Livable Smart Cities powered by Deutsche Telekom

Description

Deutsche Telekom challenges the technical community to suggest digital services that make smart cities more livable for everyone.

The digital revolution has the power to make a large city feel like a small village.  Vast amounts of information on virtually any topic are now accessible, at any time, through our personal devices.  Sensors and smart city infrastructure provide information about the local municipality, easy access to public transportation, intuitive navigation aids, and user-friendly avenues for civic participation.   All of this promotes the common welfare and contributes to the robust social fabric that small villages experience.  But not everyone has equal access to this digital revolution.

Examples include those:

• Who are newcomers to an area (unfamiliar with local terrain or not fluent in local language)
• Who have small children (navigating public transportation, learning about available services)
• Who struggle with digital literacy (elderly, learning disabled)
• Who are blind, deaf, or physically handicapped
• Who are elderly -  as the population ages, more and more people will experience reduced mobility, diminished hearing, and loss of visual acuity.

Possible services that could be addressed are as varied as:

• Navigation services

That guide a user to his/her destination in the best way, taking into account current conditions, user handicaps, and public transportation options.
That identifies nearest available parking spaces, both commercial and municipal

• Accessibility to municipal information and services

By identifying and aggregating the correct sources of information
By providing instant translations into other languages or other formats (read aloud, infographic, etc.)

• Services that enable people to live independently

By creating an AI-like interface to more intuitively connect people to digital services
By linking home sensors to municipal services for emergencies, utility disruptions, etc.

Proposed solutions should have supporting evidence and/or a strong rationale for their validity.  Approaches that can be demonstrated are of particular interest, but ideas are welcomed.  A prize purse of $25,000USD will be shared among the top respondents.  Winners will travel to Germany to present their solutions at Deutsche Telekom’s annual Innovation Day forum in September 2018. 
This exciting opportunity will introduce the winners to the broader technical community within Deutsche Telekom.  Additionally, winners may be invited to develop their solutions with Deutsche Telekom’s engineering team.