25/01/24

The city of Dubai as a source of inspiration for smart cities throughout the world

Author MIC Team

The peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates introduced Israelis not only to a new tourist and cultural destination but also to one of the world’s leading cities in technology and innovation, the city of Dubai.

The ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Ra’id, launched the initiative back in 2014 when he created an ambitious vision that would turn a city of four million inhabitants – and over twenty million visitors each year – into the smartest city in the world. The Sheikh noticed a link between the measurement of happiness and comfort of residents and visitors, to the development and use of innovative technologies from around the world, to improve and upgrade the quality of life in the city of Dubai.

The main areas of investment and development of smart city technology in Dubai include:

Solar Energy
Although Dubai is an integral part of the UAE, and the second-largest emirate, in control of vast oil resources, in order to conserve their precious resource and maintain economic resilience, Dubai is investing heavily in solar energy fields – transforming solar rays into electricity, since it is a hot and sunny region. Dubai aims to reach a situation where no less than a quarter of the country’s energy is derived from solar energy, in a relatively short period of time: by 2030.
So far they are already able to provide all local public lighting on city roads through the use of solar energy.
As well as financial savings and economic efficiency, the use of solar energy to replace industrialized energy reduces air pollution and helps create a green city.

Safety and security
The city of Dubai is comprehensively networked with smart cameras, which are programmed to detect unusual incidents, traffic offenses, incidents of violence, vandalism, and similar incidents. The cameras broadcast directly to dozens of control centers and include smart mechanisms for real-time alerts about events that require police and/or municipal intervention. Thanks to the comprehensive network of cameras, the crime rate in the city is particularly low, and they also help with maintaining public order and traffic laws. Very few police officers and inspectors can be seen on the streets because of the efficiency of the smart technologies, and so police are only in places where their physical presence is required.

Transportation
The road and transportation system in Dubai is one of the most advanced in the world, with close to a thousand electric taxis from Tesla already in use, for which there are many convenient charging stations throughout the city. Increasing the scope of taxis has been made possible thanks to benefits and tax exemptions along with direct encouragement from the local authority, all with the aim of creating a smart and green city and reducing air pollution.
In addition to these, the city has an electric metro system, which passes through an open urban route as well as an underground route, significantly reducing the amount of congestion and traffic jams in the city.
Dubai also has a monorail train – a single-track, electric, self-propelled train without a driver. This train runs on a structured and dedicated fifty-kilometer track route across the coastline and into the artificial islands.
These solutions together with other systems enable a city without traffic jams, with reduced air pollution, and with a convenient and efficient transportation system for residents and visitors.

Education
As an economic power and a technological leader, Dubai and the UAE as a whole have elevated education markedly, making the best use of technology and curriculums, and making decisions from an international perspective designed to provide quality education at high international standards, from age 5 through to university. In Dubai, English is considered to be the second language and is taught throughout the education system. The city is home to many different types of schools as well as eleven leading universities, offering academic programs to residents and foreign students.
The education system boasts research laboratories, international programs for the development and training of teachers and staff, hybrid learning, computerized systems for mapping difficulties and challenges, and for developing personal assistance programs.

Trade and Economy
Dubai has spectacular tourist attractions in the field of commerce, including huge malls, floating shopping centers, leisure and entertainment complexes, culinary centers, and more. The rapid development of construction in the city, along with the use of advanced technologies to improve service and manage loads, inventory, and events for the benefit of visitors, has resulted in business complexes that present promising models of economic viability, and are an integral part of the affluent city.
Many cities around the world are showing interest in possibilities for developing a smart city, creating a framework for economic savings and streamlining services, and producing solutions to known urban problems such as infrastructure, waste management, construction, transportation, and traffic jams.

MIC – The Municipal Innovation Center, partners with local authorities and companies in Israel, introducing them to a whole new world of advanced technologies in a variety of fields, to help create smart cities in order to improve residents’ satisfaction, build a renewed urban tourism industry and provide a variety of advanced solutions to local challenges and needs.

All Articles

20/09/23

Desert Wisdom

Author MIC Team

It’s no secret that Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev, is also becoming the capital of cyber and high-tech. Now it is also becoming one of the smartest cities in Israel, which is another reason to be very proud of it!

