Smart Cities Said to Offer Huge Opportunities, Challenges for Tech Companies
LAS VEGAS -- Building smart cities, with their emphasis on sophisticated communications networks, is a major theme at CES. Panelists said Tuesday many challenges remain, though some cities have momentum. They warned every city is unique, with its own politics and challenges.
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The 21st century's widely seen as the “century of the city,” said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities. Fifty percent of the world’s population lives in cities, to grow to as much as 75 percent in the next 30 years, he said. “There is massive, rapid urbanization happening ... all over.” More than a million people move into a city weekly, he said.
Cities need $2 trillion of infrastructure yearly to keep up, Berkowitz said: “A massive opportunity.” The big question is how can cities use technology for smart growth, he said.
A broadband network is the “base level” for any modern city, said Kiran Jain, Neighborly general counsel. Cities have to “do more with less,” she said. Jain noted that last year, California firefighters faced the throttling of data by Verizon during a large wildfire (see 1808220059). “It actually impacted their ability to respond,” she said.
Tech companies have to be savvy, Jain said. Layers of government “exist for a reason,” she said. Companies have to be able to “go in and say, ‘This is what I can do for you, mayor. This is where I can impact the bottom line. This is how I can help you do more with less.’” That message “really resonates,” she said. She has seen companies say, “'Hey, I’m here. Don’t you want to work with us?'” she said. “You really have to be humble when you’re approaching these mayors and understand what their pain points are.”
Too much infrastructure isn’t interconnected, said Siemens' Martin Powell, global head-urban development practice. “A lot of organizations have spent many years trying to connect infrastructure,” he said. “It’s now very easy to do. You can lift the data onto a common platform and then you can start to look at that data and understand how you can improve each underlying piece.”
Societal trends favor growth of cities and cities must become smarter through better use of technology, said Leon Kalvaria, chairman of Citigroup’s Institutional Clients Group, on another panel. “The younger generation doesn’t necessarily want to live in the suburbs, they want to live in the city, so we are re-urbanizing." Basic transportation systems often use equipment that’s 50 years old, Kalvaria said. People are “wasting hours and hours of productivity” stuck in traffic, he said.
“Transportation bears the burden of policy failures in other sectors,” said Seleta Reynolds, Los Angeles Department of Transportation general manager. People have to commute long distances in LA because of the lack of adequate housing near jobs, she said, or people have to move because of the schools. Smart cities have to be part of a larger discussion, she said.