The Town of Berwick recently announced that it will have the first smart town hall in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Working with Cisco, Hanatech and i-Valley, the new town hall will feature ultra-high-speed networking and digital solutions.
“Our public service, business and community members will be served by advanced digital network technologies that enhance civic work, innovation, research and outreach,” said Berwick Mayor Don Clarke. “These technologies will yield numerous operational savings and make the building easier to manage and maintain. The smart design also future-proofs the new town hall as it establishes a digital foundation that combines flexibility, high-capacity and the ability to easily accommodate new features that can be incorporated at a later date.”
Some features of the smart town hall include a network which will connect the town council chambers to world networks, a unified communications platform, an innovation hub providing entrepreneurs with a high-speed link needed to develop solutions that require high data transfers like 3-D printing, and a smart library.
“Berwick’s new smart town hall is seen as the seed for digital applications that could manage town infrastructure including connected parking, traffic, lighting, education, healthcare, safety and security, and remote access to government services; it will also help to break down silos between town agencies, citizens and private companies,” stated Rod Murphy, vice-president of sales, Atlantic, for Cisco Canada.
“The Berwick smart town hall is not being created in isolation; it is the first piece in the concept of ‘Smart Annapolis Valley’ — a program endorsed by the mayors and wardens in the region,” said Terry Dalton, president of the not-for-profit association i-Valley. “We have been working with a number of communities regionally to transform them into smart communities that combine new, emerging technologies with applications that increase business-level innovation, lower costs, attract investment and accelerate business, environmental and social development. This all begins in Berwick.”
