Resilience. Urban Expansion. Internet of Things. Climate Change. Green Energy. Big Data. Sustainability. Inclusion.

These are all buzzwords associated with the Smart Cities concept, but what do they all mean and what is the relevance to ICT4D?

June 2016’s ICT4D Meetup in London is going to take a different approach: We’re inviting speakers working primarily in “developed” contexts to discuss their work in the Smart Cities sector, and the implications and potential in “developing” contexts for their solutions. To round it all off, we’ll have a hands-on IoT design workshop where we strategize Smart City solutions for our own cities or others we work in regularly. 

Please register your intention to attend this event here. 

Order Of Events

• 6:00-6:30pm – arrivals

• 6:45pm – Presentation from Charles Jepson, Boldmind

• 6:55pm – Q&A for Charles

• 7:00pm – Presentation from Miloš Milisavljević, Strawberry energy

• 7:10pm – Q&A for Miloš  

• 7:15pm – Presentation from Matt Houlihan, Cisco UK & Ireland

• 7:25pm – Q&A for Matt

• 7:30pm – IoT Design Workshop led by Aino Hanttu, Futurice

• 8:30pm – Workshop wrap and Q&A for Aino

• 8:35pm to close: NETWORKING

Here’s more information about the speakers for this event (in alphabetical order):

Aino Hanttu
Service Design Lead, Futurice – London

Aino is a multitalented designer specialising in service design and user experience. She manages a variety of skills throughout the design process, from the fuzzy front end phase to painting the overall big picture. She has worked both in Europe and Silicon Valley with world-known clients creating digital B2B and B2C services in healthcare, banking, telecom and retail. Aino is passionate about creating usable, intuitive and beautiful products and services. 

The IoT Workshop, Futurice, and the IoT Service Kit

In this interactive session, Aino will give an overview of the IoT Service Kit before breaking the audience into groups and allowing them to put the Kit to the test. 

Futurice designs and builds creative businesses and services for a new world. We're a one-stop agency for companies that want to be a part of creating that world. We're not tech-led, design-led or business-led. We're change-led. Founded in Helsinki, Finland in 2000, we’re made up of over 300 developers, designers, data scientists, business consultants and change agents, located across six sites in Berlin, Helsinki, London, Munich, Stockholm and Tampere. We’ve worked with many companies over the years including Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft, Vodafone, Nordea and Finnair.

The IoT Service Kit is a co-creation tool for exploring user-centric interactive scenarios. The goal of the Kit is to let user experience drive the process of merging physical and digital realities into successful digital services.

Social Media Links / Accounts

Twitter - @futurice / @ainohanttu       Instagram - @futurice       Facebook ‘Futurice’

Matt Houlihan
Head of Government Affairs - UK & Ireland, Cisco – London

Matt joined Cisco as Head of Government Affairs for UK and Ireland in October 2015.  Previously, he has worked for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he led the government’s Science and Innovation Network in Western Europe, facilitating international policy and scientific exchange with leading UK innovators and scientific organisations.  Before that, Matt worked in the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU where he represented the UK Government in EU institutions on research and innovation spending, consumer and telecoms policy.  Matt has also worked as an advisor to the UK’s European Commissioner, in the Prime Ministers’ European Secretariat and in various policy jobs in the Home Office. 

Matt holds a BSc in Sociology and an MSc in European Politics and Policy, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a diploma in Economics from the Open University. He lives in London with his wife, Severine, and their two children.

Cisco and the Harnessing the Internet of Things for Global Development report

Cisco is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. The concept of solutions being driven to address specific customer challenges has been with Cisco since its inception. Cisco's mission is to shape the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for their customers, employees, investors, and ecosystem partners. 

