World’s biggest mobile technology test lab lays in Hasselt
i-City is the name of a collaborative project between the Flemish government and a number of leading companies and organisations from various sectors. The essence of the project is to test all kinds of mobile applications intended for small handheld computers, also known as PDAs. The tests are not done by engineers in the laboratory but by ordinary users in true-to-life situations, at the moment 500 test users are testing and giving their feedback.  Our goal is to reach 4,000 test users by the end of 2007. Hasselt is becoming the first living lab for mobile applications. Leuven will follow later.

The presence of i-City with it’s wireless network, a world-class service delivery platform and a high penetration of smart mobile devices in the cities of Hasselt and Leuven ensures that the mindset and the behavior of the users can serve as a blueprint for the connected society of tomorrow.
It is in this environment that the customers of i-City perform their application testing. By working together with the Belgian IBBT institute i-City can support the test activities by scientifically supported research activities. Questions with regard to usability, adoption rate, interface design or business model feasibility are solved through i-Cities network of researchers.

The reasoning sounds logical – as some big leading companies in the technology sector also considered. At present, it is not only Telenet and Concentra who are actively involved in i-City. The international Siemens and Microsoft groups are also going down the same route using i-City as a basis and have decided to test their mobile technology in Hasselt. The fact that i-City is not just known in test-cities but is regarded as a hub of the future was also apparent from the promotional film of Hasselt during the Eurosongfestival for Kids. i-City is putting Flanders on the world map, as it were.

Check our website for more information, or the ways to use our Living Lab to test your mobile application.
www.i-City.be