INSPIRATION SERIES:

THE FUTURE
OF SMART CITIES
& GOVERNMENT

1. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

Inspiration sessions from
trendwatcher & futurist

RICHARD VAN
HOOIJDONK

Are you ready for a mind-blowing journey

into the future of your industry?

In our inspiration sessions we will show you

how the current technological developments
are set to change everything you thought
you knew about life and business. Book a
session and let’s explore that future together.

For more information, visit:

richardvanhooijdonk.com

2. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

CONTENTS

1.O 6.O
BIG DATA SENSORS
PAGE 5 PAGE 11

2.O 7.O
BLOCKCHAIN VIRTUAL REALITY AND
AUGMENTED REALITY
PAGE 6
PAGE 12

3.O 8.O
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE QUANTUM COMPUTING
PAGE 8 PAGE 13

4.O 9.O
THE INTERNET OF THINGS NEUROTECH
PAGE 9 PAGE 14

5.O
DRONES
PAGE 10

3. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

 INTRODUCTION
Data-driven smart city systems
demand a level of connectedness
unimaginable just a few years ago,
and the metropolises of the future
are dotted with wireless sensors that
track everything from weather to
power supply to traffic. These then
communicate with smartphones to help
residents commute more smoothly, or
send data to local authorities who use it
to govern everything from transport to
trash collection.

But it’s not technology alone that makes

a city or government smart. Smart
cities are citizen-centric environments
where the digital revolution enhances
the efficacy of government and citizen
interaction. In short, smart cities
enable smart governance - decisions
that are more ‘user friendly’ and less
‘dogma-driven,’ - a government both
more accountable and responsive than
anything we’re currently familiar with.

We now expect more from government,

forcing it to evolve, improving the way
it protects, informs, and engages its
citizens.Tools such as Blockchain will
improve transparency, and big data and
the Internet of Things will empower
citizens’ inclusion in government.

In short, technology is transforming

tomorrow’s cities, making them better
and more responsive places in which to
live.

4. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

1.O
BIG DATA
“Data can truly be a catalyst for a society, an economy, a country that works
for everyone.”
- J ohn M a n zo n i, th e C h i e f E xe c u t i ve o f t h e C i v il Se r v ice
Big data is the sometimes overwhelming amount of infor-
mation produced by our connected devices. If its power to
inform can be harnessed, one of its greatest advantages is
its flexibility and universal application; it can tell us a lot
about nearly anything, enabling better decision making. It
stands to reason, then, that big data is affecting how we gov-
ern ourselves.
Big data is changing how decisions are made. Today, our
leaders are learning to ignore their instincts, relying instead
on data and analysis. For this, big data analytics platforms
are essential.
Using big data analytics, governments can access the tor-
rents of relevant information important to their daily func-
tions, and the advantages of this method of government are
impressive. Access to real-time data eliminates the guess-
work, letting elected officials and technocrats know what
really needs attention and why. Real-time analysis is vital;
emergent situations can’t wait, and crises often demand
concrete, precise action.
Indeed, the need for urgent information and rapid reaction
has pressed major urban centres to innovate. One of the
most densely populated cities in the world, Rio de Janeiro,
has managed to improve response times to disasters such
as flooding and landslides. Following a storm that killed
68 people in 2010, Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, was urged to
5.
develop a solution for dealing with future natural disasters
and other challenges. His brainchild was a high-tech inte-
grated urban command centre, the Centro de Operações
Preifetura do Rio de Janeiro (COR), located in the Cidade
Novo district. COR is the right system to grapple with the
city’s challenges: it shares information in real time across
Rio’s thirty departments, manages emergency teams, and
directs repairs.
The Guardian reports that the high tech integrated urban
command centre is placed in a single monitoring room,
where it assesses the conditions of the city in real-time,
watching everything from traffic density to the security ser-
vices. For example, the staff from the City Hall monitors the
level of the rivers to provide early warning of rising water
and react accordingly. On the other hand, the CET-Rio traf-
fic agency keeps an eye on vehicle flow via the video wall,
adjusting the capacity of traffic lights, letting more or less
traffic pass as necessary, and contacting field agents about
accidents as soon as they happen.
Andrés Luque-Ayala, an urban geography researcher at
Durham University, dubbed the system the “quintessential
smart city project,” emphasising its benefits:
“Rio has a very specific topography and local weather sys-
tem, so COR has its own advanced monitoring systems
installed across the city. Rio is also a place that’s histori-
cally been hard to govern, and it’s about to face some crunch
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
moments, like the Olympics and the World Cup, that will put
more stress on its infrastructure. By integrating all these
key departments, COR definitely improves the capacity of
the city to react to emergencies.”
But, COR is far from perfect - and its flaws are instructive
for the future of smart cities and governance. For instance,
the Journal of Urban Technology writes that “smart-city
technologies are not being used to solve problems of radical
inequality, or systemic poor governance, or compromised
urban planning agendas -  all of which continue to be the
‘dumbest’ elements of Rio de Janeiro.” While there’s still a
lot of work to be done regarding smartening Rio’s services,
it’s clear that connectedness and big data analytics can
improve the government’s ability to provide its citizens a
better quality of life.

