First smart Brussels summit draws over a thousand attendees

More than a thousand people attended the first edition of the Brussels Smart City Event, which was organised at Tour & Taxis site on Tuesday.

The summit was held by Bianca Debaets, secretary of state for digitalization in the Brussels-Capital Region. Thirty start-ups showed how they can contribute with innovative technologies, including mobility apps that improve traffic flow and a smart bicycle bell that functions as a GPS tracker.

A smart city is an urban development vision that integrates multiple information and communication technologies in a secure fashion to manage city assets, including transportation networks, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement and other services.

Debaets aims to transform the Brussels Smart City concept into an attractive brand. “It can definitely help us to re-evaluate the image of our capital,” she said. “Particularly because the recent terror attacks have done quite the opposite.”

At the event, Debaets announced the first Brussels Smart City Ambassador. Pieter Ballon is a professor at the Free University of Brussels and an authority in the field of smart urban development. He is also director of iMinds Living Labs, an experimental garden for digital innovation.

“I want to use my experience and my international network to transform Brussels into a smart city,” said Ballon. “A smart city where intelligent use of new technologies will yield better life quality for the people of Brussels.”

Photo courtesy Smart City Brussels