The city of Salerno has entered into a strategic initiative with IBM (NYSE: IBM) with the aim of creating a Smart City. Salerno is the third Italian city to create an Innovation Board with IBM to identify and design a new model for a sustainable city through a range of digital solutions. Last month, IBM and the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia announced similar initiatives.


Salerno is a modern city in southern Italy. The city's management is planning citizen-focused innovations to provide new "intelligence" for existing infrastructure to optimize resources, improve services to citizens and businesses and make the city smarter and more efficient.


Salerno's strategy matches IBM's vision of a Smarter Planet, infusing intelligence into the world's systems, processes and infrastructure and providing a better quality of life for people living and working in a Smarter City. This means a systemic and open approach, with new intelligence through innovative IBM solutions designed with and for Salerno.


Salerno's Town Council is focusing on facilitating accessibility to the town and supporting senior citizens through the development of four key initiatives:


The first project aims to overcome architectural barriers to create a special route for the blind from a dedicated parking area to the Verdi Theatre. Smart sensors will be placed in the planking and will interact with smart canes, providing information and prompts on mobile phones, enabling the visually impaired to navigate around potential obstacles.


Two-dimensional tags will be used to exploit the cultural and artistic heritage and better serve citizens. A smart tourist route will be created within the famous citizen park in the old town of Salerno, providing visitors with information through their mobile phones as they explore the area.


The third solution, named "I am well", will provide distance health monitoring of the elderly, through a simple electronic device which will advise them on the right time to take medication, monitor their blood pressure, and provide doctors and family members with an online updated status report.


The fourth solution will be an urban traffic monitoring and control system, using technological components already available in traffic lights, limited access streets, and surveillance cameras. The aim of the project is to manage and share information regarding traffic flow, the availability of parking spaces and parking tariffs in the city centre.


"Salerno is proud to be at the forefront of an intelligent project of this kind," said Vincenzo De Luca, Mayor of Salerno. "This demonstrates Salerno's excellence in serving the community and our vision for the future. I'm confident this cooperation with IBM will hasten the application of technology to improve our lives, thanks to a positive collaboration between Public Administration and private companies."


Elsewhere, IBM is working with many other authorities on smarter systems. The cities of Singapore, Brisbane and Stockholm are all working to reduce both congestion and pollution through intelligent transport solutions. These solutions and many more are making a real impact today, the first step towards creating a true smart city.


"It is vital for the future that we transform our cities into accessible, dynamic, thriving communities," said Luciano Martucci, General Manager, IBM Italy. "In cities like Salerno, technology can make the local systems and infrastructure smarter and create benefits directly related toward improving the quality of life for all its citizens, in a cost-effective way".


For more information, please visit: www.ibm.com/think


Contacts:

Alessandro Ferrari
IBM Media Relations (Italy)
348-455-4535
alessandro_ferrari@it.ibm.com

Vineeta Durani
IBM Media Relations (Worldwide)
917-472-3694
vineeta.durani@us.ibm.com