IMinds is working together with mobile phone operator Mobile Vikings to create a so-called ‘City of things’, in which the Antwerp-based Mobile Vikings customers are being asked to participate in surveys and the testing of new products and services, in exchange for ‘Viking points’, which they can exchange for extra call time. The Viking community thus becomes a huge, living laboratory for companies who want to test their offering in a real-life environment. “It is the largest IoT living lab ever offered to tech businesses”, Thomas Kalistenius, CTO at iMinds, proudly states.
That way, Antwerp also becomes a ‘smarter city’: all tests and surveys generate valuable data on how citizens use specific products and services, what they prefer and what they don’t like at all. The parties involved - the providers of the products and services but also iMinds and the city of Antwerp itself - get a better insight in the behavior and preferences of the citizens.
It is but a first step in the direction of smart cities all over the world, but it is happening right now, and - more importantly - this largest ever living laboratory is 100% Belgian. It is not only our Red Devils that we can be proud of.