Smart Cities

During the expert session, Jonathan Reichental engages the audience through methods like a Q&A session, live demonstrations of IoT technologies, and using the Mentimeter app for interactive exercises on urbanization challenges and potential solutions. These activities help the audience grasp the importance of creating smarter and more sustainable communities and inspire them to contribute to this goal. The speaker also shares real-life examples and encourages collaboration among cities to address common issues like traffic congestion, air pollution, and waste management.

• Recognizing the Impact of Urbanization: Understanding the historical significance and current challenges of urbanization is crucial for addressing issues such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and excessive consumerism in our communities.
• Embracing Innovative Solutions: Exploring alternative transportation systems, waste management solutions, and technologies to detect and address poor air quality are essential steps towards creating smarter and more sustainable cities.
• Harnessing the Power of IoT and Digitalization: Utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) for optimizing city services and improving connectivity between humans and devices can lead to a more efficient, sustainable future for urban environments.

In this expert session, Jonathan Reichental explores the future of cities and the importance of creating smarter and more sustainable communities. He begins by reflecting on the significance of cities in human history, sharing images and maps illustrating their growth throughout time. However, he also acknowledges the challenges posed by modern cities such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and excessive consumerism.

 

Reichental discusses the consequences of our society's love affair with automobiles, pointing out the negative impact on health and the environment. He encourages the audience to find sustainable answers to these challenges, emphasizing that this century will be defined by cities and our human future lies within them.

 

The speaker shares insights from his extensive travels around the world and emphasizes the importance of addressing urbanization's issues, including waste management and the impact of plastic consumption on health. He advocates for improving waste management systems in cities, especially for marginalized populations, and making cities more inclusive.

 

Reichental also discusses the digitalization of city services as an opportunity to enhance user experience, reduce costs, and increase scalability. He mentions the ongoing energy revolution, highlighting how solar energy production has become increasingly attractive due to its cost-effectiveness.

 

The expert then delves into the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) in cities and urban environments, sharing examples such as smart traffic management and air quality monitoring systems. He stresses how IoT can help optimize city services for a more efficient and sustainable future. Additionally, Reichental talks about the potential of connected buildings and the importance of collecting and managing data to make better decisions and create innovative solutions.

 

When addressing questions from the audience, Reichental discusses the timeline for the implementation of autonomous vehicles and the need for collaboration between cities to support innovation. He also shares his enthusiasm for continuing learning about new topics and mentions his books on smart cities for various audiences.

 

Throughout the session, Jonathan Reichental encourages each person to reflect on their individual role in creating smarter and more sustainable communities. He emphasizes that cities are essential for human development but require collective effort to address the challenges they pose. The expert concludes by encouraging everyone to contribute to creating a better future for cities and urban environments.

Cryptocurrency Demystified

This interactive talk builds the context and shares insights on cryptocurrencies, which is one of the most exciting developments happening right now. In this session, you will learn the essential, core concepts of how cryptocurrencies are created and managed. In plain-English, the topic will be demystified and it will cover how the underlying technology works including mining, the role of cryptography, how to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and how to get started. For this session there are no prerequisite knowledge or skills required. Participants will walk away inspired and empowered with actionable knowledge, ready to explore this topic more extensively.