Debating the Future and Smarter Cities
Great to see some of our work with iDat being talked about at #FutureDebates cheers @thisisthechris pic.twitter.com/ZCcYLnQ352
— elixel (@elixelofficial)
February 11, 2016
On the 11th of February Design for Social Change and the shiny new intern (yours truly, the back of my head pictured above) attended the future debates in Plymouth. The event was hosted by The British Science Association in the beautiful Devonport Guild Hall and highlighted innovative emerging tech organizations in the area and around the uk, including presentations by Co-Cars, i-DAT, the Plymouth City Council’s Data Play initiative, and Changify.
The main focus of the evening was a lecture by Living PlanIT’s Vice President of Corporate Development Dan Byles. The speech centered around the theme of smart cities and Byles presented some very mind blowing ideas about how technology can connect to every aspect of our lives. Can using simple sensors save on energy costs? What if we could change how we interact with the services provided by the local government? Will Amazon ever really deliver packages by drone? These and many other points were addressed looking at the future of how humans will interact with technology.
The main point I took away from the lecture was how little of the digital potential humans utilize to make our lives easier. Technology is seen as a thing you keep in the computer cabinet in the hall, or in your pocket when you need directions. Not a lot of people think that those same devices could help them save money on utilities, and it was very interesting to hear what Byles had to say about where he is advocating for those advancements to take place and how close we are coming to smart cities all over the world.