Once upon a time, when you heard the name “Be’er Sheva”, you would probably think of camels, and the predominant color was yellow – the color of the desert. But today Be’er Sheva has much more to offer. After all, it is the cyber capital of Israel. As such, it is not at all surprising that it is ranked fourth in the index of smart cities by Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).

Social Change

In Be’er Sheva, they are going all out and intend to harness technology for the benefit of social change in the city. The ultimate goal is to improve the city’s welfare services. The Be’er Sheva office of innovation hopes that through technology, they will be able to improve resident services and lead to eligible populations being able to access their rights. At the same time, they hope to improve coordination between the various welfare service providers, which will lead to a significant change, and a considerable improvement of services for those that need and are entitled to assistance.

The Resident in the Center

The Be’er Sheva Municipality has begun an open-data project and an information-based decision-making project. What does all this jargon mean? In short, it means two things: transparency and participation of residents in the decision-making process. Local authorities often make the mistake of thinking of their residents as customers, when in fact the more correct thinking is to see the resident as a partner. The goal is to motivate residents to take action on issues such as recycling, cleanliness and city security, education and more.

Security! Security! Security!

The city has implemented a “strong” system, which assists the municipality in managing emergency situations, personnel and more. These are smart control and monitoring systems that include remote control of alarm systems, traffic light management throughout the city, communication networks and other smart systems handled remotely via the municipal control center. In addition, hundreds of security cameras will be installed in the city that will provide information on everything that is happening in the city and will also be managed by the municipal control center. simultaneously, various real-time video analytics systems will operate that track and process important data to improve the city’s security for the benefit of the residents. The project will enable the Municipality of Beer Sheva to optimally manage and evaluate activity on an ongoing basis. This highlights the importance of using technology as a tool for improving the quality of life of residents.
There is no doubt that Be’er Sheva is embracing innovation and caring for its residents by making incredible use of smart digital solutions. All that remains for us to say to the Be’er Sheva municipality is: “keep dreaming of making the Negev bloom, even in the technological-sense. The 21st century is proud of you!”

All Articles

09/08/23

Back to the Drawing Board

Author MIC Team

Humanity as we know it has completely changed. That sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? That’s because the situation is dramatic. Very dramatic. But we don’t just mean the last few years, but all the many, different and varied revolutions that have happened throughout history and changed the world completely. Most recent of those drastic changes is the Internet revolution, followed closely by the digital revolution. So what is this digital transformation that everyone’s talking about? If you also feel that you are being spoken to in Double-Dutch, you will find all the answers in this article.

Let’s start from the end: Digital transformation is the application of new technological changes to solve problems and create business opportunities and achieve a competitive edge. Sounds complicated and scary? It really doesn’t have to be. Ultimately, the aim of technological solutions that surround us is to produce efficiency and creative solutions to existing problems that expand on the traditional methods used by different organizations.

By 2020 many organizations had compromised on the way they worked over the previous decade, simply to be able to remain within their comfort zone. This does not necessarily translate to the best customer service, but in most cases, clients agreed to accept the level of service offered to them, even if they sometimes wondered to themselves: “What year are we in?”

Then came the Corona and forced all those who had remained in their comfort zone to expand their horizons and take steps towards the future, (or rather: towards the present!) and incorporate new technologies into their organizations, whether within the organization itself or when working with customers, to enable their business to continue to exist during lockdown.

But make no mistake, even with all this technology, this is not yet a digital transformation. Why? Because in the end, what actually happened was that many organizations “put a band-aid” on the wound until the rage passed. This does not necessarily mean that they really adopted the change or that they embraced a new organizational strategy.

True digital transformation requires management to devote time to formulating a new organizational strategy to suit this digital age. A band-aid is not enough; what is needed is complex internal surgery! This “surgery” will include an analysis of market trends, exploration of digital technologies and their potential, including any new opportunities or risks involved, and so on.

Did you think that was it? We’ve only just begun! In addition to this analysis, in order for your organization to undergo the best possible digital transformation, you will need to dig and explore almost every area related to your organization. From designing the customer experience and researching the consumer journey, through to establishing a smart, efficient and digital process infrastructure, examining the current organizational model and promoting the application of innovative organizational models, implementing data production processes for a broad and comprehensive picture, and flexible technology systems. This also involves training employees and developing their digital literacy, nurturing and preserving their talents, and developing their skills to deal with the challenges of the new digital environment.

