The Intelligent New West initiative is getting a helping hand from some bright minds at the University of British Columbia.
Council has approved up to $3,000 to fund UBC’s Master of Engineering leadership research, which will support the Intelligent New West initiative. Staff report that collaboration with universities and post-secondary institutions has been a key factor in the initiative’s success.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to learn from cutting-edge research that’s happening at an academic institution,” said Coun. Patrick Johnstone. “I think it’s great that we are getting support from UBC and supporting UBC.”
Johnstone said the three areas to be addressed by UBC students were all topics that came up during the City of New Westminster’s recent Innovation Week.
A staff report outlines three projects that will be explored by the students:
* Fast-charging for electrical vehicles. The city wants to understand how fast-charging infrastructure can support or complement a broader range of city services accounting for future technological changes and new business models.
* Smart metering infrastructure deployment. The city wants to understand the technological and economic implications of switching over to smart electricity meters.
* Deployment of public Wi-Fi hubs for citizen engagement. The city wants information to assist in the identification of specific public Wi-Fi hub locations that would most benefit the local economy and community liability.
“We are getting written plans, drafted documents to facilitate many of our programs here that we already have and pushing them forward with the kind of research that’s really required,” said Coun. Bill Harper. “What we are really doing here is asking for a few bucks to get a whole bunch back in terms of actual value. These students need the practical experience. We need the research and innovation that they are providing us and we can integrate that into our own systems. I think it’s a great program.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr would love to see fast-charging for electric vehicles offered in New West.
“I do believe that is one of the real missing pieces,” he said. “We are so regional. We are dead centre of Metro Vancouver. We still don’t have the capacity for someone to come from 80 to 100 kilometres out to come in here and be able to charge in 15 minutes and return home, rather than charging for six hours. I am really pleased that that is one of the issues that is going to be looked at.”
