Stay Connected“Making Smart Communities that are Accessible, Liveable and Sustainable for All”
The Smart Community Podcast is a hub where Smart and exciting people from all around the world come to discuss all things Smart City, Smart Town, Smart Region – anything that makes a place more liveable. Together we can create the Smart Community Collective.
Disclaimer: All content is representative of personal opinion only and is not associated with any company, organisation or government agency.
This episode of the Smart Community Podcast is brought to you by Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, working across every aspect of today's built environment. In this episode, I had a brilliant conversation with Andrew Pettifer, the NSW Region Leader of Arup, and Steve Coster, the Managing Director at international design practice, HASSELL. We have a fascinating discussion about the impact of technology, design and leadership on the way we work, and how this fits in the Smart Community arena. Arup has just opened three new buildings for their workforce in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore, and we talk about the guiding principals for these buildings, and why it is so important to have this forward thinking approach rather than just leasing an existing office building. I have visited both the Sydney and Melbourne sites and I must say, the intentional design really does make a difference. Andrew and Steve explain the process of planning, designing and implementing such a Smart and sustainable building. As well as talking about the different ways design, space and technology are used, we also discuss the power of workplace culture, the importance of giving people flexible work choices, and the need for leadership to create high-trust environments for staff. We finish our conversation discussing the emerging trends in the ways we work and how work will change into the future. If you would like to sponsor an episode of the Smart Community Podcast, please send me an email to zoe@mysmart.community and we can discuss the options. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a really great conversation with Alex Girard, the CTO of Liftango. Alex tells us about his background and what he's passionate about, and also what a Smart City means to him. We also talk about what's happening in France and Australia in terms of transportation as a pillar for society, and the differences between the two. Alex then shares about what Liftango does, including carpooling and on-demand bus solutions. We then talk about how open data is a means of integrating across the different disciplines. We finish up talking about while the spotlight is on EVs and AVs, electric and autonomous vehicles, we need to start talking about how they fit into the shared mobility space. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Alex via LinkedIn or email him alex@liftango.com Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a great conversation with Frank Burns, President and Co-Founder of Apana, a technology company that is currently applying its IoT and Prescriptive Analytics suites to solve problems with water use inside the built environment. Frank shares his background in waste water management, his passion for eliminating water waste and contamination in the commercial, industrial and institutional sector, and how it sparked his interest in the Smart Cities/Smart Communities space. We discuss the way Apana uses technology and data for Smart Water Management, and why it's so important not only in individual companies but at the city level. Frank shares his thoughts on how this is currently happening in the US, the tug of war between the tech-focused approach and the bottom-up approach to Smart cities and why meaningful measurement is the key to integration and collaboration across sectors and disciplines. We finish our chat talking about water being the emerging trend that we're not talking about enough, and how using IOT measurement and data analysis can be a security system against mechanical failure and human error in the Smart Water space. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Frank via the Apana website Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a fascinating conversation with Jonathan Reichental, the Chief Information Officer for the City of Palo Alto, California. Jonathan shared a bit about his background in technology, why he loves the way technology can make positive things happen for individuals and the world. He talks about what it's been like being, in his words, a bit of a maverick from the private sector, now being a public servant and working for local government. Jonathan shares how the City of Palo Alto is working on digitisation and the high degree of importance they place on collaboration with the community. We talk about what a Smart City or Smart Community means to Jonathan, why it's so important and how being in the opening chapters of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a lot of change for all of us. Jonathan also explains why cities or urban locations are the future, not only in terms of where most humans will live going forwards, but also in terms of solving the big problems facing our planet, such as climate change. We talk about some of the projects Palo Alto is currently working on and why decision making and leadership is key to better integrating across disciplines, industries, governments and academia. We finish off discussing emerging trends, including the human trends of the digital divide and human rights, and tech trends such as blockchain, AI and data. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Don't forget to check out the Urban Motion Conference in Brisbane https://www.apchexpo.com Connect with Jonathan on Twitter @reichental Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have an awesome conversation with Kerry Anderson, the founder of Operation NextGen and the author of Entrepreneurship: It's everybody's business. Kerry is passionate about sharing stories from rural and regional Australia. Kerry tells us a little secret to start with, and also the importance of having new conversations with new people in new places. Kerry and I discuss the concept of Smart Towns and Smart Communities, and how these towns and communities have to embrace change and be willing to experiment. Kerry then talks about the value of entrepreneurs in the region, and how complacency can affect the growth of a regional area. Kerry then shares about some of the regional conferences and events that are happening, shares some stories and tells us about Operation NextGen. Kerry tells us about the research she completed overseas and the importance of collaboration and champions to better integrate across the different disciplines, government and industries. We talk about improving connectivity so we can embrace the gig economy in regional Australia. As always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Kerry on LinkedIn, as @kerrywords on Twitter, as @RuralEntrepreneurs on Facebook or at her website kerryanderson.com.au Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
