Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy

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Consultation has concluded. Please see lakemac.com.au/smart-city for the latest updates.


Together with the community, Lake Macquarie City Council has laid the foundation for creating a more connected, innovative and resilient city, with the adoption of the Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy in 2016. The strategy identifies 18 initiatives that will help boost the local economy, improve Council’s performance, and ultimately enhance the lifestyle of residents.



Together with the community, Lake Macquarie City Council has laid the foundation for creating a more connected, innovative and resilient city, with the adoption of the Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy in 2016. The strategy identifies 18 initiatives that will help boost the local economy, improve Council’s performance, and ultimately enhance the lifestyle of residents.


Consultation has concluded. Please see lakemac.com.au/smart-city for the latest updates.
  • Can we create better cities with open data?

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    We are partnering with Idea Bombing Newcastle to present ‘Hacktivate the City’, a free event for people to learn about open data and how it helps to allow people to access information that might be useful in their daily lives or for business decisions.

    Manager Corporate Information, Brooke Humphries, said the amount and type of data collected by governments and businesses is now extensive, and would be useful for many people if they had access.

    “Open data can be about nearly anything, such as the location of services and infrastructure, the number of cars using a road, the location of parking, and the number of visitors to places, but doesn’t include any personal information. When small businesses, residents, and researchers have access to this data, it allows better decision making and even the start-up of new businesses,” Ms Humphries said.

    “It’s about making it really easy for people to access information about the City.”

    Hacktivate the City will feature Co-founder and Managing Director of Code for Australia, Alvaro Maz, and Co-founder of Social Pinpoint, Colin Goudie, among other guest speakers, discussing open data and how it can be used to build better cities.


    “The event will allow the community to share their ideas on what information or datasets they would like to see ‘open’ and why. Making data available is an action in the Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy,” Ms Humphries said.

    The event is part of the Hunter Innovation Festival - a week of events to spark and inspire innovation in the Hunter region. Find out more about the Festival at www.hunterinnovation.biz

    Hactivate the City

    When: Wednesday 15 June, 6pm

    Where: DaSH, the Dantia Smart Hub, 63 Ridley Street, Charlestown

    RSVP for Hactivate the City online or by contacting Council on 4921 0333.


  • Innovative co-working space opens in Lake Macquarie

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    Source: NBN News

    The business community of Lake Macquarie and the Hunter Region will reap the benefits of a new co-working space with the Dantia Smart Hub (DaSH) at Charlestown officially opening on Tuesday 5 April.

    Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter and Central Coast, Mr Scot MacDonald, MLC will join Member for Charlestown and Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Jodie Harrison MP, Member for Swansea, Yasmin Catley MP and other distinguished guests for the official opening from noon.

    Dantia Acting CEO, Derrek Lush, said the new space is much needed in the local area and will provide opportunities for businesses to connect and grow.

    “DaSH provides a flexible and professional co-working space for entrepreneurs and businesses to collaborate and network with a like-minded business community,” Mr Lush said.

    “We have already seen significant interest in the use of this space from a number of businesses, which demonstrates a need for this space in our area."

    “We will open the doors to the business community from 8am on Tuesday for interested parties to drop-in, view the space and determine if it is the right fit for them, before the official opening.”

    DaSH is an initiative of the Lake Macquarie Economic Development Company Limited, Dantia, proudly supported by Beyond Bank. DaSH is located at 63 Ridley Street Charlestown.

    Find out more at www.dashcowork.com

    < Return to Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council
  • Lake Mac takes significant step in becoming a Smart City

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    Lake Macquarie City Council has tonight laid the foundation for creating a more connected, innovative and resilient city, with the adoption of the Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy.

    Council’s Manager Integrated Planning, Sharon Pope, said the strategy identifies 18 initiatives that will help boost the local economy, improve Council’s performance, and ultimately enhance the lifestyle of residents.

    “Through consultation with local businesses, selected government agencies and the community, we have identified ways to embrace smart infrastructure technologies and address the demands of an increasingly digitally literate community,” Ms Pope said.

    As part of the Strategy, Council will be using video content when publishing Council news, is investigating the use of solar-powered mobile device recharging benches at parks, has introduced smart meters and solar panels at community facilities and is supporting Dantia’s co-working space.

    Other initiatives identified in the Strategy include rolling out free Wi-Fi in Council operated spaces, developing an online tool to improve community access to property flood information and conditions, implementing smart infrastructure and smart systems and investigating options for replacing Council’s ageing mobile library.

    “Council does not hold all the answers and this Strategy is a call for action for business, government and the community to work together to build a Smart City,” Ms Pope said.

    Lake Macquarie has been featured in the Australian Smart Communities Association’s guide, Concepts and Considerations for the Future of Smart Communities, which recognises some of the best examples of Smart Community thinking in Australia and New Zealand.

    “It is fantastic to be featured for smart community leadership, for our collaborative approach to preparing the Strategy,” Ms Pope said.

