Smart Regional Spaces
Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go! is a partnership project between the Department of Regional NSW, UNSW Sydney and The University of Sydney to support regional councils to become ‘smart- ready’ and help co-design smart spaces.
The NSW Government has committed $1.34 million for the Smart Regional Spaces project, as part of the Smart Places Acceleration Program’s Digital Restart Fund. UNSW and The University of Sydney have provided in-kind expertise and other contributions.
What is this project about?
The Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go! project aims to pivot the smart cities movement into rural and regional NSW, to ensure regional communities can reap the benefits associated with ‘smart place’ initiatives.
Underpinned by the NSW Government’s Smart Places Strategy, the project will upskill regional councils, connect them with industry experts and empower them to invest in new technology and data-driven solutions, appropriate for their region.
The project will run for 16-months and will partner with three regional NSW councils to assist them to become ‘smart-ready’ by providing the tools, training and know-how to get them started.
Benefits of this investment include:
- Building digital capabilities and increasing digital literacy in the regions
- Exchanging knowledge and facilitating networking opportunities between regional and urban councils, global smart cities and governance experts
- Access to digital resources including educational and training modules to give partner councils a head start in the smart places race
- Creating a smart places strategy for each partner council to be prepared for a smart future
- Access to digital toolkits enabling councils to use digital place audits and other resources to start or manage locally identified smart projects with expert help
- Collaborating and connecting with effective and relevant associations that extends to DRNSW staff, UNSW and The University of Sydney researchers and other regional NSW smart initiatives.
What will be delivered?
The Smart Regional Spaces: Ready, Set, Go! project will help regional councils become ‘smart spaces’ through custom-designed training, digital tools and strategy development support.
The project will future-proof regional councils by helping them to develop their own smart places strategy, which embraces new technology and data to improve liveability and sustainability considerations in their region.
At completion of the project, a suite of freely accessible digital tools, templates and training modules, will be made available that are appropriate for all 91 regional councils in NSW.