The Harnessing the Internet of Things for Global Development report explores the current use and potential of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in tackling global development challenges, highlighting a number of specific instances where IoT interventions are helping to solve some of the world's most pressing issues. It presents summary conclusions on what is required for the IoT to reach billions of people living in the developing world, and also to accelerate income growth and social development as a result. Matt will speak to this report, along with some of the government action needed to help realize Smart Cities and the IoT in developing contexts, basing his insight on Cisco's experiences in Manchester and Barcelona.

Social Media Links / Accounts

Twitter - @CiscoUKI

Charles Jepson
Commercial Director & Founder, Boldmind – London

Charles has spent his career in advertising, both in corporate life and building his own agencies. He has worked on and for many different brands, such as Disney, Diageo, Vodafone, Groupe Danone, Philips and LVMH, and has worked across multiple sectors.

Boldmind

Boldmind looks at the smart city space with the vision to create a product to enhance better city living. Through the use and manipulation of data gathered in cities, insights can be used to improve decision making and communication for both city dwellers and retailers.  Furthermore, as online continues to grow and national chains become ever larger, smaller independent retailers run at a greater disadvantage. Boldmind’s aim is to democratise big data, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to make more informed marketing decisions, giving them access to digital screens in real time. Boldmind has launched in the UK, expanded to Malaysia and have ambitious plans to take Flow.city global, especially to less developed markets where marketing opportunities are limited.

Social Media

Twitter - @iot_boldmind

Miloš Milisavljević, Founder & CEO, Strawberry energy – London

Miloš developed a strong interest into renewable energy sources and entrepreneurship during his studies at the Electrotechnical secondary school in Serbia, where he established a student company and became a national champion of youth entrepreneurship. After enrolling at the Electrotechnical Faculty at the University of Belgrade, at the age of 22 he established a bootstrapped startup called Strawberry energy. Currently, Miloš works to foster youth entrepreneurship and holds motivational lectures throughout his native Serbia. He has been a guest speaker at various international events such as New Cities Summit in Dallas (US-TX); Re.Work IoT Summit in San Francisco (US), Re.Work IoT Summit in London (UK), Vienna Economic Forum 2013 (Austria) and TEDxYouth@ISB (SRB).

Strawberry energy

Strawberry energy is a startup which develops smart city infrastructure to offer clean energy, connectivity and relevant local info in public city spaces. Their first and most renowned innovation was the Strawberry Tree, the world's first public solar charger and WiFi station for mobile devices. Their smart street furniture portfolio is growing to offer new services in public spaces such as environmental sensing, public safety features and local info. Strawberry energy smart devices aim to enhance the smartness of both residential and commercial real estates, including new properties and city centers. The network of Strawberry Trees in three European countries has reached around 400.000 users. With a mission of enhancing the smartness of cities across the world, Strawberry energy brings IoT to outdoor public spaces and strives to make living in cities better and more convenient.

Their innovations have been awarded globally. Strawberry energy won the Verge Accelerate 2014 in San Francisco, was a finalist for the World Technology Award 2013 in the category of Environment, and the audience winner at the Startup Europe Summit in Berlin, while the Strawberry Tree has been proclaimed as one of the Top ten urban innovations that work’ at the New Cities Summit in Dallas in 2014. Their most recent success was winning a pilot at the Smart City Cognicity Challenge at London’s prestigious Canary Wharf. Strawberry energy has been featured by the Financial Times, BBC, CNN, Forbes, The Guardian,TIMES, Mashable etc.

Social Media Links / Accounts

Twitter - @e_strawberry     YouTube - WatchStrawberry       LinkedIn - ‘Strawberry energy’    Facebook ‘Strawberry energy’

The Tuesday 28 June event will be held at the GSMA HQ at 25 Walbrook, London EC4N 8AF. Please arrive on time for a 6:30pm start, and bring a friend! Light snacks and beverages will be served. Please register your intention to attend here. 

Can't make the event but would still like to participate? We'll be using the hashtag #ICT4DLdn to share quotes, photos, and to invite questions!

QUESTIONS? Please contact Ronda Zelezny-Green at rondazg3@gmail.com.