DigiEcoCity, Nokia Siemens Networks to create world’s first digital eco-city in Gongqing

Beijing, China - Nokia Siemens Networks provides consulting on building digital infrastructure into city planning

DigiEcoCity Ltd has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to provide consulting services for the planned digital eco-city called DigiEcoCity in Gongqing in the Jiangxi Province of China. The partnership is aimed at developing Gongqing into a model city based on the principles of sustainable development that uses digital technology* to provide a high-quality of life to its residents. DigiEcoCity Ltd is a Nordic firm specializing in planning and building sustainable living and working environments with enhanced digital services.

“The Gongqing DigiEcoCity project is a result of our collaboration with the Gongqing city to develop the best place to live that will serve as the benchmark for future DigiEcoCities,” said Heikki Lassila, vice president of operations at DigiEcoCity Ltd. “The prime difference with other similar projects is incorporation of digital infrastructure design into the early phase of city planning. Nokia Siemens Networks will bring the much-needed knowledge in this area to help us realize our aim faster.”

Nokia Siemens Networks will provide consultancy services on business model and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) architecture design for Gongqing DigiEcoCity with a focus on smart metering, energy management and ICT infrastructure.

“As a result of growing urbanization, half of the population on the planet live in cities and this will rise by a further 1.3 billion by 2025. While it is important to provide a better quality of life for urban citizens, the impact of urbanization on the environment must be minimized,” added Mark Atkinson, head of business development at Nokia Siemens Networks China. “Communications technology can play a pivotal role in realizing these twin goals by helping develop smarter cities.”

When completed, the Gongqing DigiEcoCity will have close to 100,000 residents, with ‘Digi’ and ‘Eco’ thinking integrated in all stages of its design. ‘Digi’ and ‘Eco’ thinking proposes to design a city by keeping several key factors in consideration to ensure minimal environmental impact, including minimal dependence on excessive external energy sources, minimal waste production and minimal pollution.
About DigiEcoCity

DigiEcoCity Ltd is a Nordic company that is devoted to plan and build sustainable living environment enhanced with digital services for citizens. DigiEcoCity Ltd has signed two significant joint venture contracts for the construction of DigiEcoCity model cities in China. The groundbreaking ceremony for the first city took place on the 3rd of May 2010 in Gongqingcheng (Jiangxi Province). Another city will be built in Danyang (Jiangsu Province), with the groundbreaking ceremony taking place in 2011. Both cities have a planned population of approximately 100,000 people.
About Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Talk about Nokia Siemens Networks’ news at http://blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com and find out if your country is exploiting the full potential of connectivity at http://connectivityscorecard.org

Notes to editors:
DigiEcoCity combines three fundamental concepts:

DIGI concepts cover integrated, interactive information systems providing access to community services like health care, e-learning, trade, highly-automated transport, logistics and building systems, and information systems to city management and service production.

ECO concepts cover ecologically sustainable solutions providing energy efficiency at both the building and community level, utilizing renewable energies and waste as a source of energy, and recycled materials. Provision of water security with clean water environment and sufficient supply is also covered under these concepts.

CITY concepts cover localized, proactive urban solutions enabling efficient logistics, new combinations of working and living, and increased functional diversity for making the urban structure resistant against the impacts of changing social and macro-economic conditions.

*Digital technology will change the cities of the 21st century, similar to the way the previous technological innovations had positive impact on sectors like railways, airways and automobiles. Typical characteristics for a 21st century city lifestyle are mobility, mixing of living and working, different forms of telecommuting, e-services that are always available, and use of social media.

Digital services partially replace or at least reduce the size of the physical buildings as in the cases of e-banking and e-healthcare. Mobile technology and telecommuting also reduce the need for physical travel. The carbon footprint of moving electronic data is small compared to moving people or goods between locations. Therefore intelligent design of digital systems has a major role to play in the movement toward a carbon-neutral city.