The Gold Coast has made steps towards truly becoming a city of the future by becoming a member of the Open and Agile Smart Cities initiative. The scheme was set up earlier this year with a view to ensuring standards and principals could be shared and adopted on a global scale, enabling them to develop in the smartest and most proactive way possible.
Existing members include the likes of Copenhagen in Denmark and Sao Paulo in Brazil, meaning the Gold Coast is in good company as it is welcomed into the fold. The City of Gold Coast, Brisbane City Council and Greater Springfield have each joined the initiative, which has the potential to further boost demand for office leasing on the Gold Coast.
Open and Agile Smart Cities was established back in March in a bid to make "systems interoperable between cities, and within a city". As the digital landscape becomes increasingly sophisticated, this enables companies inside major urban centres to share their knowledge and ensure they're ahead of the curve – something that will become increasingly important well into the future.
As the group points out, "one city is not a market", which is why various regions need to come together to recognise what is needed in order to succeed. This way, performance benchmarks can be set and the sharing of information can help level the global business playing field.
The Gold Coast's involvement in the Open and Agile Smart Cities initiative puts it in a prime position for being at the forefront of change moving forward. Acting mayor Donna Gates explained it is an "exciting project" with "enormous potential" to see the Gold Coast achieve the status of a smart city.
"To have easy access to what is happening in Lisbon, Glasgow or Dublin will be a tremendous stimulus to our local plans," Ms Gates noted.
"I am also excited that this will lay a foundation for collaboration across south-east Queensland, positioning the region well for future economic growth."
Professor Michael Blumenstein, head of the ICT School at Griffith University and chair of the IT Forum Gold Coast, agreed and explained the city should be doing whatever possible to maximise this opportunity. He stressed that the Gold Coast has the potential to "become the most innovative technology hub" in the entire country, and this latest move will be just one step towards making sure this happens.
The Open and Agile Smart Cities initiative is all about being able to access data, so the Gold Coast – like every other city – will be able to gather, publish and query any relevant information. This could help inform various aspects of policy, filtering through how businesses operate in the city.
This new interconnected approach is likely to appeal to many companies, possibly giving rise to greater demand for buying commercial property on the Gold Coast.
A single application programming interface will be accessed by each of the cities. This ensures the systems are scalable as the initiative gathers pace, while ensuring every participating nation has access to the same set of standards needed to help them become smart cities.
As the Gold Coast continues to make a name for itself on the global stage, now could be a good time to take a closer look at what the city's commercial property market has to offer.
Investors are already taking advantage of market conditions, so if you would like to follow suit, be sure to speak to our team of experienced agents.
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