The Scottish Cities Alliance has announced that the Smart City projects will be taken forward across seven cities to be transformed into world-leading digital hubs.

Last year, the Alliance launched its Smart Cities Scotland identity with the announcement that it had been allocated up to £10million in European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), which is to be matched with £14m from the cities.

The Smart Cities Scotland programme aims to make services across Scotland's cities become more efficient and greener while making the cities themselves more attractive to potential investors.

The Scottish Cities Alliance, which is the collaboration of Scotland's seven cities and the Scottish Government, aims to use Smart City technology to transform cities into digital hubs to enable them to become more internationally competitive and boost economic growth.

Projects that have been given the green light for Stirling include:

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• Smart Infrastructure – Intelligent Street lighting

Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling and Glasgow are piloting Intelligent Street Lighting which will deliver a range of benefits, including more controllable and efficient lighting, delivering energy savings and enhanced public and road safety. This will reduce CO2 emissions by using LED bulbs and sensors to control the lights.

• Smart Services – Waste

Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling will work collaboratively in order to deliver improved waste management services, including deployment of smart bin technology and innovative smart technology deployed in the waste management process to enhance waste and recycling collections through improved monitoring and sharing of data and information. Sensors in bins will alert waste management services to empty the bin only when full, improving efficiency.

• Open Data operations

Cities will create data publication platforms with the introduction of data analytics which will allow cities to make evidence based decisions in order to improve services and delivery. This means more informed decisions will be made leading to efficiency.

Stirling Council Leader Johanna Boyd said: "It's a very exciting time for Stirling. Following the announcement of our successful City Deal bid - which will bring investment from the UK and Scottish Government in to our city and rural areas – we will also benefit from a variety of projects through the Scottish Cities Alliance 'Smart Cities' initiative.

"The Open Data project in particular will fit well with our proposal to establish a Digital District in Stirling, and the pilot installation of smart sensors in our public buildings will support our Council priority to adopt a pragmatic approach to sustainability which protects and enhances our local environment."

(MH/CD)