As city leaders, academics and leading smart cities practitioners from around the world gather for the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona this week, Smart Cities Council members are sharing their expertise and thought leadership on a host of issues critical to the future of cities. We'll highlight some of those hot topics below.
But first we want to mention that Council Chairman Jesse Berst, Cities Director Sandra Baer and Executive Director Philip Bane are all in Barcelona through Thursday. If you'd like to try to arrange a meeting, call Bane at 703-201-5746.
People first
Recognizing that people are the ultimate and most important part of cities makes developing policies and initiatives that implement social development one of the main aims of smart cities. Ray Pinto, Senior Government Affairs Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Council Lead Partner Microsoft, weighs in on that topic. On a related panel, Iemke Idsingh, Public Sector Solutions Director with Council Associate Partner Oracle, discusses ways cities are being more inclusive, bringing all of their inhabitants to the center of decision-making to make urban and social development more democratic. Iemke also lends his expertise to a session on developing ICT-based city initiatives.
Smarter energy
A session addressing how to make renewables part of a more efficient energy mix and initiatives that can propel further energy efficiency in cities features Michael J. Dixon, General Manager for Council Lead Partner IBM’s Global Smarter Cities Business. And where will the energy necessary to run our cities come from in the future? Alistair Pim, VP Smart Cities Business Development & Alliances with Council Associate Partner Schneider Electric, provides insight on that topic.
Driving urban mobility
A session looking at how cities are using pools of data and arrays of sensors to monitor and manage transportation assets and traffic patterns – and putting the information directly in the hands of their residents – gets insights from Kiva Allgood, Global Market Development Director Council Lead Partner Qualcomm. Meanwhile, Eric-Mark Huitema, Global Manager, WW Smarter Transport Leader with IBM, provides expertise on the most effective approaches cities are taking to guarantee an integrated and efficient network of transit choices. Heike Barlag, Project Manager with Council Associate Partner Siemens, tackles urban mobility challenges and how to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.
Integrating, connecting and managing data
Lots of discussion on this topic so important in smart cities, including a session that considers how the new level of "smartness" that the age of information and communications technology unleashes aligns with existing realities of cities. Amr Salem, Managing Director, Smart Cities, Internet of Things for Cisco, speaks to that topic. And also from Cisco, Jean-Louis Massaut, Director Solutions & IoT, offers insights on new developments in the evolving Internet of Things. Donald Clark, VP and Schneider Fellow, also weighs in on IoT and its implications for cities and service providers. A session on the most advanced techniques for storing, processing and efficiently managing big data gets an expert perspective from Gary Wachowicz, Industry Managing Director for Microsoft.
Seeing a city's anatomy
City Protocol wants to create the Internet of Cities through the development of an interoperable platform. The benefits and technologies of sensing and seeing a city's anatomy via a system of systems gets insights from Dave Welsh, Corporate Standards, CityNext , Microsoft, and Hardik Bhatt, Managing Director for Cisco.
Sustainable cities
Sharelynn Moore, VP Corporate Marketing and Public Affairs with Council Lead Partner Itron,talks about what's working in sustainability and straightforward projects and solutions solving various environmental issues in cities. Mary Keeling, Manager, Economic Analysis with IBM Smarter Cities, moderates a panel exploring how information and communications technologies are allowing cities to better foresee, mitigate and adapt to disruptive events with infrastructure and through social skills development. And Michael Berkowitz, Managing Director for Council Advisor 100 Resilient Cities, weighs in on how cities are analyzing their resilience challenges and whetherglobal networks can create synergies, share experiences and support their members in achieving a greater resilience.
More effective cities
A panel examining the challenges of open governance and innovation includes Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental and Cities Strategist with Microsoft as well as Charbel Aoun, President, Smart Cities Segment, with Schneider Electric. A session on improving city management for better service provision benefits from the insight of Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma, who is Vice President, Smarter Cities, Europe with IBM and Peter Still, Executive Director, Policy Management and Strategic Decisioning for Oracle. María Serrano Basterra, Smart City Center of Excellence Director with Schneider Electric, moderated the discussion.
Financing and partnerships
Pedro Julio Uribe, Senior Manager of Latin America for Microsoft moderates a panel on partnerships for urban development and how they can foster a city's oftentimes complex and expensive needs. Ellis J. Juan, General Coordinator Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative & Vice Presidency of Sectors and Knowledge with Council Advisor Inter-American Development Bank, lends his expertise on the panel. A session on strategies for economic development gains expertise from Guy Barlow, Director of Industry Strategy & Responsible for Public Administration Strategy with Oracle. And finally, Council Chairman Jesse Berst speaks on a panel about public-private partnerships for smart cities and how collaborating with the private sector enables them to do more with less.
Check for upcoming smart cities conferences in our Events Calendar.
