“Building an Internet of Things Open Innovation System for Connected Smart Objects”, a.k.a. bIoTope
“Building an Internet of Things Open Innovation System for Connected Smart Objects”, a.k.a. bIoTope, is a European Union project under which the IoT is used to supply citizens with new smart services that rely on interaction between the IoT and data.
bIoTope & Brussels
Under bIoTope, a major parking project has been developed, for which our region will serve as a test zone: Smart Parking for Disabled People.
This project was officially announced yesterday in the course of a press conference with the project’s partners: the Brussels Regional Informatics Center (BRIC), BMW Belux, the municipality of Jette, parking.brussels and the offices of Pascal Smet (mobility) and Bianca Debaets (digitisation and equal opportunities). The European Commission was also represented.
Its purpose is to help persons with reduced mobility to find parking spaces more easily.
A digital and inclusive public space
The new parking app, which can be consulted easily via On Wheels and parking.brussels, locates nearby available parking spaces suitable for persons with reduced mobility in real time. For this purpose, sensors and open data are used.
The test municipalities are Jette, Evere and Oudergem, where there are around one hundred parking spaces. Ultimately, however, the parking app will be implemented throughout the region. During the first phase, the app will be limited to spaces in frequently visited locations such as town halls, cultural centres and libraries.
Brussels is the world’s first location to test this type of application, which puts it at the cutting edge of digital inclusion!
To integrate the principle of this app into a dashboard, the BRIC and parking.brussels worked with BMW and non-profit organisation Communithings. The result: an onboard computer that shows where parking spaces are available for persons with reduced mobility in real time!
In a word, Smart Parking for Disabled People is a perfect example of what the Brussels Region intends to achieve with digitisation: a better quality of life for all!
To be continued!