2.O

BLOCKCHAIN
“Building citizen trust starts with a more open government. Blockchain is a
shared, distributed ledger with multiple owners or operators. This means that
all parties on the ledger have visibility into transactions and changes that
may have been previously invisible.”
- Darc ie Pie c h o w s k i , t h e S o c i a l Me d i a & In n ovat io n Fe llo w f o r t h e C e n t e r f o r t h e Bu sin e ss o f Government

Blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, facilitates peer-
to-peer transactions, removing the need for intermediar-
ies, by making the data it stores “immutable, traceable, and
verifiable.” Many countries have recognised the benefits of
Blockchain technology.
For instance, Estonia has developed an e-residency pro-
gram using Blockchain technology. Potential e-residents
apply online, and if accepted, gain electronic access to the
EU business environment and public e-services through
their digital identity. As an applicant, anyone can open a

6. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

bank account there and start a company. This way, Estonia
has begun offering their government services globally, mov-
ing towards “the idea of a country without borders.”
And city governments benefit from Blockchain, too. The
Decentralised Citizen Owned Data Ecosystem (DECODE) is
a program designed to help create products or services to
improve city life. DECODE was created as a response to peo-
ple’s concerns about losing control over their personal infor-
mation. Real-time data collection spurs privacy concerns,
and torrents of free data have become a means by which
companies drive profits, often exploiting private informa-
tion without either knowledge or permission. On one hand,
we need data to improve life; on the other, we need to protect
people’s privacy. In this delicate balance, DECODE’s aim is
A biometric border enabled by Blockchain
The British startup, ObjectTech, signed an agreement
with Dubai to launch the world’s first ‘biometric border.’
Passengers travelling to Dubai will soon walk through a
short tunnel with a three dimensional scanner rather than
ordinary passport control. The scanning tunnel collects data
such as fingerprints, iris scans, and facial cues to establish
identity. This means an end to long queues - travellers can
walk directly from their plane to the baggage claim.
Moreover, the digital passports also protects the privacy of
the individuals, and this is possible by using Blockchain
technology. As ObjectTech explains, “the new digital pass-
7.
to find ways to build “a data-centric digital economy where
data is generated and gathered by citizens, the Internet of
Things (IoT), and sensor networks.”
DECODE provides apps that put residents in control of
whether they keep their personal data private or share it
for the public good. In each city, a thousand people will
receive an app. They will be given an opportunity to decide
the amount of data they’re willing to upload. For instance,
they can share information about locations they think are
unsafe, or share the ways they use public spaces, offer tips
on public transport, or comment on city legislation. This
enables more open and collaborative decision-making. And
DECODE keeps individuals’ personal data and data-sharing
preferences safe using Blockchain.
ports are far more secure, harder to forge and more accurate
than the existing passport – and you can’t lose them.”
Paul Ferris, the co-founder and CEO of ObjectTech, thinks
it’s time to abandon paper passports: “This is an identity that
is fit for the digital age. Not only will it make international
travel quicker and safer, but it also gives people back con-
trol of their personal digital data, which over the last decade
is something that has increasingly become the property of
third parties. Dubai is really committed to improving the
lives of their citizens and visitors through technology and
we’re very excited to be a part of making that a reality.”
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
3.O

