International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H) has announced that Silicon Labs, a leading provider of silicon, software and solutions, is the first corporate founding partner for its new Smart City Living Lab.
The lab’s mission is to provide a research and development ecosystem for next-generation technologies designed to improve safety, sustainability, energy efficiency, sanitation, and overall quality of life in densifying cities. It is part of the institute’s Smart City Research Center, supported by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Smart Cities Mission, Telangana government, and European Business and Technology Centre.
“This unique private, public and academia initiative will catalyse the nation’s goal in enabling 100 smart cities in the next five years,” said MeitY senior director Ajai Garg. Silicon Labs India’s VP Manish Kothari said: “Our mission is to make the world a better place leveraging the power of IoT, we are happy to share our expertise within the innovation ecosystem being created here”.
While Silicon Labs focuses on solutions addressing market needs, the academia will focus on building new knowledge through research and imparting education. The combination is expected to yield accelerated development of new breakthroughs, fuel innovation and growth in technology, said professor co-innovation and head research/innovation outreach, IIIT-H Ramesh Loganathan.
“Silicon Labs’ expertise in designing compelling wireless devices will enhance our efforts of building an innovation ecosystem for smart cities,” he added.
The ‘Smart Cities Mission’ has 100 cities being covered for the duration of five years with budget of ₹100 crore per city per year.
