IoT: Imagine It First
On the last day of September, I had the opportunity to participate at the 2nd Annual Internet of Things conference in Ottawa (@IoT613). The Ottawa IoT community gathered for meaningful workshops, presentations and discussions to help advance the understanding and implementation of IoT in Canada's capital region. After a great overview by Hitachi on the realities of the Internet of Things and the business value generated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, I joined a panel that discussed IoT in relation to Smart Cities.
The IoT is a Catalyst for Making it So.
Former Invest Ottawa CEO Bruce Lazenby (and board member of the Canadian Intelligent Communities Forum) shared global best practices that leverage software, technology and more importantly, a culture of innovation, to help Cities excel in productivity, economic activity, sustainability, and livability. Although "technology" is merely a tool to deliver new 21st Century experiences and value in today's digital world, it is also the required underlying foundation to successful deployment and sustainable scaling of relevant leading-edge use cases that change how we work, live, learn, and play.
CENGN CEO and former Cisco technology executive, Ritch Dusome, spoke to the need of a nationwide digital strategy and ultra-high speed broadband foundation if we want to take advantage of the opportunities in the digital age. CENGN plays an important role in defining, designing, and building Canada's digital infrastructure for the future.
Following Bruce on context and demand, and Ritch on the required underlying digital-ready networks (the foundation for Industry 4.0), Barrie Kirk, Co-founder and Executive Director at CAVCOE (Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence) and myself discussed two of the most disruptive digital trends that will change the shape of our communities as we know it: autonomous cars and smart buildings.
Automated vehicles: the convergence of innovation in electrical, connected, and autonomous cars is eminent. Newcomers in the industry seek to leapfrog to fully automated vehicles, and automotive incumbents suggest a more incremental evolution. The predicted end-state, however, is consistent: self-driving cars are part of our foreseeable future and will bring us increased safety; reduced accidents; improved mobility; and reduced traffic connections, which will result in increased productivity and sustainable economic growth. With the emergence of the sharing-economy, we can see a future where don't own our own cars anymore, but share a fleet of autonomous vehicles that will redefine urban mobility. One can even question the need for multi-billion dollar public transit infrastructure if we can envision a world where self-driving cars provide more personalized and on-demand multi-mode mobility experiences. Barrie predicts that we will see commercial viable autonomous vehicles by 2020 and that they'll be mainstream on our roads by 2025.
Buildings: our communities are complex systems shaped by our built environment. Digital technologies are changing how we work, live, work and play - and consequently our buildings should adapt to the changing needs of our future generations. Until recently, however, digital technologies have not had the same impact on our buildings, aside from early innovation in home automation. This is rapidly changing: the largest industry in the world--the real estate and construction sector--is embracing digital transformation to make our future buildings (and retrofit our existing buildings) more efficient, sustainable, safe and secure, productive, healthy, and responsive to the changing needs of building users. Building systems (heating, cooling, lighting, security, AV, communications, etc.) are converging onto one single, secure, and open IP-based Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) building network. Digital innovation in real estate and construction is showing capital cost savings of almost one dollar per square foot, and an even more impressive one dollar twenty five for annual operating cost…all the while providing for future-ready, responsive, and more flexible 21st Century spaces and places.
There are still plenty of obstacles to overcome: security concerns, privacy, obsolete building codes, policy and regulation, to just name a few. Bruce Lazenby interestingly made a reference to Star Trek. It was Gene Roddenberry who was able to "imagine it first" and envision digital capabilities that now have become common technologies. Maybe we all should learn to dream a little about the possibilities in front of us, and not be held back by established practices and legacy thinking. The future is bright - as long as we allow ourselves to be inspired, discover together, co-create, collaborate, and learn from our mistakes. Together, we can change our cities and make the world a better place. The Internet of Things is a catalyst for making it so.
