Last week I went to one of the regular Research\u00a0Salon discussion events organised by the Digital Leaders\u00a0group. The session was on the Digital High Street and\u00a0Smart Cities\u00a0and kindly\u00a0sponsored by Teeside University who work on smart place projects across Europe. Speakers were from Teeside University and DCLG (the Department for Communities and Local Government).<\/p>\n
These are the\u00a0themes\u00a0that\u00a0stayed with me:<\/p>\n
Infrastructure is essential.<\/strong> The smartness comes from interconnectedness; the way in which devices and services work together with sensors and networks to be more efficient and personalised in order to\u00a0benefit the individual and the collective.<\/em><\/p>\n This only works with low-cost and\u00a0reliable ubiquitous connectivity and a high degree of interoperability. The higher the degree of interconnectedness, the lower the friction and the greater the potential\u00a0value.<\/p>\n Adoption will\u00a0require\u00a0carrots and sticks. <\/strong>Whilst government and industry can work on defining standards and a suitable legislative framework, that won\u2019t be enough in itself to drive widespread adoption on the high street.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s clear to see benefits at scale for a large chain such as a national supermarket,\u00a0but harder to see the return on investment for a small business.<\/p>\n Business owners will need help in understanding\u00a0what being part of a connected city means for them. The high street\u00a0will need a critical mass of adoption in order to drive behavioural change in traders and consumers.<\/p>\n Digital is being forgotten in the regeneration of our high-streets.\u00a0<\/strong>Shops are often singular entities, islands, yet the high street is becoming experiential. Smartness gives the opportunity for the experience to reach beyond the shop door.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n For a high street store to be profitable, it needs a mix of retailers, independent shops, and other service providers. Big retailers are\u00a0investing heavily in their transformation, SME high street residents are getting left behind.<\/p>\n Policy making and town planning functions need to consider the new opportunities available via a smart city (or town, or neighbourhood) – sharing of resources, flexible working, and\u00a0new models for co-operation with shared risks and shared rewards.<\/p>\n Most\u00a0current work is foundational.<\/strong>\u00a0Despite almost 20 years\u00a0of\u00a0broadband availability the government are still trotting out\u00a0promises of super fast connections for everyone. We need to ditch the copper pairs\u00a0and build our\u00a0smart cities and neighbourhoods\u00a0on mobile data\/5G.<\/em><\/p>\n We will be rapidly overtaken if we don\u2019t move quickly beyond building foundations\u00a0and into the delivery of services of\u00a0value.<\/p>\n To be innovative we need to ask\u00a0what smart cities allow us to do that we\u2019ve simply never considered before – and understand that every\u00a0answer will demand\u00a0a\u00a0robust foundation of capabilities.<\/p>\n There is a considerable non-smart legacy.<\/strong> Physical infrastructure, service grids, connectivity – all are lacking to various degrees.<\/em><\/p>\n How does an old building become smart, integrated into the neighbourhood, optimised, and a contributor and consumer of the\u00a0sensor network? However, work to tackle legacy must not limit our ambition.<\/p>\n The\u00a0inevitable\u00a0skills gap.<\/strong>\u00a0No conversation about digital is complete without a discussion of skills gaps. It\u2019s convenient to envision fully digitally transformed cities,\u00a0but the majority of citizens today do not understand the need or the benefits.<\/em><\/p>\n Until \u201csmartness\u201d is a genuine\u00a0utility with\u00a0no expert knowledge required (like turning on a tap or plugging in a lamp), we will live in a\u00a0multi-tier culture differentiated by digital capability.<\/p>\n To address skills and empower all citizens\u00a0we require smart services designed around well understood user needs. These means picking examples and early services carefully.\u00a0Automatically turning the kettle on when you pull into the driveway may be\u00a0a nice gimmick, but\u00a0a better way to alert carers when a vulnerable individual is in distress has a much more immediate and understandable\u00a0social impact.<\/p>\n The format sees a Chair joined by\u00a0two speakers and\u00a015-20\u00a0attendees. Each\u00a0speaker is\u00a0followed by structured\u00a0Q&A and an open\u00a0discussion. The Chair is firm and effective in ensuring the discussions run to time and all who wish to\u00a0have a chance to speak. As is typical, discussions are under\u00a0Chatham House rules with no live tweeting.<\/p>\n Attendees at this event\u00a0ranged across\u00a0local and central government policy making, current and ex-town planners, academia, and various relevant businesses. The range of experiences and perspectives led to an informed and lively\u00a0conversation. Last week\u2019s\u00a0group was approximately 80% male and overwhelmingly white, which is a little less well balanced\u00a0than Salons I\u2019ve been to before.<\/p>\n Topics vary from event to event, as do the sponsors. Events are held around the country in a variety of locations.\u00a0If you haven\u2019t been to a Digital Leaders Salon event, and there\u2019s one upcoming on a topic that interests you, then\u00a0I\u2019d recommend it.<\/p>\n This post first appeared on Norm’s LinkedIn page here.<\/a>\u00a0You can follow him on Twitter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week I went to one of the regular Research\u00a0Salon discussion events organised by the Digital Leaders\u00a0group. The session was on the Digital High Street and\u00a0Smart Cities\u00a0and kindly\u00a0sponsored by Teeside University who work on smart place projects across Europe. Speakers were from Teeside University and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","region-london","region-lep","topic-healthtech","topic-connectivity","topic-govtech","topic-digital-skills","topic-research","topic-prop-tech"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is a Digital Leaders Research Salon?<\/h5>\n