City opens testing studio for public service innovators [Video]

From 3D-printed concrete park benches to using artificial intelligence to detect pavement problems before a pothole, the city has launched its Wave Tech Centre to explore how innovation could help find solutions across its departments.

The centre is officially open at the Andrew Davison building in downtown Calgary and has displays of robotic arms, 3D printers and an immersion room for augmented and virtual reality.

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Displaying the technology, including innovations from local businesses, allows city staff to test out potential solutions to problems the city is facing.

“We don’t know all of the companies that are coming up with great creative solutions that we could deploy as a city. And if an organization comes directly to the city, there is a procurement process as well that we have to go through,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

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