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is a natural fit for the smart cities movement. Just
consider the billions of data points bouncing through a maze of intertwined
city departments, magnified exponentially by all aspects of the Internet of
Things (IoT).”
- Fran k Cu titta , th e C E O & Fo u n d e r o f T h e C e n t e r f o r Glo b al Br an d in g

Awash in an ocean of data, governments the world over
have recognised the potential of artificial intelligence (AI),
though they’re at different stages in the race to harness the
advantages of AI.
The Deloitte Center for Government Insights points at AI’s
potential to transform the ways in which the federal gov-
ernment operates. Their position is that AI will reframe how
the public sector functions. “For example, we can automate
data entry with automatic handwriting recognition, han-
dle scheduling with planning and optimisation algorithms,
and use speech recognition, natural language processing,
and question-answering technology to provide customer
service. Such capabilities could potentially address three
common pain points for government: resource constraints,
paperwork burdens, and backlogs.”
Moreover, AI is useful for a lot more than data analysis. Smart
chatbots are a critical connection between the public and
the state, driving the Department of Homeland Security’s
Citizenship and Immigration Services to create a virtual
assistant, EMMA. ‘She’ responds accurately to ordinary lan-
guage, a breakthrough driven by recent advances in machine
learning and natural language processing. Additionally, this
virtual assistant gets smarter as she answers more ques-
tions, too, learning from her own experiences. Customer
feedback tells EMMA which answers helped, improving her
ability to understand the data in a process called ‘supervised
learning.’
Such automation could save 96.7 million work hours annu-
ally, with potential savings of $3.3 billion a year. Those num-
bers are hard for any government to ignore!

How much savings can AI in government generate?

Hours freed Potential savings Person-hours per
HIGH INVESTMENT year for task
(Tasks speed up
by 200%) 7
1.2 billion hours $41.1 billion 1

LOW INVESTMENT 96.7 million $3.3 billion

O*NET program has been surveying workers
(Tasks speed up
on how much time is devoted to each task.
by 20%)
Observing the same tasks at two different
points in time shows changes in labour allo-
Source: Deloitte analysis cated to that task.

8. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

4.O
THE INTERNET OF THINGS
“A data-driven approach can help us affect real change, such as giving
previously underserved communities better access to city services.”
- Ted Ro s s, th e ch ie f i n f o r ma t i o n o f f i c e r f o r t h e C it y o f Lo s An g e le s
Nothing is more central to smart cities and governance
than the IoT. As a multidimensional asset, the IoT is recog-
nised as a means of improving pretty much any service a
city provides. Today’s IoT technologies, various data analyt-
ics platforms, and sensor-enabled services can deliver new
ways to understand and analyse urban challenges.
Søren Kvist, the Senior Smart City Consultant at Copenhagen
Solutions Lab, revealed Copenhagen’s plans to build an
integrated digital infrastructure, known as Copenhagen
Connecting. To become carbon neutral by 2025, and driven
by the need to manage an estimated 20% increase in popu-
lation, Copenhagen will use real-time data to reduce traffic
congestion, lower CO2 emissions, and improve the quality
of life of its citizens.
Real-time data from Wi-Fi access points mounted on street-
light poles provides information about traffic flow. Then,
this data is sent to traffic management system to optimise
travel times and prevent congestion through an RFID-based
road pricing system already adopted in Singapore to push
citizens toward green transportation.
This ingenuous system uses a device attached to the lower
right corner of the front windscreen within sight of the
driver, providing automatic payment for road usage. If a
vehicle owner does not have sufficient value in its CashCard
9.
when passing through an Electronic Road Pricing gantry
(ERP), he receives a fine.
According to the consultancy group Ramboll, Copenhagen
Connecting will reap a total annual benefit of 590 million
euro. This includes “an 11-32% optimised traffic flow, savings
on 2.4 million car hours, 1.7 million litres of fuel reduction,
5.5 million cubic metres of water savings and 104 million
euro worth of jobs created.”
“Having a good infrastructure is key when we want to apply
IoT and big data. If we build a state-of-the-art digital infra-
structure, we can build solutions for tomorrow. Copenhagen,
just like Singapore, wants to be a leading smart city in the
world,” said Kvist.
And there are other ways to reduce traffic. Jason Pomeroy,
a Singapore-based architect, calls Amsterdam, “one of the
world’s smartest cities, thanks to initiatives like ‘roboats’ – a
fleet of autonomous delivery boats.” Pomeroy is convinced
that autonomous vehicles will “have a huge impact on the
world’s infrastructure,” adding that in cities like Amsterdam,
where 50% of the surface area is actually water, autonomous
boats that can be used as bridges, as a means of transport-
ing goods or as river taxis, will also be highly advantageous,
to reduce not only pollution, but also congestion on the
streets.”
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
And more cities are turning to clean energy, too. The
Netherlands tested the feasibility of a smart grid sys-
tem near the city of Groningen. The pilot project, called
‘PowerMatching City,’ involved forty households that use
solar panels to generate their own electricity, heat and
water, confirming that the system is “feasible and made
sense financially.”
“These benefits are based in part on money saved by the
grid operators by avoiding costs for investments in and
maintenance of existing energy grids. On the other hand,
energy providers will be able to manage their customers’
energy consumption more effectively so they will be able
to purchase energy for more competitive wholesale prices.
Energy providers will also be able to use locally generated
energy to match local supply and demand, which also saves
costs.”
mingling of energy, and data.” In essence, it’s a vision of
accessibility and connectivity of energy similar to the
Internet. Ideally, this network will provide efficient, eco-
friendly power supply.
And data-driven cities can enable communities better
access to a wide range of city services beyond electricity.
For instance, alerting residents to emerging dangers or cri-
ses is the goal of a new project in Los Angeles, called Smart
City 2.0. The city’s numerous Internet-connected things
gather information from multiple sources, including sen-
sors and smart devices. As Ted Ross, L.A.’s general manager
and CIO, explains, the project is about gathering “streams of
data, then laying them atop of each other and getting situa-
tional awareness and location intelligence.”

And while some countries in Europe still continue to hes-

itate when it comes to implementing smart meters, the
Netherlands is moving ahead - almost 1.5 million Dutch
households are now equipped with smart meters. Smart
meters can drive down electricity bills by proving when
demand is outstripped by supply.

But the future is Energy 3.0, offering peer-to-peer power

transactions over the network, the roaming of energy, and
a multiplicity of generation and storage options. The core
of the network will be a symbiotic relationship between
“a pervasive Internet protocol configuration with the co-

© Clean streets LA

10. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

5.O

DRONES
“Right now, drone technology is providing a competitive edge to the compa-
nies who’ve successfully adopted it,” he says. They use their equipment and
resources more efficiently, communicate better through accurate maps and
data, and now have highly quantitative means of measuring their progress
against their schedule.’’
- Chr is tia n S a n z, th e C E O o f S k yc a t c h

