A new report published by a task force called Georgia Tech states that the future of smart city technology will depend on companies and city governments understanding the finer points of IoT technology and how it affects business models and citizens’ lives. The report analyzes, among other things, the risks and potential rewards of various types of public IoT from an ethical, technological, and practical perspective.
A key point for researchers is that IoT deployed in public spaces—in collaboration between city governments, private enterprise, and citizens themselves—has a diverse group of stakeholders to answer to. Citizens require transparency and rigorous security and privacy protections to be certain they can use the technology safely and have a clear understanding of how the system may use their information.
The research also delved into several specific use cases for smart city IoT, most of which revolve around more direct engagement with citizens. Municipal service management offerings, which allow residents to communicate directly with the city regarding their waste management or utility needs, featured prominently on the list of potential use cases, along with management technology for the services themselves, allowing cities to manage the power grid and the system in a more centralized manner. Public safety was another key use case, for example, the idea of using IoT sensors to provide more accurate information to first responders in the event of an emergency.
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