In a significant step towards advancing urban innovation, the Smart City Research Centre at IIIT Hyderabad and the Kakinada Institute of Engineering and Technology (KIET) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 17, 2025, to support the Kakinada Smart City Mission. The agreement aims to establish a Smart City Living Lab on the KIET campus, where cutting-edge technologies and real-time urban solutions will be integrated to drive smart city development in Kakinada.

The signing ceremony was attended by the District Collector of Kakinada and other dignitaries. The initiative is designed to strengthen collaboration between academia, government, and technology sectors in building smarter and more sustainable urban spaces.

The Smart City Living Lab will function as an interactive ecosystem, enabling students, researchers, and local stakeholders to address real-world urban issues and develop innovative, practical solutions. It will also serve as a platform for the deployment and validation of smart city technologies, using the KIET campus as a testing ground.

Planned activities at the lab include the real-world testing of advanced urban technologies and collaborative urban projects with local stakeholders that aim to produce measurable outcomes. The lab will also organise workshops, expert-led sessions, and training programs to facilitate knowledge sharing and enhance skills in urban innovation.

The initiative will offer students research opportunities and internships, nurturing future professionals in smart city development. These efforts are expected to contribute directly to Kakinada’s long-term goal of integrating smart technologies into city infrastructure to enhance sustainability and livability. Through these joint efforts, the lab will support the creation of impactful and scalable solutions to address the city’s urban challenges.

During the launch, the IIIT Hyderabad team showcased ongoing research in areas such as crowd monitoring, water distribution and quality monitoring, digital twin technology for water networks, and a scalable City IoT Platform (ctOP). The District Collector expressed keen interest, especially in crowd monitoring, and suggested exploring a Proof of Concept (PoC) in the district.

This partnership among IIIT Hyderabad, KIET, and the local government marks the beginning of a new phase in implementing scalable smart city solutions in Kakinada.

IIIT Hyderabad, an autonomous research university established in 1998, focuses on Information Technology and its applications across disciplines. Its research spans areas including Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, Robotics, Earthquake Engineering, Bioinformatics, and IT in Agriculture.

News source: The Machine Maker