Being a simple bloke from down under, hailing from a place where there’s more sheep and cows than people, I guess it’s a bit easy for people to assume that I could not possibly have anything of value to add to a conversation about the convergence of technology in cities (in developing economies) via a sustainable and profitable manner. But the thing is that I’m quite a fan of technology, especially if it concerns that very topic that I have just mentioned.
So my two-cents on the subject may be something worth disseminating.
The global landscape
Let’s look at what’s happening around the world. Global economies are struggling to attract investment and that’s a big thing since it is one of the significant ways to achieve economic growth and prosperity. This growth is essential to the long-term sustainability of a certain country or economy and needs to be delivered organically as well as incrementally. But the question is how can you deliver just that while sustainably managing various systems like transportation, healthcare, social support and the like?
The academics will tell us that we need to attract investment, reduce socially-oriented overall spending and ensure the retention of taxpayers as they grow. Each of these things plus other challenges represents huge sustainability and social issues for city planners and senior executives.
Close to home
Of course they are absolutely correct. But sometimes I also love to get some additional knowledge from sources (however unlikely they may be) that’s closer to my roots. So here is a four point ‘technology plan’ which draws
inspiration from a source that reminds me of home: Sheep.
1. Commoditised Infrastructure
I believe that the first step in any technology plan is to have a commoditised broadband system. It is imperative for this to be a utility service, especially considering the technological climate and the way the internet is a massive factor in shaping it. Think of it as oxygen … when you breathe in, you would expect that there will be some. But of course you’ll need more or less of this depending on what you are doing. If you are chasing sheep off the rugby paddock before the big game you’ll need more than the bloke standing along the sidelines and drinking a pint to teach you a lesson in stock management.
2. Smart Technology
There’s lots of clever things already out there that put the smart into smart tech. Things as varied as immersive gaming that drives video-based collaboration, intelligent metering for our gas and water consumption, facial recognition software, behavioural analytics software, etc. But these alone are not enough to drive mass citizen participation because the need still exists for people to be encouraged to use these innovations more frequently and creatively. Using the shepherd analogy, we let’s automate the way we chase sheep off the paddock before the game. It saves money, time and (in my case) a huge chunk of dignity.
3. Attractive Services
The services that you need to deliver to people should be inclusive, fun, participation-friendly and engaging. And it’s definitely worth knowing what your customers want. The point is, unless what you have to offer is of any actual interest, the guy looking for sheep’s milk would leave you alone with the massive amount of wool that you have just harvested.
4. Delivery
For the most part, government economic investment ROI ratio’s need to account for a level of funding for the delivery of social services in the instance of a brown fields environment or existing city. The delivery framework that you adopt for your services needs to factor in a range of issues such as political, legal, environmental, social, economic, technological, etc. But steering away from the economic models that the academics use, I would rather bid you to look at what I think are two top performing cities around the world for delivery inspiration.
a.) Singapore – Yes, it’s a small island country with only 5 million people and about 750sq km of land (which is slowly growing). But it is one of the most successful and developed countries in the world in terms of economy, infrastructure, etc. Their success can be traced back to the early days of the nation. They developed a healthy trading economy via a series of treaties and strategic relationships. By leveraging this unique capability and their strategic geographical location, the government has invested in export capability in the large national enterprise level and has managed to carve out a significant market niche.
b.) Eindhoven, Netherlands – The city of Eindhoven won a competition and a cheque from the Dutch government (50 million Euros) to help them use technology to transform the delivery experience of the city services. They now have a couple of prime examples of innovative service delivery and consumer-driven utility-based services such as web-based video, home security services, e-education (to stimulate long term unemployment talent back into the marker) and a local IP television with “local content”. Hats off to them indeed for making it all happen.
In summary
One last take-away is that innovation is critical to success and that necessity is the mother of invention. You don’t need to be a rich country, a mega city, or even have the population density of Shanghai. Change is inevitable in every aspect of our lives so let’s work together in striving for evolution instead of revolutions. As for me, I’m off towards the paddocks to practice rounding up those sheep.
Nick is the Business Manager for Strategy & Alliances in Datacraft New Zealand. He is responsible for guiding clients in the government and private sectors through the journey of becoming a Digital City. Nick has more than 15 years experience in the IT and Telecommunication industries.
{ 1 comments }
