hen China’s biggest public bike-hire operator chose Manchester as the location for their first smart scheme outside Asia, they were cautioned that the weather on the banks of the Irwell differed a little from the Yangtze.
Read MoreUS tech giant Microsoft Corp will work with more Chinese tech startups to boost their growth through its local accelerators, said its top executive.
Read MoreAs the Internet of Things (IoT) gains traction and continues to expand, it is impacting every area of our lives and quickly turning “smart cities” from a futuristic idea into a reality. Across the globe, cities are becoming more connected, collecting data everywhere to help planners make smarter decisions and deliver new services.
Read MoreMORAINE, Ohio—For years, Donjian Xu and her husband operated a sleepy Chinese restaurant in this industrial suburb of Dayton, cooking up American-style Chinese food like sweet-and-sour chicken and beef with broccoli for customers who would stop in on their lunch break.
Read MoreMIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Meeting in Miami, Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the American Cities Initiative, a suite of new and expanded investments that will empower cities to generate innovation and advance policy that moves the nation forward. In an era of unprecedented challenges – from rapid technological change to Washington D.C.'s deepening disengagement on urban issues to the climate crisis – cities need new tools that will allow mayors to do what they do best: innovate, solve problems, and work together to move the needle on the issues that matter to citizens and America's future.
Read MorePerhaps because they played SimCity-style games in their younger years, many technologists working in government today are excited with the prospect of using "smart city" technology to transform the administrative process from one that is unpredictable, bureaucratic, opaque, slow and clunky into one that responds to the push of a button or the twist of a knob. The purpose of the smart city concept is to transform a busy, complex and unreliable metropolis into something that works precisely the way the people in charge want it to work.
Read MoreWhen retiree You Yulan began her search for a new home in 2015, her main requirement was that it had to be served by a lift.
"My (ailing) mother had to be bundled in a blanket and carried down the stairs as the stretcher could not fit her doorway," the 65-year-old recalled. "That was when I knew I had to move out of my old apartment, which didn't have a lift."
Read MoreI spent ten days in May talking with institutional investors in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing. There was considerable interest in the various problems the Trump administration was encountering that prevented the implementation of his pro-growth agenda. These investors strongly believe that Asia would benefit from greater American growth. One institutional investor in Singapore went so far as to wonder whether electing a billionaire as president, a man who was accustomed to doing things his own way without opposition, didn’t represent “a peaking of capitalism.” While I do not support that view, there is no question that Asians are following the political developments in the United States closely, because America is a critical factor in the economies of the region. I was asked almost everywhere whether Trump would be impeached and I told questioners it was unlikely.
Read MoreChina has drawn up a list of concessions it says can help deliver a “win-win” trade relationship with the U.S.
Read MoreLearning Mandarin isn’t easy. Establishing a system of innovation and catalyzing R&D isn’t easy either, especially in a country with over one billion people. This is particularly true with successive generations of poverty, a structure established to punish failure, and an education system that emphasizes memorization over original thinking. Technologically and economically, China has emerged from a model of seclusion to imitation. My time in China revealed a consistent emphasis on and need for that next step, from imitation to innovation.
Read MoreWith more than 60 per cent of the world's population expected to be urban residents by 2050, the challenge to build more "smart cities" has become urgent. With the advent of digital technology and big data, changes are afoot, be it in public transportation, citizen services or the way businesses are run. To discuss these changes and evaluate the processes under way, one of France's leading newspapers, Le Monde, in partnership with The Straits Times, is organising a conference titled "Smart Cities: Which visions and models for the 21st century?" at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy today. And, in a four-page special, The Straits Times and Le Monde showcase Asian cities that have, in their individual ways, applied smart city solutions to enhance the quality of life.
Read MoreSingularity University (SU), whose mission is to educate, inspire, and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges, is sponsoring the Smart City Accelerator in Columbus, Ohio. The city was the winner of the US Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge last year.
Read MoreGrowing support for multilateral development and expanding R&D capacity make China increasingly important in the quest to advance global health.
Read MoreSeattle, Philadelphia, San Jose and San Leandro officials say accessibility to high-speed internet and connectivity is fundamental to moving smart city plans forward.
Read MoreUnder pressure to adapt to new demands and increased service usage, city officials from around the nation said Wednesday their highest hurdles for smart city growth included money, staffing, finding leadership buy-in, partnerships, and creating a cohesive vision that spans the organization.
Read MoreThe Indiana General Assembly’s 2017 Legislative Session recently adjourned with the passing of a two-year $32+ billion budget. The new budget contains key wins for technology and innovation. The General Assembly’s legislative priorities included venture capital, entrepreneurship and advanced infrastructure.
Read MoreFor their school science fair, the two developed HydroAlert, an innovative flood warning sensor. The device shoots an ultrasonic sensor into the surface of Bull Creek, measuring how far it currently sits from the road. The data is then uploaded to the HydroAlert app–which the students also designed–every 15 seconds. LED lights on the device changes colors (green, yellow or red) depending on how close the water is getting to the roadway.
Read MoreThe last year has shown a huge acceleration of interest and action in the Smart Cities market – in the UK, and around the world. What has long been a topic of interest to technology companies, academics, urban designers and local authorities was covered extensively by mainstream media organisation such as the BBC, the Independent newspaper, New Statesman magazine and marketing magazine The Drum.
Read MoreI am proud of my adopted home City of Philadelphia for many reasons, but yesterday that pride grew a little greater when I heard the news that Philadelphia was named one of five U.S. cities to win a Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grant.
Read MoreThere are a number of converging factors that can turn a municipality’s vision for a smart city into reality: the steady rollout of high-speed public Wi-Fi networks; the rapid evolution of Internet of Things devices that enable people, businesses and government agencies to measure and get data in real time; and the new transportation and business models created by the NATU (Netflix, Tesla, Airbnb, Uber). Just as significant a factor is the renewed embrace among both government officials and business leaders of public-private partnerships (P3s). That’s encouraging, because without a P3, a smart city plan will most likely remain stuck on the drawing board.