Telangana to develop national repository of smart technologies

Hyderabad: With the central government set to launch its ambitious 100 smart cities project later this month, Telangana plans to develop a national repository of smart technologies to help all states in the country, an official stated.

The repository will have the best smart technologies being implemented around the world to enable the states to identify those which best suit their requirements, a senior Telangana government official said on Monday.

"We are aspiring to become a national repository. We want to take the lead and promote smart technologies in the country. This will be of use not just to us but to all stakeholders," said Jayesh Ranjan, secretary of information technology, government of Telangana.

The IT department has constituted a 12-member team to evaluate various smart technologies and their costs. Based on their recommendations, the government will identify the best technologies for implementation in five cities.

Hyderabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Khammam are the five cities in Telangana identified under the 100 smart cities programme.

As a first step towards developing a national repository, a national conclave on smart technologies will be held in Hyderabad in the last week of July.

Mayors and municipal commissioners of the 100 smart cities, municipal commissioners of 500 cities identified under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and experts and government officials from across the country will be invited for the conclave which will showcase smart technologies and solutions.

The official made the announcement while addressing a conference on "Smart Solutions for Smart Cities" organised jointly by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Hyderabad chapter and Ficci.

"The smart technologies being implemented in different countries will be showcased. The participants will be explained how they are benefiting people, what is the money spent. We will discuss whether these technologies have relevance, applicability and whether they need any modifications to suit our requirements," he said.

Ranjan said the pace of development of smart technologies was mindboggling, with 3,000 patents being filed every day. While there are some technologies belonging to the niche category, there are many with potential of mass applicability which can improve standard of life.

With India's largest technology incubator, T Hub, set to be launched soon in Hyderabad, the state government will also encourage startups working on technologies for smart cities.

IT minister K. Tarakarama Rao stressed the need for Indian cities to have their own solutions to the local challenges.
"What works in Los Angeles, Barcelona or Dubai will not work here," he said.

The minister said that in a country where basics are an issue, there is a need to integrate smart technologies with the efforts to address basic necessities.

"'Make in India', 'Digital India' and 'Clean India' all have to converge," he said.

The minister cited Telangana government's plan to integrate optic fibre connectivity to every home with the drinking water supply.
It plans to lay optic fibre cables along the 1 lakh-km pipeline to be laid across the state for providing drinking water to every house.

Source:PTI/IANS