41 SMART CITIES
LEVERAGING KAUST AS A LIVING LABORATORY FOR SMART CITY EXPERIMENTS KAUST is working on smart cities with leading international companies such as Intel, Cisco Systems and Microsoft With innovations and technical studies ranging from autonomous vehicles to on-campus dining, KAUST Smart has developed a range of partnerships with leading international companies that explore new possibilities and solve intractable problems in everyday urban life. By viewing the university’s campus as a living laboratory, KAUST Smart and its commercial partners are poised to deliver on the promise of these emerging technologies over the course of the coming years. One of the most visible collaborations is a shiny red Audi sedan in which KAUST Smart has installed an autonomous-driving platform with Intel, the semiconductor giant, and Egyptian tech firm Brightskies. With semi-autonomous shuttles already in operation, the roads on campus are more ideal than most for experimentation because they offer an environment to test new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in a controlled manner. The car features Intel’s chips, Brightskies’ software, and insight and expertise from KAUST Smart researchers and faculty.
MOHAMED ABDEL-AAL Director of Digital Experience and Innovation
KAUST PRESENTS A UNIQUE CAMPUS WITH UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES. THROUGH AN EXPERIENCE-FOCUSED DESIGN METHODOLOGY, KAUST SMART IS ABLE TO DELIVER RAPID EXPERIMENTATIONS THAT ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY,
One of the longest-running KAUST Smart partnerships is with Cisco Systems, which has been a vendor to and partner of the university since KAUST was established in 2008. KAUST Smart considers the company’s technologies as key to the establishment of a smart city and connected campus. They help in the monitoring and cognitive analysis of data collected on how the KAUST community lives and works, which facilitates the community engagement that KAUST leaders consider crucial to ensuring that smart city innovations are human-centric. One such example is wayfinding – the process of guiding people through their environment in a way that goes beyond merely providing directions from one point to another, to instead helping them understand the amenities, sites and other highlights along their planned route.
INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT.
Cisco’s technologies also allow for crowdsourcing to influence innovation processes and for people to be involved in design thinking. This problem-solving method begins with understanding the unmet needs of individuals, and then proceeds to the development of concepts and prototypes for experimentation. According to the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, businesses that deploy design thinking see substantial improvements in their performance, highlighting the tool’s potential.
