Internet Of Things Transforms Cities Into Platforms

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Posted by Heidi Schwartz

When will the Internet change our cities like it has already changed our lives? This Internet of Things (IoT) report from the Sogeti trend lab VINT (Vision – Inspiration – Navigation – Trends) puts the city is in the center.

Entitled SMACT and the City, the report’s focus is primarily on technology in relation to human interaction. In other words, it looks at the city as a platform for advancing pervasive applications and sensitive technology. This research links IBM’s Decade of Smart (Smart from the viewpoint of ambition and goals) to Sogeti‘s Decade of SMACT (SMACT from the viewpoint of technological possibilities, implementation and adoption).

Internet of Things and cities report.
Sogeti’s research institute, VINT (Vision, Innovation, Navigation and Trends) released its latest report: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Things build a bridge between OT and IT.” (Photo: PRNewsFoto/Sogeti USA.)

“The rapid development of SMACT (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and Things) forms the vanguard of urban change. SMACT will transform the city into a platform to blend bricks and clicks seamlessly together based on pervasive applications and sensible sensing technologies. Most developments have not taken place yet. Exciting times lie ahead,” commented VINT Director Menno van Doorn.

The “SMACT and the City” report gives insights on:

  • How the IoT is connecting to cities to empower both city planners and citizens;
  • How the five basic technologies that form SMACT are slipping urban development into top gear;
  • A status update on smart cities today and how movements like sensing cities and cities-as-a-platform provide both new dynamics and opportunities for melting the digital and the physical infrastructure of our world together; and
  • An analysis of how this is already becoming a reality for retailers and insights on what companies and organizations of all trades could learn from the ongoing convergence of bricks and clicks.

“The desire to improve our living environment has always been present, but the digital possibilities of the modern age have given this ambition an enormous impulse,” continued Menno van Doorn.

SMACT and the City – New Technologies in Urban Environments is the last in a four-part series of Internet of Things reports from VINT. The first was published in the fall of 2013, under the title “Things – Internet of Business Opportunities.” The second, “Empathic Things, about the Internet in, on and around the human body,” was released at the start of this year. The third named “Fourth Industrial Revolution; Things build a bridge between OT and IT,” was launched in June.

The authors of this last report are VINT’s Menno van Doorn, Thomas van Manen and Jaap Bloem.