Will you be living on an Intelligent Street?

In a post Covid world I anticipate a much different respect for the hyper-local aspects of communities than we exhibited before the pandemic. Over the time we stayed closer to our homes we discovered our neighborhoods, local markets and restaurants and the street in front of our homes. We got to know our neighbors, the local store clerks, and our postal service delivery representatives. I am certain that once we feel confident to once again travel further than our neighborhoods, we will explore cities, regions and international destinations once again.

“Our police are more trusted in our republic than our president.”

Here’s a “pop” quiz: name the source of that quote.

Hint: It does not come from an authoritarian leader of a country. Nor does it come from the United States in 2021.

It comes from representatives of the world’s most Intelligent Community: Tallinn, Estonia. It is part of a new podcast series that is my attempt to begin to get to the raw, poignant and seemingly intractable issues our communities continue to grapple with in this Era of COVID.

Environmental sustainability and energy transition: Taiwan steps up battle to cut carbon emissions and achieve Net-Zero by 2050

While the world is experiencing the Covid-19 outbreak since 2020, the most searched keyword in 2021 is net zero emissions. This implies that climate change is going to be another battlefield, because no one is immune to its effects. For this reason, U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to invest US$2 trillion in the next four years to build a green energy economy and promote the development of clean energy in the United States. Governments around the world have also actively promoted net-zero emissions to stop climate change from getting worse.

In April 2021, 131 countries including the European Union, the United States, South Korea, and Japan made more active emission reduction commitments at the Leaders Summit on Climate. The United Kingdom and the European Union both updated their mid-term (2035) carbon reduction targets to reduce carbon emissions by 78% and 55%, respectively, and reach a net-zero carbon emission target by 2050. As a member of the global village, Taiwan jumps on the bandwagon to get to zero carbon by 2050.

There is a children’s book, which became an animated movie, about a town destroyed by giant pieces of food falling mysteriously from the sky. It turns out a similar thing can happen when the objects falling from on high are big bales of cash.

In 2015, ICF named Columbus, Ohio, USA as its Intelligent Community of the Year. The very next year, the city beat out 77 other small and midsize US cities for a grant of $50 million from the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge. (Its status as IC of the Year helped.) Its winning bid called for many cool projects: Wi-Fi-enabled kiosks to help residents plan trips, apps to pay bus and ride-hail fares and find parking spots, autonomous shuttles and sensor-connected trucks.

Population aging increases the prevalence of dementia among Taiwan’s elderly who are at a high risk of getting lost or going missing. This invention helps solve this problem.

For our next tour, we look at three Taiwanese healthcare companies worth learning about. 

This Virtual Trade Mission brings you on a tour to meet 17 smart city solution providers from Taiwan, and a chance to connect with them!

Working with the Taoyuan city government, Intumit has provided AI taxing service including multiple language interpretation, remote video application, a 24/7 chatbot service and an online consulting service. Hsinchu city, Hsinchu county and Miaoli has adopted this solutions, along with more than 500 customers in greater China area.

Listen to the mobile network operators promoting the arrival of 5G today, and one thing is clear: whatever your problem may be, it is the solution.

Massive bandwidth. Super speed (also known as low latency). Did I mention massive bandwidth and super speed? You will be able to download and watch three movies at once. Your grades will improve, you will get the promotion you want, lose weight and become an Instagram star.

If only it were so.

When it comes to 5G hype, we all need a filter. An organization called the World Teleport Association (WTA) recently published a report that offers one. WTA is an industry trade group for commercial providers of satellite communications, and the report aims to advise these companies on realistic opportunities in the new technology. But many of its conclusions are equally useful to community leaders seeking better broadband solutions for their people and employers. Here is my summary.

No need to worry about the constant threat from extreme weather and natural disasters which caused huge damages. Quadlink has developed an IoT water quality control monitoring system and helped increased the fish farming production by 20% and reduced power consumption by 30% averagely in 8 cities in Taiwan. Quadlink also serves overseas markets in Indonesia, Brunei and Philippines.

At the time of writing, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was being mourned by the Royal Family and remembered globally as he was being interred in the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel inside the walls of Windsor Castle. The wonderful pageantry of the day gave me the opportunity to reflect on my time with him during several of his visits to Canada.