Mashhad Smart City Exhibition will be held by the yearend in the shrine city of Mashhad in northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province. During the event, Mashhad’s e-wallet will be unveiled.
The exhibition aims to promote the application of modern technologies in urban development and tries to push the city a step closer toward becoming a smart city, news website Peivast reported.
During the event slated for Jan. 2-6, a locally-developed e-wallet or smartphone wallet app is to be unveiled that can be used for micropayments, including urban transportation costs, public parking fees, road tolls and the likes, the head of Mashhad Municipality Information and Communication Technology Organization, Mohammad Rajaeian said.
“Work is underway to motivate small enterprises and tech firms to adapt their business platforms with the e-wallet letting customers pay for via the application,” he said.
The e-wallet and other smart urban management systems to be unveiled during the exhibition are based on an open Application Programming Interface platform which, according to Rajaeian, means that “other fintechs and startups can freely use Mashhad’s urban databases for setting up new services.”
API, or Application Programming Interface, is a package of codes that may or may not do a task independently. A well-designed API makes it easier to develop a computer program by providing all the building blocks, which are then put together by programmers.
The exhibition also aims to connect startups with investors and help them link with other firms. The event follows the example of the Smart Tehran Congress which was held Dec. 5-11.
Mashhad is one of the largest cities in Iran with a population exceeding 3 million. Applications of modern technologies can and should help urban planners make life easier for residents.
According to Rajaeian, startups and knowledge-based firms are expected to support the municipality in its efforts to turn Mashhad into a smart city.
Support for fledgling tech firms and emerging startups have been a priority for President Hassan Rouhani and his men. The sector has witnessed significant growth over the past several years.
