NICTA has announced it will be a founding research partner for d_city, a new cross-disciplinary networked community committed to using breakthrough research, including advanced ICT research, in urban design, development and management.

d_city aims to unite relevant research groups around the world in the common goal of using data technologies to build better, more ecologically healthy cities. NICTA is contributing a one-off cash investment and office space in its Australian Technology Park laboratory to support the Australian d_city community.

NICTA Chief Executive Officer Dr David Skellern believes the d_city movement has the potential to inspire imaginative Australian ICT research of global significance. “With an extra 2.5 billion people expected to live in the world’s cities by 2050, the development of smarter modelling, decision support, and control systems for urban planning and management is essential,” he said.

d_city co-founder Davina Jackson welcomed NICTA’s support. “I am delighted by this vote of confidence in the development of intelligent urban decision-making tools,” she said, “NICTA’s involvement in this project should encourage architects, scientists and engineers to move urban design from paper and PDFs into advanced information modelling platforms.”

According to Ms Jackson, reducing energy and material waste are two of the benefits that are expected to flow from the network. “This relates to construction, transport, the layout of cities and also energy-positive buildings, so d_city is addressing the fundamental problems contributing to climate change rather than just coping with them,” she said.

Document(s): NICTA plants digital seed for future cities
Contact: Dorothy Kennedy
Phone: +61 2 9376 2098
Email: dorothy.kennedy@nicta.com.au

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