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FEATURE: SMART CITIES
MANY STUDIES STATE THAT 40% TO
60% OF THE JOBS THAT MIGHT COME UP
IN 2030 HAVE NOT BEEN INVENTED YET.
2022, 30% of customer experiences will be
handled by conversational agents, up from
just 3% in 2017.
AI is becoming critical to the Smart City
Revolution and professionals possessing
these skills are likely to be in high demand as
the Smart City Revolution flourishes.
3D printing and city planning
3D printing is a huge opportunity for cities
to leverage technology to serve residents in
new ways, without wasting either time or
money. In a Smart City, 3D printing can be
employed to build houses, public buildings,
bridges and more for a fraction of the cost
and time taken using traditional methods.
Real-life examples include the world’s first
stainless steel bridge installed across one
of Amsterdam’s oldest and most popular
canals in the centre, GE replacing a third
of the parts on an aircraft engine using 3D
printing and Honda’s electric vehicle created
entirely from 3D-printed segments.
Automated logistics in
Smart Cities
Automation is a key emerging theme among
all industries today as they are coming to
recognise the immense operational benefits
that Digital Transformation can bring. As
cities aspire to become smarter, many are
striving to manage assets and operations
more efficiently with the use of automation.
Roy Strik, Head of Business Development for
Pearson Professional Middle East
www.intelligentcio.com
This, of course, requires a specialised set
of skills. Some examples are shipping
companies using scanners and sensors to
improve tracking of containers, equipment
and vehicles, online vehicle inspections which
enable technicians to perform proactive
maintenance and more. As Supply Chain
Management continues to grow as a critical
business function for Smart Cities, it also
makes it into the list of the top skills to invest
in for the future.
Blockchain’s role in developing
Smart Cities
The modern Smart City constitutes a
massive web of interconnected technologies
which is expected to expand even further.
Gartner projects that 9.7 billion IoT devices
will make up the typical Smart City by 2020.
At the same time, this collection of data
must be protected from hacks and leaks.
Studies indicate that nearly five million
data records are lost or stolen every day,
constituting 58 data records every second.
Another aspect is the fact that standards
in tech infrastructure may vary, and
the requirements are different in each
city. Therefore, Blockchain serves as the
only suitable option to provide both
interoperability and security to a universal
data storage platform catered to life in
Smart Cities.
The UAE is already working on implementing
Blockchain to provide greater insight into
government processes. Blockchain may be a
nascent technology, but the time to master
the skills of Blockchain is already here.
Disruption has affected all areas of our life,
and the world today won’t be the world we live
in in five years’ time. To remain competitive,
professionals will need to ensure that they are
continuing to develop new capabilities. Today
upskilling takes place in many forms such as
blended education, MicroMasters and other
programmes which make learning flexible,
portable and cost-effective.
Newer forms of learning are linked directly
to the industry and provide skills required
to get onto the job immediately – either
it’s professionals who seek employment
or career advancement opportunities. In
order to stay relevant for the workforce
and Smart Cities of the future, it will
be essential to invest in developing the
required skillsets. n
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