Adelaide has taken the next step towards becoming Australia’s first ‘Gig City’.
The South Australian Government has signed up with US Ignite, making Adelaide the first city outside of the United States to become a partner of the smart city initiator and internet application development organisation.
The agreement will help Adelaide achieve its goals of becoming a smart city and carbon neutral as well as the most connected city in the southern hemisphere, according to South Australian science and information economy minister Kyam Maher.
“South Australia will develop and share cutting-edge applications with other US Ignite communities,” Maher said.
“This has the potential to deliver important advances in areas such as healthcare, education, public safety, and other priority areas using advanced internet applications that are not yet available on today’s commercial internet.”
Joining the Smart Gigabit Communities Program will connect South Australian businesses and research organisations with other US Ignite cities, including Chattanooga and Charlotte, both of which have transformed their communities through building ultra-fast broadband applications.
US Ignite fosters the development of next-generation internet applications with transformative public benefits for the education, energy, transportation, health and manufacturing industries.
Earlier this year the South Australian Government pledged AU$4.65 (£2.59m) million to connect Adelaide’s technological workspaces with ultra-fast internet services.
Having ultra-fast internet also enables Adelaide to move closer to achieving its aspirations of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese said data was the currency of the 21st century and gigabit internet speeds would attract more entrepreneurs, start-ups and large corporates.
“We’ve launched a four-year strategic plan to look at a range of measures including reviewing our own fleets, procurement practices, leading by example over the installation of solar PV over more of our buildings,” he said.
“Point one in that strategic plan is to become a smart city. This relationship between data speed, the environment and automation to some degree, is converging.”