If you ask us, we’ll admit that the work in the process of digital transformation is not simple or easy in any way, but hand on heart, we can definitely say it’s worth it!

The MIC Municipal Innovation Center assists the various authorities in the digitization process, and accompanies them all the way to achieving their goals.

All Articles

13/04/23

Focusing on Israeli “smart cities” Spotlight on Ashdod

Author MIC Team

Nearly 90% of Israel’s population lives in urban areas: in central cities, suburbs and peripheral cities. Despite the great interest in national politics, the factors that most influence the quality of life of the residents in Israel are actually the local authorities. The local authority provides residents with services in the areas of education, leisure, waste management and recycling, traffic, transportation and mobility, employment, the environment, security and infrastructure. The correct management by the authority will have a positive effect on the lifestyle of residents and their measure of happiness, and will lead to direct economic savings for them. It is important to note that the concept of a smart city refers to a wide range of issues, and by rating each of them, IDC in Herzliya has created a uniform and objective index that takes into account several areas of activity that define a smart city:

● Safe city – management of safety systems; infrastructure that emphasizes road safety; efficient municipal and police service; civil protection systems.

● Digital city – digital services which reduce bureaucracy for residents. Option to choose between different digital means. Accessibility of services.

● Sustainable city – environmental sustainability; recycling; waste disposal by advanced means.

● Efficient city – energy efficiency and savings to local authority expenses; efficiency in employee management and placement of technological service alternatives.

● Learning city – ensuring professional currency; network of modern systems and tools; appointment of key people in the local authority to teach and familiarise staff about smart city technologies.

The city of Ashdod is a southern coastal city, the sixth largest city in Israel with a population of close to 230,000 residents.
In the Smart Cities Index set by the IDC, the city of Ashdod stands out in its urban strategy for smart and sustainable cities, smart and information-based urban management, construction, sustainability and smart infrastructure, and indices of innovation, education and local economy.

Among the prominent projects in the city of Ashdod that make it one of the smartest cities in Israel are the following:

Smart Transportation Center – Ashdod boasts the most advanced smart transportation center in Israel, REWAY, which implements advanced technologies in the field of smart and autonomous transportation. Transportation planning in the city is based on the city’s hubs such as the port, the coastal strip and logistical resources, as well as the development of smart roads for real-time traffic management, which enables solutions that encourage the use of shared and public transportation.

Technological hothouse – In collaboration with the Strauss Group, the Ashdod Municipality has established a leading technological development hothouse, the purpose of which is to invest in groundbreaking technological ventures in the food industry. This venture aims to improve the production of quality and healthy food, and generates investments and professional guidance in various projects, creates awareness and attraction for scientific education for the city’s young people, and creates employment and jobs.

Mafte’ach Center – The city of Ashdod has implemented a center for employment development for the ultra-Orthodox, one of the largest demographics of the city, which integrates men and women from the sector into the labor force, tailoring the jobs to their specific needs and according to their skills. The project is being carried out in collaboration with IBM.

HUB Complex – a complex located in the urban youth center, providing a collaborative work environment, a regional business center, the business accelerator program of the Agency for Small and Medium Businesses in the Ministry of Economy, support and business consulting.

Digital services for residents – Ashdod Municipality prides itself on streamlining services for residents through a variety of digital means: the “Ashdodit” app that provides residents with access to information and performance; an extensive website emphasizing optimal user experience which offers many services including enrollment in educational institutions and leisure activities, online payments, forms for downloading, inquiries and so on.

Mashkal, invites the employees of local authorities in Israel to the innovative and exciting MiC – the innovation center, where they can discover a variety of systems and technologies through visual and experiential means, and learn about the principles of smart cities in Israel including improving services to residents, energy efficiency, creating a greener city, water systems and many more.

