VIDEO: Smart cities – where does the money flow
Source: Smart Cities World
05 Sep 2019by Sarah Wray: Editor, SmartCitiesWorld
SmartCitiesWorld talks to Phil Skipper, Vodafone, about the role of mobile operators in smart cities.
Mobile operators and cities must work more closely together to deliver smarter cities, says Phil Skipper, Head of IoT, Vodafone Business.
“Cities by definition rely on their ability to manage a complex ecosystem,” he said. “[Mobile operators] need to work more closely with cities because we are the new infrastructure. Cities have roads, rail and waste collection networks, etc. We are a new piece of infrastructure and we bring both the data and the connectivity that really can transform the way cities operate.”
Skipper noted, though, that a challenge for everyone in the smart city ecosystem is: “Where does the money flow?”
“People always always talk about building the smart city, but actually the smart city is [already] there,” he said. “The question we should be answering is what do we need do to make a city smarter? It really comes down to making the linkage between policy, planning and procurement and then being able to source smarter solutions from the supplier ecosystem.”
Phil Skipper will deliver at presentation at Smart IoT Connect on September 10, London