05 Feb, 2014

National Geographic documentary puts Adelaide on the smart list

Adelaide is the star of the show today - with the launch of the first film in the National Geographic series about smart cities of the world.

The documentary will promote Adelaide overseas to tourists and students and showcase its credentials as a vibrant, creative and intelligent city.

Premier Jay Weatherill said the acknowledgement of Adelaide as a smart city recognised the exciting transformation that has occurred here over the past decade.

“We made it a priority to create a vibrant capital city that is attractive to tourists, students, and locals - a city that beats to the rhythm of a generation of ambitious South Australians,” Mr Weatherill said.

”Along with City of Adelaide, we’ve worked hard to revitalise the Riverbank Precinct and Rundle Mall and activate our underutilised city lane-ways.

“First-class facilities, such as Adelaide Oval, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and Adelaide Convention Centre are the result.

“Something that hasn’t changed in Adelaide is our ingenuity and innovation, which have allowed us to build one of the most civilised and tolerant societies anywhere in the world.”

The State Government, City of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flinders University contributed to creating the film.

City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said Adelaide is well on its way to establishing itself as a world-class tourist destination.

“We are a progressive community to do business with, exporting our ideas to the world, and we enjoy an education system which provides wonderful opportunities for both local and international students,” said Mr Yarwood.

University of South Australia Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd says the new National Geographic production will go a long way to showcasing Adelaide not only as a very international, liveable city, but one that has a vibrant culture of innovation and creativity.

“Education has been a focus for South Australians almost from the moment of settlement and from that time it has been a vital element in driving innovation, social inclusion, sustainability and enterprise.”

Flinders University Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor David Day said the documentary would provide an opportunity to showcase the central role of education as a driver of Adelaide’s intellectual, cultural and economic momentum.

“Flinders is at the forefront of generating the new ideas and new technologies crucial to establishing Adelaide’s role in the international knowledge-based economy and to developing the advanced industries that will create the jobs of the future,” Professor Day said.

In addition to being included as one of National Geographic’s 17 global smart cities, Adelaide was also listed by Lonely Planet as one of the ten cities in the world to visit in 2014 and described as “effortlessly chic” in the New Yorker Magazine.

The series will air on the National Geographic Channel in Australia, New Zealand, North America, South East Asia, Malaysia, India, Hong Kong, China, UK and Germany between March-October 2014 and will be supported on-line, digitally and in social media channels.

David Hill, Manager, Media Relations