Professor Ali Babar of the School of Computer Science, heads the Australian Centre for Smart Cities (ACSC) and aims to turn Adelaide into a trial site for emerging digital technologies that can improve how a city functions with the hope that one day they will be rolled out across the rest of Australia and around the world.

The ACSC brings citizens, researchers, industries, governments, and councils together to conceive, develop, deploy, and evolve innovative and unique solutions for building and sustaining Smart Cities. Initiated eight months ago, key players in the project include the University of Adelaide, the South Australian Department of State Development, Adelaide City Council and companies including Ernst and Young, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Fuji and Xerox. The ACSC is now starting to attract international attention.