    “Council consulted extensively with the community as part of this Strategy and received 300 ideas on how the use of digital technology could make Lake Macquarie an even better place for everyone.”

    The Australian Smart Communities Association defines smart community leadership as proactive engagement of the community to make the best choices in growing the local economy, promoting a sense of place through enhancing liveability and selecting the right tools to do this.


    Insights from community survey conducted during public exhibition of the Strategy


  • Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy on exhibition now

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    A draft strategy designed to help Council and the community build a more connected, innovative and resilient City, has been placed on public exhibition for 30 days.

    The Draft Lake Mac Smart City, Smart Council Digital Economy Strategy 2016-2020, identifies ways Council and the City can maximise benefits of having access to high-speed broadband-enabled technologies and creative industries.

    Council’s Manager Integrated Planning, Sharon Pope, said the community has played an important role in the preparation of the draft strategy now on exhibition.

    “We received 300 ideas about how the use of digital technology can make Lake Macquarie more connected, sustainable and prosperous,” Ms Pope said.

    “The ideas received have enabled us to identify initiatives that will help boost the local economy, improve the performance of City operations and, ultimately, enhance the lifestyle of residents.”

    Initiatives include trialling solar-powered mobile device recharging benches in the City, making greater use of audio and video in publishing Council news and related content, providing information about our City and city life generally using new online tools, developing a policy to enable Council datasets to be made available as open data, and implementing smart infrastructure and smart systems.

    “Council does not hold all the answers and the draft strategy represents a call for action to business, government and the community to work together to build a Smart City,” Ms Pope said.

    The draft strategy can be viewed online at www.haveyoursaylakemac.com.au/smart-city or in person at Council’s Administration Building, 126-138 Main Road, Speers Point, and at all City libraries.

    Council staff will be available to discuss the draft strategy at the following locations:

    · Thursday 29 October, 9.30-11am, Toronto Library

    · Wednesday 4 November, 9-10.30am, Morisset Library; and

    · Thursday 5 November, 9-10.30am, Cardiff Library.

    Have your say by Tuesday 24 November 2015.





  • Imagining the future of co-working in Lake Mac - Dantia Smart Hub (DaSH)

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    Get set for Lake Macquarie's ultimate workspace and professional network by joining Dantia (Lake Macquarie City's Economic Development Company) for this inaugural event. DASH is set to revolutionise the way business gets done in the region - providing incredible opportunities to network and prosper. Join for this event so you can say you were there at the beginning!

    Special Guest Speaker + Oculus glasses

    Highlights of the evening include special guest Nick Bowditch (only person in Asia Pacific to have worked at Facebook and Twitter) who will share the importance of getting online and social (in the real world too).

    If you haven't had a chance to experience Oculus rift virtual reality, then tonight's the night. Oculus Rift is a head mounted virtual reality display. With specially programmed glasses on hand, you'll have the chance to experience DASH before the doors have even opened.

    Bound to be an interactive, hands-on and fun night to network, and have your say in the launch of this exciting initiative. Not sure what to expect? Check out this video.

    Drinks and nibbles will be provided. Event kicks off at 5.20pm. Get in early to try out the Oculus headset for yourself.

    RSVP here



  • ‘Smart’ street furniture wins Smart City ideas comp

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    During July, Lake Macquarie City Council received more than 100 ideas on how technology can make the City a more connected, prosperous and sustainable one.

    Council’s Manager Integrated Planning, Sharon Pope, said the response to Council’s call for ideas
    from the community was very positive.

    “The ideas and suggestions received are informing the preparation of the City’s first Digital
    Economy Strategy,” Ms Pope said.

    “With a clear strategy to guide us, the technology we use can save Council and the community money, drive local innovation, provide new jobs, and improve community well-being and environmental sustainability.”

    Charlestown resident, Daniel Condon, was presented with an Apple Watch Sport for his winning idea of solar-powered benches that can recharge mobile devices.

    Council is now investigating the use of solar-powered seating in the City.

    “Smart furniture like solar-powered benches could greatly assist the community during power outages, like those experienced during the April storms,” Ms Pope said.

    “This is a great example of an innovative and achievable idea that could be used throughout Lake
    Macquarie.”

    Short-listed entries include:

    · establishing ‘maker space’ incubators in Council libraries to help people learn about emerging technologies such as 3D printing (spaces where people can gather to
    create, invent and learn);

    · apps to make service requests with Council (a mobile application which enables residents to quickly and easily lodge service requests as an alternative to calling or emailing the Customer Service Centre);

    · apps that allow users to adopt City assets to help monitor their condition (user portal with an interactive map where people can tag issues, activities or call for assistance);

    · apps that provide information on parks, cycleways, playgrounds and safe places to take children (a mobile application with a map that identifies places of interest);

    · an online interactive map of Council events and issues (a mobile application detailing information about Council services, parks, dog areas, events, bulk waste pick-up schedules etc);

    · smart public garbage bins that alert Council when they are full or smell (data intelligence sends email notifications to Council staff when bins are near capacity);

    · a display sign on shared pathways that counts bicycles and pedestrians and shares this data with Council and the community (signs displaying daily and cumulative bike and pedestrian data,) ; and

    · the use of digital codes on infrastructure that can be scanned to provide people with information (smartphone friendly barcodes that can be scanned, providing residents and visitors with information about what they are looking at).



