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Smart City

Parramatta is an emerging smart city. It has strong educational and research assets that make a difference to the education levels and earning capacities of people living in Greater Western Sydney. The University of Western Sydney is one of the fastest growing universities in Australia, while Westmead is the second largest biomedical precinct in the southern hemisphere.

Parramatta is also home to some of the state’s top schools: The Kings School, Tara Anglican, James Ruse High School, with a strong tertiary sector including private colleges, training institutions and research facilities like the University of Western Sydney’s Urban Research Centre - all based in the CBD.

Parramatta is the second largest employer outside of Sydney CBD with an estimated 90,000 people working in Parramatta every weekday. Its industry structure closely resembles other service based city economies; with finance and insurance sectors comprising over 20% employment. Other large sectors include health/medical, property and business services, and government administration. All of these sectors have the capacity to grow and create higher order knowledge jobs.

ParraConnect - Smart City Campaign

Parramatta City Council launched its ‘Smart City’ campaign in late 2009, looking at ways we could introduce new digital initiatives, such as free wi-fi, in the local public sphere. The campaign evolved into ParraConnect, a partnership with the community which aims to develop and deliver these initiatives.

ParraConnect is committed to advancing connective technologies help create a better social, environmental and economic way of life for all. To facilitate this, a web portal was created where ideas can be shared with the community. Projects that have come out of the initiative include a mobile phone parking app, a smart card, free wi-fi in all 6 libraries, mobile CCTV coverage and more.

The Committee is currently working on the ConnectCard initiative, which is an iconic project that will not only create jobs and provide economic benefits but also has the potential to dramatically change the way we do business. The launch of the program in Parramatta, will see participants use smartcards or Near Field Communication (NFC) Mobile Phones to access car-parks, work buildings, libraries and used as part of loyalty programs.

For more information about established and upcoming digital initiatives in Parramatta, visit www.parraconnect.net.au

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