Can you imagine living in a city with technologies that manage water and energy consumption or simulators of emergency situations, such as explosion and flooding? If you think these examples are utopian, you are wrong. A project, called 'Living Lab', is being developed in Salvador-BA with the proposal to prevent and seek solutions to problems faced by large cities. This 'living laboratory' is already created in the Technological Park of Bahia, through a partnership between the Fraunhofer Project Center/Federal University of Bahia (FPC-UFBA) and the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of Bahia (SECTI). The FPC is a center for the development of innovative software solutions for industries, companies from other segments and governments, which brings together the research competence of UFBA and the technology of the Fraunhofer Institute, in Germany.
The laboratory is being assembled in stages, in an 85m² room, which will contemplate the context of the city, in a playful and virtual environment, portraying images of streets, buildings and other elements of the urban environment. “The intention is for it to be an intelligent, conscious city, projected for the future and that, after experiments and approvals, the ideas are implemented in real daily life. It is in this “living” environment that technologies can be developed, validated and demonstrated with the direct support of their potential user, the citizen”, explains FPC-UFBA researcher Tassio Vale.
In June this year, the laboratory will have one of the stages completed. “We are working with a multidisciplinary team, which involves professionals from the Information and Communication Technology industry, such as researchers, designers and software engineers and architects. The demonstrations will be evaluated together with the contractor – SECTI – and, at the end, the space will be opened for public visitation”, details the project manager, Marcio Souza.
The 'Living Lab' project, which involves an investment of almost R$ 2.5 million, is expected to be completed in December this year. “The expectation is that we will be able to contribute to the acceleration of the innovation ecosystem in Bahia, in addition to strengthening Fraunhofer in the state and Brazil, a brand that is already a reference abroad for developing solutions in critical and complex projects”, concludes Marcio Souza.
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