Importance of new accord between India and Canada for Smart City development

1. Canada-India AccordStressing Smart Communities Is Historic Step: i-CANADA
The accord signedyesterday by CanadianPrimeMinisterStephenHarperandthe Prime Ministerof India
NarendraModi creatinga strategicpartnershipbetweenthe countries, recognizes the historic‘Smart
Cities’programbeingimplementedinIndiaandthe Canadiangovernment’sproposedcollaborationwith
that program accordingto Bill Hutchison,Chairof i-CANADA Alliance, the groupleadingthe SmartCity
movementinCanada. “Thiswill accelerate collaborative commercial opportunitiesforIndianand
Canadianbusinessesandindustry andwe are pleasedtosee ournational governmentrecognizingthe
importance of the wave of global “smart urbantransformation”thatsome research firmsand
governments nowvalue atoverone trilliondollars peryear.
Smart or IntelligentCitiesare those blendingnew technology-basedservices andthe “Internetof
Things”withneweconomic,social andenvironmental processesand new regulations toprovide an
intelligentandsustainablesocial and economicecosystemforall residents toenjoy anopenpursuitof
theirlivelihoodsandinterests.
“The statementfromourPrime Minister’soffice indicatedtousthat bothgovernmentsnow view
informationinfrastructure asfundamentallyessential tooursocieties -- as importantas energyand
transportationinfrastructures,”saidMr. Hutchison. “Thisis a tremendousadvance forthe governments
to make,andcould vastly accelerate the economicandsocial well-beingof ourcitizens.
“On behalf of i-CANADA’sGovernorsCouncil,itisa pleasure tocongratulate the Prime Ministersforthis
historicrecognitionof the prime place of SmartCommunities.”
I-Canada’sGovernorsCouncil isincudesmore thansixty Mayors,otherpublicsectorleaders andtop
executivesfromsome of Canada’smostsignificantorganizations,includingIBM,Alcatel,ABB,CIRA,
SchneiderElectric,Siemens,RICOH,andTELUS.
ElevenNewDelhi’sNeeded
Accordingto i-CANADA,the pace of urbandevelopmentaroundthe worldisaccelerating: “Inthe next
20 years,Indiancitieswill have toaccommodate some 300-millionmore peoplethantheydotoday,”
saidMr. Hutchison. “That’sthe equivalentof elevenNew Delhi’s. Indiaisata pointof transitionandit
can onlysucceedif it plansfor smart urbanareas fromthe outset. Prime MinisterModi hasbeensetting
a worldclassexample of howtoleadand mobilize anationtobecome competitiveinthisareaof urban
transformation. He has beenpreachingthe needtocreate 100 SmartCitiesforwhichhis government
has included$113 billioningovernmentbudgetestimatesforthe next20 years. The publicsector,
includingnational governments,have animportantrole toplayinthistransformationbut experience
has shownpublicinvestmentneedstoonlycomprise tentofifteenpercentof the total required
investmentwiththe restcomingfromthe private sector.”

2. Accord Articles That Accelerate Smart City Development
 Bilateral partnershipsforurbantransformationandsmartcitydevelopmentwhichwould
leverage Canadianexpertiseinanumberof relevantfieldsincluding,publicprivate partnerships,
intelligenttransportationsystems,civil engineeringandurbanplanning,waterandwastewater
management,pre-castandwoodconstruction,energytechnologyandefficiencyandaffordable
housing;
 The successof partnershipssuchas the India-CanadaCentre forInnovativeMultidisciplinary
PartnershipstoAccelerate CommunityTransformationandSustainability(IC-IMPACTS);
 The comingmeetingof the 5th Canada-IndiaJointScience andTechnologyCooperation
Committee inJune 2015 to explore new mechanismstofurtheraugmentbilateral engagement
inscience,technologyandinnovation;
 The inclusionof CanadianandIndianstart-upsinthe CanadianTechnologyAcceleratorinitiative,
inwhich Indiaisa PartnerCountry and hostinthe 2017 TechnologySummit.
Matching Capabilities
Mr. Hutchisonnotedthat“i-CANADA participantsWaterfrontToronto withthe Cityof Toronto,and
Waterloo,Ontariowonthe “2014 and 2007 IntelligentCommunityof the Yearawardsrespectively”. Per
capita, Canada has wonmore IntelligentandSmartCommunityawards thananyothernation. i-
CANADA anditsmembersare alreadyinvolvedinIndia,andplansare beingformulatedtocreate a
unifiedCanadianresponseto the Indianopportunitythroughits ambitiousprogramtotransform100
communitiesinto“SmartCities”.
About i-CANADA
The i-CANADA Alliance isthe pan-Canadiannot-for-profitorganization dedicatedtocreatinganationof
Smart/IntelligentCommunitieslarge andsmall,rural andurban,where all enjoythe economic
development,jobgrowthandsocial prosperitynow available inthe world’sleading transformed
communities. Tosupportour workthe i-Canada GovernorsCouncil iscomprisedof provincialPremiers,
Mayors and CEOs of major corporations. We have been creatingprogramsandinitiativesinsupport of
Canada’srecord performance inthe global awardscompetitionsforSmartand IntelligentCommunities
and we lookforwardto sharingoursuccessful initiatives,toolsandprocesseswithIndiathroughthe
newcollaborationagreements. Fora listof i-CANADA Governorssee:
http://www.slideshare.net/BarryGander/i-canada-governors-council-47074248
For furtherinformationplease contact:
Barry Gander
Co-Founder,i-CANADA
Barry.gander@sympatico.ca
http://icanada150.ca/