IT WAS a long way from Galway Bay, but a hi-tech project to monitor Ireland’s western coastal waters was showcased at this week’s IBM “Smarter Cities” conference in Berlin.

With over half the world’s population now urban dwellers – for the first time in history – the US company believes it is well-placed to provide a new digital infrastructure to make these cities better places to live. And with an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s population expected to be living in cities by 2050, it is unlikely that IBM will lack for customers.

According to Dublin-based IBM business development manager Robert McCarthy, Ireland is well-placed to position itself at the “bleeding edge” of this new development.

“The IFSC is a long time ago now. Green, clean technology is going to be huge and this is a big opportunity for Ireland,” he said.

The Smarter Cities initiative arose from discussions between IBM and local governments worldwide. The company realised that the biggest challenges society faced were in cities, and that solutions would involve more than just throwing money at the problems.

IBM put up €100 million to develop the Smarter Cities initiative, setting up new companies to analyse solutions to common ambitions.

In many cases, technology is available to make a “smarter” upgrade possible. For instance, adopting alternative energy only makes sense if the city is in a position to put in place a new, smarter energy grid.

In the US, IBM is working with local authorities to come up with “smart sewers” that use real-time data to prevent overflows in heavy rain by remotely redirecting water into empty areas of the system.

“All of these areas we looked at were going through a transformation from being strictly electro-mechanical in their approach to more a blend of using digital and IT to manage these systems,” said Gerry Mooney, general manager global government and education with IBM. “In the end, it saves governments money by not building new systems but by using existing systems more efficiently.”

With its consulting-to-implementation approach, IBM hopes its worldwide tour will win over cash-strapped local governments.

Happy customers so far include the city of Stockholm, which eased its traffic problems thanks to an IBM-implemented congestion charge as part of a transport plan.

Presented in Berlin as an exemplary “smarter” initiative is the Smart Bay project. This network of sensors spread across Galway Bay can, for the first time, provide everyone in the area, from fishermen to researchers, with all relevant bay information from weather, water quality and tide activity in whatever level of detail required.

“In every country we have environmental agencies monitoring data without communicating with each other. This brings a new level of efficiency,” said Yvonne Shields, director of strategic planning at the Marine Institute, who presented the Smart Bay project to the conference.

The pilot project uses DCU-developed sensors to read data then analysed in IBM-developed technology. “We pulled up the data and brought together existing technology to bring it to a new level of analysis in real time, easily accessible and easy to understand,” said Harry Kolar, chief architect of the project.

The Smart Bay project continues to develop, bringing in researchers from third-level institutes and even indigenous technology companies. A partnership with Episensor is researching early-warning systems to detect water and waste pollution.

“What started as a marine project has the potential to drive the Irish economy in the right direction,” says Robert McCarthy, IBM business development manager. “With Smart Bay, Ireland is ahead of the curve and is small and nimble enough to stay ahead.”

IBM sees its Smarter Cities initiative not just as a chance of improving urban life, but as a golden business opportunity.

In a consulting role it can identify solutions, while as technology company to manage and merge systems – from transport to energy – that cities are used to managing separately and independently.

“Cities have undergone huge changes and have new powers,” says Susanne Dirks, senior managing consultant at IBM’s Dublin-based Global Centre for Economic Development. “Now there is technology to do things that couldn’t be done before.”