Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1298422
13 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 OCTOBER 2020 COMMERCIAL Busy summer for GasanMamo sponsored seabin LAST May, the environmental NGO Zibel and GasanMamo In- surance partnered up to place an award winning seabin in the Ta' Xbiex marina, in a continued ef- fort to provide a smart solution to marine waste and the problems it poses to marine eco systems. Given its prominent location, this bin tends to be one of the busiest according to a Zibel spokesperson. Since its installation, this unit alone has collected 116 kg most of which is plastic and jablo, as well as usual suspects like cigarette butts, plastic bottles and small plastic fragments. Given the reduced tourism and activity this year, this amount correlates with the amounts col- lected from other seabins in pre- vious years under regular condi- tions. The seabin is fast proving to be revolutionary in ocean cleaning technology, particularly by acting as rubbish bins for marinas, ports and yacht clubs which are nat- urally calm and where tides and currents tend to push rubbish in- to. A year after the inauguration of the Gozo Innovation Hub, the first project involving a new smart parking system installed in Victoria Gozo is now operating. This is the first smart parking system on the sister island and was developed and installed by Microsoft Accredited Partners J2 Group, also based at the Gozo Innovation Hub. J2 Group was formed 20 years ago and today, as a Microsoft Accredited Partner, it is invest- ing together with Microsoft to bring the latest technology platforms that can bring sus- tainable solutions to Gozo. Its presence at the Gozo Innova- tion Hub effectively gives Mi- crosoft and its technologies, a presence in Gozo. "When we announced our presence at the Gozo Innova- tion Hub last year, our promise was to help Gozo step into a new era of AI, machine learn- ing, Internet of Things and augmented reality amongst others," said Brian Darma- nin, Managing Director of J2 Group. "With this first IoT smart parking system installation in Gozo, we now have all Gozo ready equipped with the infra- structure for IoT technology. Our aim was to push for true change in Gozo and we have kept our promise." The smart parking system in- stalled in Victoria's St Francis Square is being hosted on the Government's Azure Could Platform and caters for 16 parking spots. The system also includes a mobile app which when activated, will be deliv- ering traffic management capa- bilities to users, helping them get visibility of available park- ing slots and avoiding unneces- sary congestion in the square. Located in Xewkija, the Gozo Innovation Hub was the result of an MoU between the Minis- try for Gozo, Malta Industrial Parks, Malta Enterprise and MCAST. The hub acts as an incubator to attract knowledge compa- nies and digital innovation en- terprises to use it as a base and by Gozitan start-ups and ICT companies to relocate and op- erate from Gozo. Gozo now IoT ready with first smart parking project