Duisburg Germany and Huawei Sign MoU
to Build a Smart City

Huawei also announces plan for Joint Innovation Center
for Smart City development

Duisburg Germany has signed a Memo of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei to work together on smart city development.  Duisburg Mayor Sören Link and Wang Yonggang, CFO of Huawei‘s Enterprise Business Group, signed the MoU. With this declaration of intent, both partners will begin work to make Duisburg an innovative and digitalized Western European model city.

The MoU provides a framework for further discussion in which the two partners will commit to the implementation of specific projects from agreed topics. 

Huawei also announced plans to build a Joint Innovation Center in Duisburg. The city will benefit directly from innovations developed at the center. Plans already include expansion of the city’s WLAN network to include the city zoo and public transport. In education, the focus will be on the "intelligent classroom" with Wi-Fi and broadband connections for Duisburg schools. 

Other plans under discussion range from intelligent street lamps, supply networks and traffic management, to cloud based eGovernment solutions that simplify public access for citizens. In addition, Huawei will offer its experience and solutions in 5G LTE technology and wireless broadband networks, which are required for autonomous driving, smart logistics and Industry 4.0.

Ultimately, the goal is to develop innovative ideas and solutions that use new technologies to enhance the quality of life in Duisburg and make the city more attractive to residents, business and investors. This should be done with an ecosystem that includes local and international partners, municipal invested companies and exchanges among local research institutions and universities. To exploit the potential in the areas of supply, infrastructure and traffic, in particular, Duisburger Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (DVV) and DU-IT GmbH as municipal subsidiaries are responsible for the coordination and management of a number of planned projects. 

"Innovative technologies are the key to meeting the challenges of the future,“ said Lord Mayor Sören Link. “We want to exploit the opportunities offered by digitization to improve the quality of life in the city and promote economic growth. At the same time, we are further expanding our relations with a global player from China with this cooperation. We are an attractive partner city for international companies, employees and students.“ 

"We are pleased to be able to use our digitization skills to develop the city of Duisburg into a smart city,“ said Wang Yonggang, CFO of Huawei‘s Enterprise Business Group. ”Our products and solutions, will help simplify daily living of citizens and visitors in Duisburg, and to increase security.“

Source: Huawei media announcement