Case Study

Bosch Makes the Cities of the Future Smart

Every 16 months, a city crosses the 10 million inhabitant threshold, making it a megacity according to the UN definition. By 2050, more than six billion people worldwide will live in cities, and these cities will need to provide increasing levels of convenience, energy efficiency, safety and security. The evolution of a city into a smart city can meet the needs of megacities and urban spaces. At the recently held Smart City Expo World Congress 2017, Bosch presented solutions and projects for intelligently connected cities designed to bring greater convenience, safety, security, and efficiency to peoples’ lives, while helping at the same time to save energy and operating costs. Bosch is now pressing ahead with beacon projects in 14 different major cities.

San Leandro: Smart streetlights

In the city of San Leandro, near San Francisco, Bosch has installed smart street lighting. The company equipped some 5,000 streetlights with smart LED lighting and a remote management platform for the system. Thanks to this design, the lights turn on only when they are actually needed, and thus Bosch has helped San Leandro save energy as well as money − up to 7 million euros over the next 15 years. With the help of Bosch sensors, it is also possible to measure and evaluate air quality in the city of around 100,000 people. Smart cameras monitor traffic and can independently divert drivers if there is congestion.

Tianjin: Bosch to make the Chinese city smart

In June 2017, Bosch signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Chinese seaport of Tianjin. China is planning to establish an international metropolitan region around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei delta. With more than 15 million inhabitants, Tianjin is an industrial center and a key traffic hub for this zone. The goal shared by Bosch and the city officials is to jointly carry out the ‘Smart Tianjin’ initiative, which aims to convert Tianjin into a smart city. For this project, Bosch draws on expertise it has gained from other smart-city projects already under way. They include urban projects in Singapore, San Francisco, Stuttgart, Berlin, and the Hamburg docks. With sensors, software, and services, Bosch is well positioned as an innovative IoT company to assist China on its journey into the age of smart cities. Bosch will tailor its solutions to the city’s needs. In order to be closer to the client, the company plans to establish a local project office.

Bosch smart-city solutions

For smart cities, Bosch offers solutions in the areas of mobility, energy, buildings, safety, security, and e-governance – in other words, digital city administration. With regard to mobility, these solutions include environmental monitoring, connected parking, fleet management, e-mobility, and multimodal transport, which is the linking of different modes of transport. When it comes to energy, the range includes virtual power plants, energy-efficient heating, hot-water and air-conditioning systems, as well as energy storage units. The safety and security solutions encompass systems for fire protection, access control, and video surveillance. With smart-hospital solutions, Bosch relieves the burden on both hospital operators and staff when it comes to technical and administrative duties. For residential buildings, Bosch provides smart-home technology and connected household appliances.

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