PUNE: The Pune Smart City Development Corporation (PSCDCL) has signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding with the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC) to leverage European Smart City solutions for the Pune Smart City project. The EBTC has been identified as the ‘Knowledge and Technical Cooperation Partner for the Pune Smart City Project”. The EBTC is a not-for-profit organisation, that promotes and helps customise European technologies and solutions through various programs to suit local requirements.
Kunal Kumar, Municipal Commissioner of the PMC said, “We are excited about this partnership. It will give us valuable global perspectives on local issues, and will also empower our Smart City initiatives through access to European Union standards of expertise, policy frameworks and also European funding bodies.”
“The EBTC is expected to share real-time knowledge of technologies, solutions and best practices from Europe for the PSCDCL Smart City Project. We at the PSCDCL will identify the problem areas (demand) and inform the EBTC. They will provide access to technologies and solutions based on EU expertise and knowledge from governments, cities and the private sector (supply). We believe that this will be a powerful partnership,” said Prerna Deshbratar, CEO, PSCDCL.
The EBTC is a program initiated and constituted by the European Union (EU) and managed by EUROCHAMBRES, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, with a company incorporated in India. “The EBTC endeavours to support the governments and private sector involved in the Smart Cities Mission in India with in-depth information and knowledge of available technologies, solutions and frameworks from Europe, by way of broad access to the innovation and legacy created in this field in European countries,” said Poul V. Jensen, Director of EBTC.
The organisation can offer access to EU policy frameworks, which could be used as templates for the Pune Smart City Project. The collaboration can help to surface and address the PMC’s requirements for capacity building in evolving areas of Smart City initiatives from Europe, as well as introduce PSCDCL to EU funding agencies for the project. It would function as the first point of contact for European government bodies,companies and funding agencies that approach the PSCDCL for various proposals, presentations, delegations and other initiatives.
The PSCDCL was formed in March 2016 as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, to implement the Smart City initiatives in Pune and is owned by the state government with equal shareholding by the Government of Maharashtra and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Source: ET Reality