  • Explore the Smart City

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    The Smart City will save Council and the community money, drive local innovation, provide new jobs, and improve community well-being and environmental sustainability.

    Council does not hold all the answers. It is up to all of us to work together to make the City an even better place. Got an idea worth sharing? Have a think about how you can contribute or connect with others to create the Smart City.


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    More often we are conducting business and maintaining friendships online - banking, shopping, sharing information - you name it. Whatever you're doing, there's probably an "app" you can download to your smartphone or tablet to make things simpler, and if not, someone is probably thinking about it.

    A Smart City is a City where great apps are available to help people get around, go about their daily lives, do business and collaborate.

    Council is exploring how to facilitate app development by people in the community. This could mean providing real world scenarios for app developers to test their ideas and making 'city data' available.

    Sharing ‘city data’ helps the community innovate and create apps for the City.

    For example, sharing data for the location of disabled toilets enables app developers to incorporate this information into apps. The more apps that include this data, the more ways the community can access information about the location of disabled toilets.

    Council doesn’t hold all possible information about the City, but it can work with other government agencies and organisations and get better at sharing data and integrating data sets to inform decision making processes. Of course, not all data can be made available-much information is bound by commercial in confidence laws. Ensuring the privacy of individuals is also key.



    Council is committed to exploring new tools and methods to make it easier for people to tell us about issues, interact with Council and ask us for information. We also want to ensure there are more ways for you to have your say in decision-making processes.


    New technologies are helping cities around the world become more sustainable and efficient, from the way we use power and water, to improving garbage collection, making catching public transport easier, helping to navigate our way around and do business in any location.

    This could mean a greater use of sensors to make it easier to find a parking space, to monitoring the condition of Council-owned assets, or using smart energy efficient lighting to make it safe and inviting to walk and drive at night whilst saving the City money on power bills.

    Like many households, Council is installing solar power on its facilities to save the City money. This is called “distributed energy generation” and is an important part of the Smart City, particularly if we are to move to electric vehicles.


    The National Broadband Network (NBN) is currently being rolled out in Lake Macquarie, which will greatly improve the reliability and speed of internet access for many households. There are also other technologies available to increase internet speeds. The City could investigate these options to attract new businesses to the area.

    New technologies are helping Council, together with the police, state agencies and community organisations improve road safety, disaster preparedness, safety in the home and crime prevention. For example, in April this year, the City was hit by an intense storm and social media was an important communication tool in that time of crisis. Council staff relied on Facebook and Twitter to communicate with the community. Council’s free Severe Weather Alerts app also ensured people stayed up to date with the latest weather warnings.




    High-speed broadband and other new technologies are providing new ways of doing business,such as online bookkeeping, attracting customers using social media and multimedia, and having the ability to share large amounts of information quickly.

    Cloud services mean it is becoming easier for businesses to locate in Lake Macquarie, enjoying the great lifestyle of the City whilst having a global reach.


    The ability to share more complex information, faster, leads to innovation. The Hunter Region is fast becoming a place for local technology start-ups and creative media industries.

    New technologies are leading to innovation in other industries. One future trend is advances in manufacturing, such as 3D printing using plastics, concrete and metals. Local manufacturing will evolve and be more customisable, products may not need to be transported long distances. We need to be thinking about how the City can both accommodate and facilitate these new industries in a sustainable way.






    Some people in our community are less confident with using computers and the internet, or may not even have the ability to connect to the internet within their home. As more services and activities move online, helping people understand technology is important. Public places, such as our town centres and libraries, will continue to be important hubs for people to connect.


    New apps are connecting communities, allowing people to share information about their concerns and ideas, in turn allowing people to make their City a better place.

    Do you have a cupboard or shed of unwanted goods you don’t have the heart to throw into landfill? Surely someone, somewhere might have a use for it? Perhaps you have a great set of tools you use every now and then, but most of the time sit unused? Or maybe you have a spare room you’d like to rent out to travellers?

    Good news, there are already many apps that can help you out! This new form of online sharing is part of the emerging “sharing economy”. Sharing existing resources, whether it be objects, labour or space, can have great environmental, social and economic benefits.



    Being part of a community means you may often bump into people you know down the street. Providing opportunities for unexpected encounters between neighbours, workers and visitors, strengthens community ties and leads to the transfer of information keeping people connected..

    A Smart City is one where it is easy to connect both online and in person. This combination drives innovation.

    Spontaneous encounters are difficult to replicate online, so creating great places for people to meet and connect with others—online or in person—is important. This means ensuring our libraries and town centres (parks, cafes) are inviting for both work and fun.