What is a Smart Community?
A smart community is one that uses information technology, innovation and data to be more efficient, solve problems, and create new opportunities for people, businesses, and organisations. A smart community enables improved service delivery, economic development, and liveability with a reduced environmental footprint.
The Australian Smart Communities Association works with local governments, industry organisations, researchers, and individuals to build the knowledge, skills, capacity, policy, and confidence that drives smart communities. By leveraging a community’s existing skills and capacity, new policy and emerging technology can accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship, progress environmental goals, encourage organisational leadership and support interaction with the global economy.
Why are smart communities important?
With global rapid change impacting cities and communities across the world, there is a need for leaders to increase their agility and responsiveness to meet and exceed the growing needs of communities. Leaders need to be equipped with the right tools to make smart decisions, ensuring the best outcomes for society, the economy and the environment.
What are the key elements of a smart community?
The list of services enjoyed by smart communities is long and extensive and is unique to each community. However, these smart services are based on key elements:
Smart DATA
By appropriately collecting, storing, and analysing data about our city, town or region, we can support informed advocacy and decision-making.
Smart Capability
By raising the level of digital literacy and skills of the people in the community, we see reduced social exclusion, boosted creativity and increased knowledge sharing and experimentation.
Smart Innovation
The digital economy is driven by new digital applications, services, and community enterprise, leading to job creation and economic growth.
Smart Infrastructure
A backbone of digital technology that connects, monitors, analyses, and reports on high-value aspects of our city, town, or region. This could elements such as Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN, or sensors.
Policy & Reform
Digital technology is transforming the way we interact, communicate, make decisions and deliver services. Proactively modernising policies and regulations will help realise the benefits and mitigate the risks of digital technology
What are the benefits of a smart community?
Efficiencies and enhanced service delivery
Implementing data-led solutions increase operational and asset efficiencies as well as provides more customer feedback loops to make better decisions for the delivery of services in the community.
Increased citizen empowerment
Creating more active and passive pathways for community participation builds community ownership of local issues and enables more empowered citizens to come up with solutions that meet their needs.
Stronger local economies
Investing in innovation ecosystems, digital infrastructure and seamless connectivity provide a range of local economic benefits, including new business growth, increased economic output and more engaged workforces.
Sustainability
Improving efficiency within a community not only allows for economic growth and improved social benefits but a more environmentally sustainable community with improved use of resources and decreased emissions.