Category: Smart City

smart buildings in the age of covid-19

How COVID-19 clarified the necessity and value of smart buildings

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in COVID-19, Digital Transformation, Economic Impact, Internet of Things, IoT, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

Smart buildings transform the spaces in which we work, live, shop, and relax. They implement innovations that change what we do, how we do it, and where we do it. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted how we used indoor spaces, and despite our progress in combatting the disease, scientists believe it will persist. What then becomes the role of smart buildings?
This blog updates the definition of today’s smart buildings and describes its evolved roles.

Smart Cities Digital Divide

Why does the Digital Divide exist in 2021?

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in COVID-19, Digital Divide, Digital Inclusion, Economic Impact, Education, Smart City, Smart Communities, Urban Planning

We live in a connected world and talk about the possibility of smart cities and its many benefits. But yet, there is still a sizable portion of our communities that do not have broadband Internet service, nor access to devices, or the skills to use them in the year 2021. Silicon Valley in California, the world famous home of innovation and technology, has not been spared.
This blog provides a broad definition of digital divide, identifies some of its causes, and some broad strategic areas to focus on.

Managing Indoor Air Quality with IoT in a COVID-19 Safe Space

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in COVID-19, Internet of Things, IoT, New Normal, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Uncategorized

Good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an important component of a COVID-19 safe space. As people return to in-person activities, it is critical that buildings implement HVAC strategies to improve air quality levels indoors.

This blog describes the role of smart building IoT technologies in enabling good IAQ. The information collected from the sensors provides the building operators with an understanding of where to focus and prioritize their efforts to improve IAQ.

Safe Space office picture

Creating COVID-19 Safe Spaces for Reopening and Return to Work (Part Two)

Posted on Benson Chan4 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, IoT, New Normal, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy, Urban Planning

COVID-19 Safe Spaces are key to reopening buildings and facilities for in-person activities. Technology is a critical component of the COVID-19 safe space. There is no one technology that makes a space safe. A variety of technologies, working in tandem, is used in safe spaces.

This blog, Part 2 in a series, discusses the role of technology and IoT in the operation of a safe space. Key considerations, from the use case, operations and maintenance, and technology are presented.

Creating COVID-19 Safe Spaces for Reopening and Return to Work (Part One)

Posted on Benson Chan5 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, New Normal, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy, Urban Planning

The discovery and regulatory approval of two COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 has made reopening and return to work initiatives top priority for business and community leaders in 2021. Despite the vaccine, COVID-19 isn’t going away and many people are concerned about a return to in-person activities.

This blog introduces the concept of safe spaces to support reopening and return to work. A framework describing the elements of a safe space is discussed, along with ten best practices for planning safe spaces.

A new beginning – the COVID-19 New Normal

Posted on Dominic Williams4 CommentsPosted in COVID-19, Internet of Things, New Normal, Smart City

The disruption caused by COVID-19 has halted the economy and put many industries in jeopardy. As the pandemic subsides, we will see a return to normalcy, but it will be far different from our previous interpretation of “normal”.

In this blog, we take a deep dive into several industries that will be drastically and permanently altered as a direct result of the coronavirus, including the restaurant industry, offices & workspaces, travel, education, and retail & manufacturing. This understanding is necessary in order to design our new future cities and communities.

covid-19 safe spaces facilitate reopening and return to work

Responding to COVID-19 – a framework for smart cities

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, Innovation Management, Product Management, product-market fit, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cities and communities worldwide. As the number of infections and deaths surge, governments are turning to technology and innovative approaches for help. However, current efforts to engage the innovation communities are reactive, piecemeal, and have limited effectiveness.

This blog describes a Smart Cities COVID-19 Collaboration framework. It provides a structured way to identify the collaboration opportunities between cities, public health systems and the technology community.

smart buildings in a smart city

Smart Buildings – What’s In It for Cities? (Part Two)

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Digital Transformation, Industrial IoT, Internet of Things, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

Smart buildings bring new and significant value to tenants, building owners and operators. These benefits range from increased tenant productivity and safety, lower operating costs, and higher satisfaction. But what value do smart buildings bring to cities?

