A Data Tsunami is Coming, Is Your City Ready? Intel’s GM For Smart Cities, Sameer Sharma, Details Why Your Infrastructure is Your Biggest Obstacle

The term “smart city” might bring to mind images from The Jetsons, maybe flying cars and robots serving humans. And while that’s possible, cities are getting smarter right now in very practical and useful ways. Building a smart city is about its citizens and how their lives can continuously be improved through data and incremental change.

“The ultimate goal is very simple: Can we use the combination of innovative thinking, the right technology solution, the right policy making, and the right decision framework to ultimately improve the quality of life for the citizens. Smart cities are not about smartness. It's about a better life for the citizens.”

Meet Sameer Sharma,General Manager of Smart Cities and Intelligent Transportation at Intel. He leads a global team that works to drive new IoT growth categories and revenue streams for Smart City Services. In this episode of IT Visionaries, Sameer defines the term smart city, and how cities can harness the massive amounts of data they produce. Plus he  provides some case studies for what cities such as Singapore and New York are doing to increase the quality of life for their citizens. And Sameer also pinpoints key areas that cities that wish to take the next step in their smart city journey must identify in order to reach their goals.

Main Takeaways

• Johnny (Data) Tsunami: We are in the midst of a data tsunami, and how cities manage the massive amounts of data they collect on a daily basis has never been more critical to the future of those cities than it is today. By understanding the insights data provide, cities can advance things like traffic patterns, infrastructure, and other areas of everyday life that affect citizens. 
• Think Big, But Start Small: City planners and policymakers should always be thinking about the next big project when it comes to improving their citizens’ lives. But while you should always be thinking big, you have to start small. Begin by thinking about how you are managing your networks, and this begins and ends with edge computing. How is your data being transferred back-and-forth? Are you deploying any form of edge computing? Start by answering those questions first because cities that lack that basic tech won’t have the infrastructure to solve many of their problems at the scale they need to.
• Changing Tide: Previously, CIOS were solely responsible for advancing and implementing technology. Things are different now, even at a city-wide level. Technology is not siloed in the way that it used to be, and with so many more people affected by all forms of technology, everyone needs to have a seat at the table.

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