Smart strategy for Townsville’s future
TOWNSVILLE is to become a Smart City with the launch of a policy document to support the use of technology, business development and entrepreneurship.
Mayor Jenny Hill announced the Smart Townsville Community Partnership yesterday which she said would help provide an economic framework for Townsville’s future.
“The Smart City Strategy is part of the Townsville City Deal and we are exploring ways to improve the North Queensland lifestyle and make interactions with the council simpler and easier,” Cr Hill said. “This guideline will attract investment to the city and create jobs for locals in new industries.
“Council worked with industry experts and the community to make sure this framework is focused on real challenges facing residents.
“We want to improve on our North Queensland lifestyle and be a leader in innovation.”
The council has already partnered with James Cook University to be anchor tenants in a North Queensland Regional Data centre being developed by data centre provider iSeek in Garbutt.
A disaster co- ordination centre is being co- located in the centre. The data centre will support the region’s telecommunications and information storage needs, providing critical backup and resilience against loss of systems from natural disasters.
Key objectives in the policy include creating an open, engaged and citizen- centric council, supporting entrepreneurship and providing the infrastructure needed to support innovation. The council is developing online dashboards to help people monitor the council’s performance and provide information such as with road closure reports on the council’s disaster dashboard used during this year’s weather events.
The council has submitted a proposal for a Smart City grant to establish a centre, called Smart Precinct NQ, to support businesses and entrepreneurs to prototype, test and scale innovative business models, while a Future Cities council team will investigate areas where the council can benefit from innovation.
In infrastructure renewal, the council will promote more efficient resource management including introducing smart water meters so businesses and people can monitor and manage water consumption.