When drones were first introduced, they were primarily
associated with the military, but today, their low cost and
high flexibility is giving them a ubiquitous presence in
daily life.
Since drones have the potential to both solve problems and
reduce costs, it’s no wonder that the unmanned aircraft sys-
tems (UAS) industry is booming, and the number of govern-
ments recognising these benefits is increasing each year.
Tom Gemmell, a shareholder at the law firm, Polsinelli, says
that “Drones have been proven to be safer, reduce costs and
increase productivity when compared to performing the
same tasks by traditional manned aircraft or ground-based
methods.’’ Because of the potential cost savings, govern-
ment should pay more attention to identifying which areas
of their work are suitable for drone applications.
Law enforcement is a clear example. In the UK, the Devon
and Cornwall police are planning to launch a drone unit
to assist officers in their fight against crime. Both of these
counties lack sufficient manpower, so drones will augment
investigative teams. By capturing aerial photographs of
crime scenes and searching for missing persons, drones
can really help the police perform their job. In fact, a recent
example helped to prove this point. In November 2015, the
Plympton police in Devon used four DJ1 Inspire 1 drones,
equipped with high-quality cameras in collaboration with
police officers and specially trained dogs to find a missing
person. Steve Barry, an assistant chief constable, explains
that “drones are one of a number of options that can deliver
air support both now and in the future. They have the poten-
tial to change the way we police by working with other tech-
nologies and updating traditional methods of foot and aerial
patrols.’’ Currently, twenty police departments around the
UK are planning to follow Devon and Cornwall’s example by
including drones in their teams.
Drones could also serve as helpful tools in reducing traffic
congestion, which is a big problem for cities worldwide,
causing residents to waste both their time and money.
Nationwide Insurance reports that traffic jams increase fuel
consumption, wasting 1.9 billion gallons of fuel each year.
But drones could fix this by monitoring specific intersec-
tions and providing operators with real-time information or
by sending their data to smart traffic systems.

11. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

6.O
SENSORS
“In a smart city, information will increasingly be obtained directly from pur-
posefully deployed sensors or indirectly from sensors deployed for another
purpose but which gather and share useful information. With this informati-
on, freely exchanged, complex city systems can be managed in real time and,
with sufficient integration, minimise unintended consequences.’’
- Tom Ble w itt, th e d i re c t o r o f p r i n c i p a l e n g i n ee r s at U L
The global market for sensor technology is exploding as the
utility of the IoT becomes clear. Unsurprisingly, the range
of uses for sensor tech is mind boggling - from grab and go
shopping to smart medical implants.
For instance, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed
a new facial recognition system intended for use on the US
border. Their current system isn’t the best solution because
it requires the driver to roll down the window of his car
to be scanned properly, since the glass’s reflection might
adversely affect the system’s accuracy. The newly devel-
oped system is equipped with plenoptic cameras, enabling
them to focus through the windshield to identify the faces
of the occupants and driver. The implementation of this
system will significantly reduce waiting on the US borders.
For travellers, this means saying goodbye to long, hot waits
at the border with Mexico, for instance.
A haven for high-tech, South Korea is also exploring the ben-
efits of sensor technology. According to the Korean Herald,
they are developing a biometric authentication system for
mobile banking. This technology will be much more secure
than conventional fingerprint scanners and facial recogni-
tion systems. Biometric authentication technology is capa-
ble of reading heart rates through a wearable and sending
12.
the gathered information to a smartphone for authentica-
tion. Only then can the user unlock the phone with his fin-
gerprint and access mobile banking. The development of
such technology is an investment worth $1 million and it’s
being managed by the Ministry of Science, Information and
Communication Technology and Future Planning. They’re
hoping to commercialise this technology by 2018, making
mobile banking much more secure.
Implementation of sensor technology isn’t limited only to
an authentication system, however; it can also be used to
analyse the state of our environment. For example, Chicago
issued an Array of Things initiative to solve problems such
as traffic congestion, pollution, and flooding. Chicago will
soon be equipped with hundreds of sensors all across the
city to monitor its temperature, air quality, and traffic fre-
quency. “Analysis of downtown sensor data will help the
local business alliance understand traffic patterns on a
24-by-7 and 365-day-per-year basis, so businesses can best
schedule their hours to meet demand,” says Rob Mitchum,
the communications manager for the Urban Center for
Computation and Data. The data gathered from the sensors
will be forwarded to its central database, and most of it will
be published on Chicago’s public portal.
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
7.O
VIRTUAL REALITY AND
AUGMENTED REALITY
“Virtual reality is a technology that could actually allow you to connect on a
real human level, soul-to-soul, regardless of where you are in the world.’’
- Chr is M ilk , th e f o u n d e r a n d C E O o f Wi t h i n
When we think about virtual reality and augmented reality
applications, most of us will first think of gaming and enter-
tainment. However, VR/AR is being explored by industry
and government as well.
Using VR, municipalities of all sizes can promote themselves
as tourist destinations and attract investors. For instance,
the Katara Cultural Village, located in Qatar, embraced VR to
advertise its current development and future construction
projects. They chose VR over traditional animation to cap-
ture the full scale of Katara’s projects. On Katara’s request,
EON Reality created an immersive VR experience to prop-
erly showcase current and future construction so that the
investors could feel like they’re actually walking through
the sites.
The Public Relations & Communications Manager of the
Cultural Village Foundation, Malika Mohammed Al-Shraim,
says that their “future customers, partners and investors
13.
can now visit the Katara Cultural Village virtually and expe-
rience it as if ‘being there’ – and will be able to not only walk
through the existing infrastructure and facilities, but also
the new developments coming up, and experience it in the
most realistic way possible in scale 1:1.’’
AR technology has been used by the military for quite some
time. In 2003, the US Army was given a SmartCam3D aug-
mented reality system, providing them with an easy way to
locate people and places. This system combined the geo-
graphic information - such as the names of streets - with
video footage recorded by the camera. Today, the military
is equipped with more advanced AR technology connected
through its soldiers’ goggles, providing 21st century troops
with real-time information about threats.
Similarly, the US army is richer for one more AR device,
known as ARC4. It can be attached to the soldier’s helmet,
enabling him to have maps of their mission and other infor-
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
mation containing satellite footage and enemy location
right in front of his eyes. Applied Research Associates is
the company behind this innovation, and according to their
report, ‘’This state-of-the-art technology provides heads-up
situational awareness for the military – allowing soldiers
to perform their jobs with enhanced safety, speed, and mis-
sion effectiveness.’’ Furthermore, it provides soldiers the
opportunity ‘’to perform their mission with high awareness
of their surroundings, with enhanced safety, speed, and in
close coordination with team members.’’
8.O
QUANTUM COMPUTING
“Both superconducting qubits and trapped ions are very much an elite.
They’re both really good implementations, and they will both produce a
quantum computer.”
- W inf rie d H e n s in g e r, a p ro fe s s o r o f Qu a n t u m Te ch n o lo g ie s at t h e U n ive r sit y o f Su sse x
Although the idea of quantum computing has been around
for decades, only with recent discoveries has quantum
technology taken a step closer to feasibility. Quantum com-
puting is based on two key principles of quantum mechan-
ics: quantum superposition and quantum entanglement.
Together, they allow quantum bits - ‘qubits’ - to process
complicated calculations so much faster than conventional
computers that it’s like comparing a calculator to counting
on your fingers.
14.
The future holds great promise for AR applications aside
from the military. One of them is transportation security.
Using AVT (Augmented Visioning Technology), the risks
associated with screening procedures at transportation
