How to make the smart city a reality

AT the heart of a smart city is the collective conversation between government, business and the community, focusing on both technology and people.

A strong representation from each of these sectors met in our metro on March 27, when the first conversation took place.

This sparked a desire for action and a greater awareness of the pockets of excellence already in place, forming the building blocks for a smarter city.

They say talk is cheap and action counts, so how do we make the smart city a reality in practical terms?

ý Collaborative knowledgesharing

The shift to collaborative knowledge-sharing is a courageous one.

It requires us to move away from a mind-set that fiercely protects knowledge and intellectual property.

A clear business case for data sharing and collaborative information portals must be formulated and written into strategy, policies and security protocols.

Effective analytics for management decision-making is an emerging field and a potential niche opportunity for entrepreneurs.

The smart city international conversation is also expanding internationally, with delegates from the city of Andalucia presenting their concept to the city recently. ý Don’t reinvent the wheel What we learned from our first session is how many solutions already exist in the city.

They are simply waiting for the supply and demand stakeholders to connect and co-create.

With the right support, mentoring, development and a collective will from both suppliers and customers, it is possible to turn the city into a centre of excellence for innovation.

To facilitate these connections, the Regional Innovation Forum (RIF) will be creating a smart city Facebook page and a communication strategy for all stakeholders to engage in the conversations to move the smart city forward.

All interested parties are invited to sign up on the website at www.innovationeasterncape.co.za

ý Doing small things in a big way

There was total agreement that a key success factor in igniting real progress in our metro is to avoid the trap of waiting for massive strategies, tenders and the next big disruption to get the ball rolling.

We need to be proactive and to encourage smart thinking by forming or expanding working groups.

A great example of doing small things in a big way is one telephone conversation from Propella to a contact in Germany.

This one call resulted in a lowcost house being delivered to the Propella site.

The house will now be turned into an internet of things lab in collaboration with research students at the local university.

It will provide a real-time environment for product testing.

What else is happening out there in the city?

Our brains are primed to look for opportunity when we open our minds to possibility, often resulting in the unexpected.

It is the small pockets of excellence, connecting through strategic conversations, that result in an ecosystem which becomes the smart city.

Susan Scott sums up the power of these conversations: “What gets talked about and how it gets talked about determines what will happen. Or won’t happen.”

And that we succeed or fail, gradually then suddenly, one conversation at a time.