All Articles

03/04/23

Daylight Saving Time and its Impact on Local Authorities

Author MIC Team

Every year, from March to the end of October, daylight saving time is implemented in Israel, by adjusting the time one hour forward, providing an extra hour of light during working hours. While in Europe daylight saving time is 211 days a year, and in the United States 239 days a year, in Israel daylight saving time is 182 days on average (the exact dates change from year to year).
Here are some reasons and benefits for switching to daylight saving time:

Energy saving – Adding daylight to the day in the afternoon reduces the use of industrial lighting. This includes savings in street lighting and public facilities, which leads to improved energy efficiency and economic savings for the authority.

Tourism – Foreign and domestic tourism are a means of growth for the local economy. Extra hours of light brings more tourists to public facilities, beaches and swimming pools, restaurants and malls, which provides a boost to the local economy.

Leisure culture – Adding an hour of light each day contributes to improving the quality of life and well-being of the individual, encouraging more family and community leisure time. Daylight saving time allows for a better family life, because upon returning from work, there is still light outside, so parents can go out for an activity with their children. The residents also participate more in recreation and leisure activities in public spaces, which on the one hand helps the local businesses and the economy, and on the other hand requires the local authority to address the need for leisure and entertainment activities in public spaces.

Transport – Adjusting the clock to correspond with European countries helps to increase road safety and improves energy savings. Daylight saving time is also important in the fight against road accidents, because it is always preferable to travel during daylight.

Employee output – Organizations report an increase in employee output during the months of daylight saving time compared to a decrease in winter, as there is a direct link between daylight hours and sunshine and the influence they have on the mood, activity level and efficiency of employees.
It is important to note that these advantages involve parameters which are non-quantifiable and there is no measurable benefit, and therefore some argue that where there are benefits of daylight saving time, there are also disadvantages due to the dark early-morning hours.
The local authorities in Israel are the ones who implement government policy, with the transition between the clocks being one of the parameters that affect the local authorities and require them to prepare accordingly.

The responsibilities of the local authority with regards to daylight saving time include:
• Changing and adjusting lighting in streets and public areas
• Coordinating with the electricity company to check reserves and ensure a steady supply of electricity in the city.
• Checking and adjusting work schedules, with an emphasis on city-improvement employees as well as cleaning and maintenance employees, who work in outdoor conditions.
• Expansion of leisure activities for residents
• Emphasis on road safety during the period of switching between clocks.
• Adjusting hours of operation in religious institutions such as kindergartens, synagogues, mikvahs, etc.

It is important to note that advanced technologies and innovative developments of systems that benefit local authorities in Israel, help increase energy efficiency, maintain safety and public order, improve resident services and offer optimal control of lighting and other systems in the city whilst maintaining flexibility and the ability to adapt according to demand, and without being obligated to correspond to any particular time zone. At the MiC Innovation Center, you can discover more about smart lighting and energy systems, management of commercial buildings, solutions in the fields of transportation, parking, cyber security and cameras, garbage and water, and a variety of innovations that enable savings and increase efficiency, that do not depend on changing the clock and make a significant contribution to the city in many fields.

All Articles

15/02/23

Municipal Services – Before and After COVID-19

Author MIC Team

The corona crisis has created significant challenges for both government ministries and local authorities because of trying to balance changes to the daily routine of the population while at the same time maintaining as much routine as possible, providing services to citizens according to changing needs, and maintaining strict and changing guidelines from the Ministry of Health.

Local authorities were quick to take charge. It was possible to see how municipalities and regional and local councils – set up support systems for residents in various fields from seemingly nowhere!

Senior citizens
Since senior citizens were at the forefront of risk groups in COVID19 and the first to shut themselves in their homes, customized solutions were required for the elderly population, from purchasing food and medicine to providing assistance and medical services. Many authorities operated call centers and volunteer systems that made telephone contact with all senior citizens in the city, according to the age group found in the databases and mapped and recorded the data: elderly people living alone, people with disabilities, elderly people who have difficulty cooking and caring for themselves, financial difficulties and more. These were addressed by purchasing food and medicine for them, bringing hot meals, and maintaining phone contact regularly to alleviate the loneliness.

Education
The decision to physically shut down the education system and move to distance learning was among the challenging issues brought up by the COVID19 pandemic. The Ministry of Education supported distance learning, but the difficulties in the home and family space did not always allow for the creation of effective connection and learning. One of the difficulties that stood out was families with several school-aged children when the number of computers in the home was less than the number of children. Municipal assistance was offered through the distribution and lending of laptops and tablets and mediation between entities that are willing to donate computers to students who need them.