This article, the second of two parts, describes a framework used to identify areas of value creation by smart buildings for the benefit of cities. A sample set of benefits, and a format for presenting these in a consumable format well suited for city leaders, is presented.

smart buildings - credit to Beau Swierstra

Smart Buildings – What’s In It for Cities? (Part One)

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Digital Transformation, Industrial IoT, Internet of Things, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

Smart buildings bring new and significant value to tenants, building owners and operators. These benefits range from increased tenant productivity and safety, lower operating costs, and higher satisfaction. But what value do smart buildings bring to cities?

In order to understand how cities (and smart cities) benefit from smart buildings, Part One (of two) of this article provides a background understanding of the things that cities care about (outcomes), and how these outcomes are viewed the four civic priorities and perspectives.

Building the Smart Region: an opportunity for electric utility companies

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Business Models, Digital Transformation, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

While smart cities represent a major business opportunity for utility companies, they are better suited to co-lead the building of the “smart region”. Utility companies have the regional focus, infrastructure, resources, operational and execution capabilities to support the largest metropolitan areas to the smaller cities and regions.

This article discusses some entry level smart region opportunities for utility companies, as well as some of the key gaps they must address.

smart city trust

Smart City Trust – think beyond cybersecurity and privacy

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Industrial IoT, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

While a smart city is powered by technology and data, it is enabled and sustained by trust. Many people equate trust with privacy and cybersecurity. However, these are only two elements of many that create trust in a smart city. Trust must be embedded into the processes, policies and technology that create the city services. It must be integrated into its creators, users and beneficiaries from the very beginning.

This article introduces a holistic framework for building trust in a smart city for smart city planners and architects to consider.

smart city innovation labs

Smart city innovation labs – ten best practices

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Best Practices, Industrial IoT, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Partnerships, Smart City, Smart Communities

Smart city innovation labs provide an organized structure for cities, community, experts, and vendors to collaboratively create viable solutions. Successful solutions piloted in smart city innovation labs can then be scaled and deployed into a city’s operations and infrastructure.

Based on our experiences in creating, launching and operationalizing San Mateo County’s Smart Region innovation lab (SMC Labs), we share ten best practices for civic innovation leaders planning their own innovation labs.

Smart City Ecosystem Architects - eight things to do

Building Smart Cities – Eight Things That Matter

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in Best Practices, Digital Transformation, Industrial IoT, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Smart City, Smart Communities

Whether you are planning or have already started your smart city journey, there are eight things that cities must get right. While smart cities are often associated with technology, it is but one component within the larger smart city ecosystem that needs to be addressed.

This article discusses the eight things that leaders and planners must get right, in order to build the sustainable and well functioning smart city.

Smart City Ecosystem Framework

Planning Sustainable Smart Cities with the Smart City Ecosystem Framework

Posted on Benson Chan6 CommentsPosted in Digital Transformation, Internet of Things, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

The smart city is a complex ecosystem of people, processes, policies, technology and other enablers working together to deliver a set of outcomes.

Despite this, many planners today are not taking an ecosystem approach to smart city projects. This article introduces the smart city ecosystem framework, a more holistic and multi-dimensional approach, to building more sustainable, scalable and relevant smart cities.

Smart parking - the real innovation is not in the parking

Smart parking is innovative, but what it enables is even more innovative

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Digital Transformation, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Smart City

The real innovation of smart parking solutions is not in the technology. While smart parking solutions bring immediate value to drivers, parking enforcement agencies and cities, the real innovations and value will emerge once it is deployed and new beneficiaries emerge.

Smart parking is not all about parking. This article describes who the new beneficiaries are, shares examples of where new value is being created, and lists best practices to uncover real innovations.