completely install the solar plants, which were then used to provide electricity to the whole village.
India m2m + iot Forum 2018 was supported by European Union, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, Digital India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.
The forum delivered a successful 5th edition with the valuable support from 3GPP, All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG), EURAXESS, European Telecom Standards Institute (ETSI), National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), oneM2M and Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI).
Detailed and live videos from the forum proceedings will soon be available at www.m2m2iotforum.com.
India m2m + iot Forum extends it’s invitation to one and all from the machine-to-machine (m2m) and the internet of things (iot) eco-system to join the much awaited 6th edition in 2019, while the forum prepares for a curtain raiser in March 2018.