stations will be eliminated. A security officer could easily
identify a person using his AR goggles, replacing the con-
ventional method of checking passengers by comparing
their faces to ID cards and boarding tickets. This will make
transportation safer, and reduce waiting times and long
queues.
While not useful for every task, quantum computers will
revolutionise our information-based society. Motivated by
such predictions, governments worldwide are investing
heavily in this technology. The UK is planning to invest
£270 million in the next few years, while the Australian gov-
ernment promises £15 million.
A leader in quantum computing software, D-Wave Systems
Inc., announced that their quantum computing system will
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
soon be commercially available. Their system is composed
of 2000 qubits, making it more effective at solving complex
problems, problems simply beyond the capacity of even the
best conventional processors. D-Wave’s system is “so radi-
cal and strange, people are still trying to figure out what it’s
for and how to use it,” but it has the potential to revolution-
ise the world. For instance, it could be applied in astronomy
to find celestial bodies, including exoplanets. Quantum pro-
cessing can increase planes’ safety by analysing their soft-
ware and identifying anomalies in avionics software. And
only a quantum processor can solve complex efficiency
problems like the infamous ‘travelling salesman,’ leading to
massive increases in efficiency for trash collection, deliv-
ery, or mobile services.
But the evolution of quantum computing also raises a con-
cerns in terms of security and privacy issues. Quantum
9.O
NEUROTECH
“We are moving from a world where computing power was scarce to a place
where it now is most limitless, and where the true scarce commodity is
increasingly human attention.’’
- S ataya N a d e lla , th e C E O o f Mi c ro s o f t
Rapid advancements in neuroscience are opening new pos-
sibilities to freely access information from the human brain.
Neurotechnology applications vary from military and war-
15.
computers are powerful enough to break any encryption.
The encryption expert Matthew Green, an associate profes-
sor at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Computer
Science, points out that quantum processing is the boogey-
man every encryption expert fears. “It’s the big problem in
our field. All of our public key encryption that we use today is
vulnerable to quantum algorithms that break it entirely. We
don’t have anything efficient to replace it yet.’’ This is why
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is
gathering proposals from different industry and academic
groups to create an encryption strong enough to beat what
they call ‘the ever-growing abilities of advanced comput-
ers.’ In its report, NIST says, “Regardless of whether we can
estimate the exact time of the arrival of the quantum com-
puting era, we must begin now to prepare our information
security systems to be able to resist quantum computing.”
fare - in which they’re used to create super soldiers - to clin-
ical research and marketing, in which Google and Verizon
are using the technology to detect customer preferences.
THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT
The founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, is working should be expanded to include new ‘neurorights:’ “the right
on a device that will make our lives much easier. Musk has to cognitive liberty, the right to mental privacy, the right to
recently established another company, NeuraLink, with a mental integrity, and the right to psychological continuity.’’
mission to develop a small brain device that will connect Implementation of these rights will protect individuals from
the mind to a computer. The device will consist of a network being subjected to neurotechnology without their consent.
of electrodes connected to the brain, enabling a person to
“communicate wirelessly with the world,’’ by sharing their Marcello Ienca, one of the co-authors of the paper, explains
thoughts, fears, and dreams without actually saying any- that “The mind is considered to be the last refuge of per-
thing. Even though Musk says his innovation will be a great sonal freedom and self-determination, but advances in neu-
communication system, the public thinks it’s a bad idea, as ral engineering, brain imaging and neurotechnology put the
the thought of someone having free access to your brain is, freedom of the mind at risk.’’ He also suggests that “informa-
quite frankly, terrifying. tion in our brains should be entitled to special protections
in this era of ever-evolving technology. When that goes,
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t deterred, however, and he’s raising everything goes.”
funds for neurotech projects capable of reading people’s
minds. The focus will be on medical applications, and one of
the projects Zuckerberg is financing is by a medical device
company, Cortera Technologies. He believes that “one day
we’ll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other other
directly, using technology.’’ This can radically improve the
lives of patients suffering such awful conditions as ‘shut in
syndrome,’ allowing them to communicate with the outside
world.

Furthermore, the National Security Agency (NSA) devel-

oped Remote Neural Monitoring (RNM) technology to con-
trol the human brain. RNM works remotely and with the
help of supercomputers, and it can detect and read a per-
son’s thoughts. It consists of programs working on differ-
ent levels, such as the signals intelligence system that uses
electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) “to excite the brain for
the system.’’

But some of these applications conflict with ethical and legal

principles central to liberal democracy and basic rights.
According to a research paper published in the Journal of
Life Sciences, Society and Policy, the list of basic rights

CONCLUSION
Smart government uses the IoT to improve its decision-making and its services, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence
to get a handle on the mass of data enabled by hyperconnectivity. Our smart systems are decreasing traffic congestion and
improving our use of renewable energy, helping us be better stewards of increasingly scarce resources. And improvements
in cybersecurity like Blockchain and biometrics are making our transactions more secure. Quantum computing, however,
for all its benefits, is threatening encryption even as it makes other good things possible.

Smart cities and smart governance go hand in hand, and both rely on the highest tech to improve our lives.

16. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

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18. THE FUTURE OF SMART CITIES & GOVERNMENT

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