The Smart City.Blog Podcast

We're starting to see a greater stratification when adopting new technologies. Anthony Furey is a journalist and recently ran for mayor of Toronto, and has some views on that and a few other things. We reached him at his home office in Toronto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carrie Soave has a real estate background. Then along came artificial intelligence. This was a field that appealed to her love of systems and processes. Could AI be used to make lives for real estate agents easier? And if real estate agents, who else? We spoke to Carrie at her home office in Niagara Falls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Technology is forever disrupting established businesses and markets. Real estate, with its millions of human brokers, could be a target--or is real estate an arena where AI will be helpful? That's one of the questions we posed to Tim Hudak, the CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association. We reached him at his office. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do we do about battery manufacturing when it comes to the move towards electric vehicles? And I'm not talking about the batteries. I mean the components that go into making the batteries. This is a complicated business, most of which is centred in China. Sylvatex is an American company that thinks it has some solutions. Virgina Klausmeier is the CEO of Sylvatex. We caught up with her at her home office in Eugene, Oregon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Smart One is a Canadian company that's been around for at least 15 years. One of their mantras is "building stuff that matters." In this case, we're talking about designing the systems that power smart buildings and smart comunities. They're in no fewer than 80 communities across the Canada. Ted Maulucci is the company's co-founder and president. He's making a return visit to the Smart City Podcast with news of recent innovations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan first met Mark Saltzman more than 30 years ago when he was reviewing video games. These days, he's a consumer tech expert with podcasts, radio shows, and books that help us sort out our gadget dreams. He came into Locomobi world headquarters to talk about a very hot product category: Wearables. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, it's just me and Locomobi CEO Grant Furlane reviewing what happened in 2023 and what's on the agenda for 2024. Let's see if you agree with any of this anaylis and any of these predictions. We touch on smart city topics, but we also go much further.This time, it's just me and Locomobi CEO Grant Furlane reviewing what happened in 2023 and what's on the agenda for 2024. Let's see if you agree with any of this anaylis and any of these predictions. We touch on smart city topics, but we also go much further. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Faculty of Engineering at Humber College in Toronto has an incredible facility that's just begging to be used for all kinds of R&D. Locomobi and Humber have partnered up to push all kinds of technological envelopes. This is the first in a series of podcasts that will look at what Locomobi and Humber will do in the future, starting with the electrical grid. We talked with Shaun Ghafari, the dean of the faculty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're in business, you're probably on LinkedIn. I mean, you almost have to be because it's where so many important B2B connections are made. You know you should comment on certain posts, but that can take a lot of time. And what should you post? You want to sound intelligent plus you also want to get some kind of a reaction. That's the key to further engagement. But that can take a lot of time and energy. Jason Tan has come up with an AI-powered solution that frankly, is kinda magical. We reached him at his office in Brisbane, Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Iveda started up about 20 years ago, the company's main service was to offer hosting for things like security cameras and so on.. Today, Iveda can do much, much more with their sensor-and-monitoring technology. It is being applied today and it's already making life much more secure for their customers. We found David Ly, Iveda's chairman and CEO, at the company's head office in Phoenix. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Civilization is based on infrastructure. You can't have a city, town, or modern society without it. Infrastructure projects aren't always sexy but they're important, they're complex, they're expensive, and they're essential. Transcend is a mult-national software company operating in 65 countries that deals with the intricacies of critical infrastructure. To talk about what they do, we got in touch with Adam Tank, one of the company's co-founders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parsons is a giant construction and infrastructure company that works on the the really, really BIG stuff including a science fiction-level project for the government of Saudia Arabia called The Line. Wait until you hear about that. We welcomed Bruce Irwin the CTO for the company's mobility solutions in North America to our offices along with Daniel Weng, who is on Bruce's team and leads a lot of partnership initiatives.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keeping everything and everyone moving in an urban area is becoming increasingly complex. More vehicles and people on the road. Choke points. The lack of real-time data about what's actually happening. Seoul Robotics, a company based out of South Korea has some solutions. We spoke with William Muller, the vice president of Business Development.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you have a car, you know how annoying it is when you run out of windshield washer fluid. It's a small thing, but it's one of the things that go along with owning and maintaining a car. It turns out that the whole universe of windshield washer fluid can be very environmentally unfriendly--and this is a problem that needs to be solved. Robbie Mair is the CEO of EcoTank Canada and he will explain everything.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Chan is from JLL, international company with 80,000 people spread out in offices worldwide, that aims to help clients make the most out of the real estate they own. One area where they excel is the use of data and analytics to determine the best uses--or alternative uses--where people park their cars and in a responsible and sustainable way. We found Colin at his office in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grant has written a new paper outlining a theory on urban transportation. Big ideas and big investments are needed, but when it's rolled out it will make a huge difference for people getting from point A to point B. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode will look at a company called Otorio which is looking to make the world more secure. Every second, the world becomes more connected. And with infinite inter-connectablity comes infinite risk. There are people--from guys in their mom's basement to ransomeware gangs to shadowy state actors--with a mission to break into systems to wreak havoc. Focus on cybersecurity has never been more important--and as we'll hear, will only become more important which each passing day. We had a conversation with Matan Dobrushin who is going to walk us through what Otorio does and the risks they work to mitigate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arif K. Rafiq works for a company called ESRI. It's a Canadian outfit that believes geography is critical to decision-making. Arif is an expert in the digital systems that manage roads, highways, and public transit infrastructure, things that (unfortunately) often do not talk to each other. But what if they did? What if there was some way to incorporate all the data and analytics from the ways we move? Could this make our roads safer, more secure, more reliable, and sustainable? Absolutely. We found Ariq in his office in Toronto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We packed everything up and headed to the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto to check out Project Arrow, a proof-of-concept plan to showcase all the amazing tech available from Canadian manufacturers when it comes to the cars of the future. The hope is that existing manufacturers will take advantange of what Canadian companies have to offer--and to inspire someone to create a domestic EV brand. We have the tech, the knowledge, and the worker base, to why not? Locomobi CEO Grant Furlane and Alan Cross sat down with Flavio Volpe of the Automotive Parts Manaufactures Association for the story of Project Arrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the risk of bringing up a lot of bad memories, let's think back to the worst days of the pandemic. Many people could work from home. But what if you were an essential worker and had to get to the job even though transit wasn't running? Robin Tam is here to explain how this start-up identified and solved a problem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.