Swiss know-how is also attracting interest abroad. At the invitation of the Swiss Confederation, the Swiss start-ups Smixin and TreaTech presented their work in this field at the Smart Cities India 2017 exhibition in New Delhi from 11 to 12 May 2017. India, which is expected to have 500 million new city dwellers by 2050, is launching its first programme to create some 20 smart cities. Let’s zoom in on four projects that have aroused a lot of interest in India.

Every city interprets the smart city concept in its own way. But in order to become more ecological, sustainable and liveable all are interconnecting their infrastructures through digital technology. Publicly available data is giving rise to new services in the fields of transport, energy, security, health and leisure. The town of Pully east of Lausanne is collecting data from mobile phones to better understand the behavioural patterns of its inhabitants. With the support of Swisscom, it uses this data to optimise traffic in the town centre. This information is key to understanding how people experience public spaces, how they move about, what means of transport they use and how often they use them.

Lausanne, the capital of the canton of Vaud, is building two large eco-neighbourhoods in the north and south of the city which are expected to have nearly 20,000 residents by 2022. Like their counterpart in Zurich, the eco-neighbourhoods of Plaines-du-Loup in the north and of Près-de-Vidy in the south of Lausanne with be certified as 2,000-Watt sites. Residential and commercial buildings will comply with the latest energy and environmental standards during the construction phase and during their lifetime. Lausanne is also rethinking its entire transport and waste management policy.