In this episode of the Smart Community podcast, I have a great chat with Stephen Coulter from Localift. Stephen tells us about his background in financial services, banking and later startups, and how the two have now combined in his interest in the Smart Mobility space. We talk about Smart Cities being made up of a series of hyper-local communities, and why it's not just technology but also psychology that we need to be looking at when preparing for and encouraging the changes that are coming, whether they happen cooperatively or disruptively. Stephen then shares with us some of the projects he's currently working on, including Local Lift, and why trust and seamless payment processes are so important in the Smart Mobility space. We discuss the concept of shared mobility and why it's an emerging trend not being talked about enough, despite the fact that it's an important part of the 21st Century solution to the 20th Century problem of congestion. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Stephen via Email Stephen@localift.net or on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod
Hello #smartfriends and welcome to the first interview episode of the Smart Community Podcast. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go back and listen to yesterday's episode which is all about why I've rebranded to expand the conversation away from just cities. As you probably know by now, the conversations always come back to the human beings at the centre anyway, so broadening the conversation to be about Smart Communities is important. Having said all of that, we will still be using the term Smart Cities, because it is a common industry term and because most people are quite familiar with it. This episode is no different, and although the first part of the conversation is very much around Smart Cities, you will see that we do shift focus to me more inclusive of the Smart Community focus about halfway. So, in this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I interview Monica Wulff, Cofounder of Startup Muster, a data-focused company that measures and publishes the progress, challenges, and opportunities within the Australian startup ecosystem. Their 2018 report is out now and you can find it at www.startupmuster.com In this episode, Monica shares her passion for the future economic and social wellbeing of Australians, how childhood travel and her background in economics sparked her interest in the Smart City space, and she tells us about some of the projects she's involved in. We do talk a lot about technology, because that is where Monica spends a lot of her time, but we also talk about the relationship we have with our technology, the evolution of our places and how they can serve us as a community. Monica talks about the need for courage for all of us as we are experiencing a lot of change and will continue to do so going forward, and the emerging trends of coworking spaces, the sharing economy, better use of dead space and why, amidst all this tech talk, we must include the Arts in our Smart conversation. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Monica on LinkedIn, or as @monwulff on Twitter and Instagram. You can also head to Startup Muster to read the report or take part. Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Ellen Ronalds Keene.
On The Smart City Podcast, what I've realised is, we're not actually talking Smart Cities per se, we're talking Smart Communities and Smart Regions. The term Smart City is not as inclusive as it could be, because we also want to talk to people, or talk about things that are happening in our regional areas and across borders. I want to shift my language from Smart City to Smart Community, and under Smart Community, encompass Smart City, Smart Town and Smart Region. Then extending on that, Smart People, because we need Smart Citizens to know that they're Smart Citizens in order to enact their Smart Community and Smart Lives. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod The Smart City Podcast is produced by Ellen Ronalds Keene.
In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a fascinating conversation with Tom Muller, an Economic Geographer and one of the cofounders of Bee Smart City. He shares with us how Bee Smart City came to be, what they do and a bit about their database connecting Smart City providers with people seeking their services. We also discuss the fact that Smart Cities really needs to be acknowledging that it's not always about the big cities, but municipalities of any size, which you might have noticed is an increasingly common conversation on the podcast, so watch this space.... Tom also shares his perspective on how Germany is embracing Smart concepts and the opportunities and challenges of this new paradigm globally, as well as the emerging trend of bottom-up initiatives and empowering Smart Citizens, who Tom calls Smartivists. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com Connect with Tom and Bee Smart City at www.beesmart.city or find them socials @beesmartcity Connect with me via email: zoe@thesmartcitypodcast.com Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod
In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I interview Stephanie Piper, 3D printing enthusiast, and the Community Engagement Coordinator at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, where she runs their Maker Space. In this episode we discuss Steph's journey from studying biomedicine and vaccine development, to being involved in the 3D printing space and why she's so passionate about the possibilities and opportunities 3D printing technology provides for Smart Cities. Steph explains what 3D printing actually is, and what kind of people and projects are happening at her Maker Space, as well as some of the ways 3D printing can be used to help recycle and reuse plastics, and implications for the circular economy in these particular areas. Steph shares her passion for educating people about this technology, and her views about integrating across disciplines, governments and academia, as well as some of the emerging trends in the 3D printing and maker space arena. What we don't discuss in this episode is something exciting that has happened for Stephanie since we recorded this interview back in September. Along with a team she formed at the Toowoomba Startup Weekend Women, Steph has started a business to help engage girls in STEM and to teach electronics in primary schools. It's called Spark Girls and they were the winning team at the Toowoomba Startup Weekend Women, which then saw them head to the Asia Pacific Start Up Weekend Women finals in Bali a couple of weeks ago. Very excitingly, Spark Girls emerged the winner in Bali as well, so that is a wonderful achievement and just the beginning for this fledgling business. We'll post some links in the show notes if you want to know more about it and hopefully we can catch up with Steph again in the new year to hear more about how she's educating the next generation and encouraging girls to be engaged in STEM. But in the meantime, this is a great conversation about the possibilities of 3D printing. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com Connect with Steph at her blog or on Twitter @sjpiper145 and find out more about her new business Spark Girlz at their website. Connect with me via email: zoe@thesmartcitypodcast.com Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod
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