Assistance for Businesses
The COVID19 crisis particularly hit local and small businesses, with both state and local authorities trying to address, even partially, this major problem. The government’s decision to grant a three-month local-tax exemption was transferred to the local authorities, who could decide the mode of application of the benefit: three months of total exemption or an annual discount of 25%, and to these were added other benefits chosen by local authorities such as exemptions and discounts from municipal taxes, local advertising at no cost and encouraging people to support local businesses.

Data transfer
An integral part of the crisis was the flood of information about citizens, which combined official information, interpretations, and opinions and “fake news,” which ran on social networks. People found themselves overloaded with information that was partly misleading and confusing, which caused, among other things, non-compliance with the guidelines. Many local authorities decided to take responsibility and gather only reliable and verified information for residents by creating a page relevant to the Corona issue on the municipality’s website, through direct messages and SMS from the municipality, and through other channels.

Most local authorities received positive feedback in the residents’ evaluation of their performance despite having to function with limited tools at their disposal. As part of the lessons learned and the conclusions drawn by the municipal management of the COVID-19 crisis, the issue was raised as to the assimilation of technologies that will enable a significant upgrade of the municipal services, both in times of crisis and in routine days.

The Center for Municipal Innovation (MIC) presents the next generation of municipal services, which has already provided a foothold to some of the authorities.

The center is available to local authorities in Israel, with virtual tours, innovative databases, and a visitor center, and an introduction to the wonders of technology and the smart urban management that is at our doorstep.

All Articles

09/02/23

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the most digital city of them all?

Author MIC Team

How do you think your local authority is ranked compared to other municipalities in terms of the digital services it offers? Very highly? Or maybe, to put it politely, they are still stuck in the nineties?

A few years ago, the Deloitte Digital Index was developed, to measure the level of digital services provided by local authorities throughout Israel enabling us to measure which city has undergone the most digital transformation.

Let’s start with the bottom line: everyone needs the services of the local authority in which they live, whether they are an individual or a business.
In all honesty, is your local authority “user-friendly”, or is it still stuck in the age of the fax-machine, clinging on to complicated and unnecessary bureaucracy and form-filling?
In today’s digital age, many people are looking for the simplest digital solutions. They don’t have the strength, time or desire to physically attend meetings or endlessly submit forms. They know that there is a better way and that they deserve more.
The local authority has, in effect, the power to make life easier for residents (and at the same time for both itself and its employees), or the opposite: causing residents to spend whole hours and days standing in unnecessary queues at the municipality offices. The Deloitte Index, developed in recent years by fast-track students from the Interdisciplinary Department of the School of Government Studies, together with Deloitte, examines precisely this issue, and using the results, helps local authorities to step into the 20th century.

So how does it actually work?

The index, which is the first of its kind in Israel, is updated annually. It was developed with the aim of promoting digital urban services to Israeli citizens. It can be used to compare the various services, pinpoint specific needs and identify and correct any gaps. Simply put, the index actually examines the supply of digital services to residents and businesses in local authorities in Israel. It is divided into four categories:

Resident services
Business services
Accessibility
Urban-planning and engineering services

In order to collect all the data, the developers of the Index used a fine-tooth comb to examine all the digital services offered on the websites and social networks of all the local authorities in Israel. 38 different service parameters were examined that were scored according to the level of information availability online and digitally, and combined to calculate a final score based on the total scores for each of the categories. If we take a quick look at the latest list, we can see that the city of Raanana ranks highest, followed, obviously, by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality. This is no great surprise, and when other municipalities start eyeing the digitalization of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality longingly and dream of being just like them, then the Deloitte Digital Index actually transforms the work of local authority decision makers and makes their lives easier.
All you have to do is open the Index website, click on your local authority, find out what score you got, and compare it to other cities to see exactly where you stand, what needs to change, what can be improved, and the level of resident satisfaction.

After all, we’re all here to help the residents and ensure them a simple and satisfactory municipal service, right?

You can find the Index here: https://digilocally.deloitte.co.il/Home