Designed In The UAE, Made For The World

Uncategorized

July 1, 2018, 8:38 am

At Manarati, we believe a smart city is one that improves the quality of life and happiness of its citizens by providing a smart infrastructure that enables connectivity and other smart use cases based on the utilisation of data. The key criteria for a successful smart city is that it should blend digital connectivity with the city’s infrastructure in a seamless way.

One of the oldest examples of a smart building is a lighthouse. Lighthouses go back in history to hundreds, even thousands of years, and are the root definition of a smart city solution. A lighthouse helps guide ships and sailors to a safe passage into the harbour, providing a service to the public. The brand name ‘Manarati’ is derived from the Arabic for ‘My Lighthouse’ because, just like a lighthouse, our mission is to create smart city solutions with the sole purpose of improving the day-to-day lives of its citizens.

Before creating any product, we always ask ourselves two questions. The first is, how can our use cases and analytics help create a more sustainable and happy life for citizens and businesses? And the second, what is the best way to integrate this experience into the existing city infrastructure?

To be, or not to be smart, that is the question!

So, what exactly should a smart city include? Currently, two schools of thought dominate in this debate. The first wants the city and its infrastructure to be as smart as possible. The second wants the city to be bland, but have the smartness in individual devices, such as phones and care.

The answer to that question will determine who is leading the direction of smart cities, who will set the standards, and who will ultimately benefit from a financial point of view. Our view is that the answer to the question will lie somewhere in the middle. City municipalities should take the unique opportunity to shape the standard of living by laying the groundwork for a smart city.

Municipalities that have a smart infrastructure in place can provide something we call ‘Smart City as a Service’. Smart City as a Service will allow cities to monetise their smart infrastructure with autonomous cars, drones, research, security and other services. For example, in the upcoming machine-to-machine economy, a potential revenue stream for the governing authority of the future would be to monetise vehicle-to-infrastructure communication by providing live data on traffic and parking spaces for a nominal fee.

Manarati Smart City solutions design unique products and experiences for the Smart City of tomorrow. We use our aesthetically pleasing hardware, such as a smart street lighting pole or a smart node, to enable our AI-based software to provide services, such as Smart Parking, Green Mobility, Traffic Management, Environmental Intelligence, Emergency Support, Security and Connectivity (Wi-Fi/Mesh), and Infotainment. Manarati allows for ‘Smart City as a Service’ including optional blockchain-based payment systems.

Manarati is inspired by the visionary leadership of the UAE. Setting goals and creating the frameworks for sustainable and innovative cities, our vision is to create a Smart City innovation that is designed in the UAE and made for the world!