The Smart Community Podcast

Hello #smartfriends, welcome to Smart Cities Week! This week we are going to release one episode every day Monday to Friday to celebrate Smart Cities Week. This first episode of the Smart City Podcast this week is with Mayer Khal Asfour, who is the Mayor of City of Canterbury-Bankstown. I had a really great conversation with the mayor about what the Smart City concept means to him, which is about solving real problems for the community and also about making government processes more efficient and providing savings to the community. The mayor shares insights on the trip he recently took to the US to look at Smart Cities, and what he's brought back to Australia, as well as the Canterbury-Bankstown roadmap that has just been released and the importance of having a strategy. We also talk about some of the other projects and initiatives the council is working on as well as emerging trends, including foundational processes and opening up the data. The mayor is also very keen to collaborate across the different disciplines and with other councils as well.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Mayor Khal Asfour on Facebook or via email at [email protected]

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a fantastic conversation with Amelia Loye. Amelia is a Community and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist who and the Founder of engage2, a public participation and stakeholder engagement consultancy. We begin by discussing the concept of Smart Government and Amelia explains why she's so passionate about balancing the interests of different groups.

We also discuss the upcoming Smart Cities Week events in Sydney from the 29th of October to the 2nd of November, including the EngageTech Forum at the NSW State Library on the 1st of November which Amelia's team have deliberately designed to provide a participatory experience and to facilitate connections and collaborations amongst attendees.

Amelia then dives into a favourite technique of hers to integrate across different disciplines, industries and governments and given this is her area of specialty, her answer digs right down, which is great. We finish by discussing the emerging trends Amelia thinks we should be talking about more, including the opportunity to leverage "invited data" and the importance of continual and mutual dialogue and education to create an informed community and skilful workforce. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Amelia via her website engage2.com.au or on LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a really great conversation with Mateusz Jarosiewicz from Poland. He is the Program Coordinator for Smart City Polska. We talk about collaborating so we don't have to reinvent the wheel, and he talks about how Smart City can be an ideology, a movement and a community. He also talks about making the Smart City concept more understandable for the greater audience, particularly starting in schools. Mat then shares some of the things he's working on at the moment, including Road Map and Vision Poland, and Do Tanks rather than just thinking. He also talks about the importance of having visionaries and facilitators to integrate across the different disciplines, industries and government. The last thing we talk about is going from the internet to real places as an emerging trend. As always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.comConnect with Mat on LinkedInConnect with me via email: [email protected] via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a really great conversation with Mateusz Jarosiewicz from Poland. He is the Program Coordinator for Smart City Polska. We talk about collaborating so we don't have to reinvent the wheel, and he talks about how Smart City can be an ideology, a movement and a community. He also talks about making the Smart City concept more understandable for the greater audience, particularly starting in schools. Mat then shares some of the things he's working on at the moment, including Road Map and Vision Poland, and Do Tanks rather than just thinking. He also talks about the importance of having visionaries and facilitators to integrate across the different disciplines, industries and government. The last thing we talk about is going from the internet to real places as an emerging trend. As always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Mat on LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a really great conversation with Carola Jonas. Carola is the CEO and Co-Founder of Everty, who build software for electric vehicle charging. She has a background in logistics and freight, and has moved into green tech. She is very passionate about keeping our planet clean and green. We talk about some of the impacts of energy infrastructure and transport coming together in a digital sense, and Carola then talks about some of the leading initiatives happening in Australia. She shares what Everty does and what they are doing in the Smart City Space. She also shares some learnings from around the world, including how to increase uptake and also getting the infrastructure ready. We have a little bit of a chat about demand on the energy grid, and finish talking about connected and automated vehicles integrating into our public infrastructure, and then some examples of emerging trends from overseas. As always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Carola via LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook or check out the Everty website everty.com.au

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this bonus episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a really great conversation with Dean Madison, the founder and CEO of T. D. Madison and Associates. Dean has a background in broadband and we first start talking bout IOT and the next generation of services, and how we need to start applying 21st century solutions to our current day problems. Dean is passionate about empowering cities to manage their own complex services and resources, and we also talk about the idea of buying back time and setting up the right foundational infrastructure for a Smart City. Dean shares some of the things he's currently working on, which includes setting up this foundational infrastructure and he also talks about setting up a Smart City Ecosystem of open data to allow integration. We talk about some of the emerging trends, particularly the economic and environmental impacts of not implementing Smart city practices and finish talking about using technology instead of trying to build our way out of congestion. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Dean via his website tdmaddison.com

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a fantastic conversation with Merrick Spain, the Smart Cities Lead for Telstra. We discuss the importance of community and civic innovation in the Smart City space, and also the need to develop a data culture before we get too excited about the tech. We also explore some of the projects Merrick is working on, particularly in the realm of Smart Regions, and the emerging trend of genuine collaboration. Merrick's favourite term is 'Smart from the Start' which I really enjoy. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

You can connect with Merrick on LinkedIn and via Twitter @MerrickSpain

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast I had a fantastic conversation with Rachel Smith, the author of Decongestion and also Underspent. A transport planner by trade, Rachel tells us about the BMW Guggenheim Lab she participated in where she travelled the world with the theme 'cities of the future.' We talk about the idea of underspent cities and how Smart Cities is about the intentional use of resources. We discuss the sharing economy and Rachel's experience of this overseas. She then shares the importance of people in the Smart City and the drivers of behavioural change. We finish on the emerging trend that people aren't talking about enough, which is the changes in retail that are already happening. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Rachel via LinkedIn, her website www.cyclingrachelsmith.com or @cyclingrsmith on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I had a fantastic conversation with Robert Linsdell, the Managing Director of Vertiv for Australia and New Zealand. He is passionate about technology; he grew up with it and has worked with it all of his life. We first talked about the different sectors of the Smart City and what is to come. We then talk about the importance of uninterrupted connectivity and power supply for a Smart City. Robert then talks about how important it is for interoperability to occur, to collaborate instead of compete. Robert shares was Vertiv does, particular with regards to data centres and UPS - uninterruptible power supply. We then talk about how unforgiving we are of technology and that we need to start talking about what to do if it fails. Finally, we discuss how important it is for government to keep up with technology when doing policy and planning. As always I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with Robert via LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod

In this episode of the Smart City Podcast, I interview the CEO of Car Next Door, Will Davies. Will starts with discussing how he started to follow his passion for reducing our carbon footprint, and then how to utilise our resources better and how that fits into the Smart City space. We take a bit of a deep dive into car sharing and public transport attitudes as well as equal access to mobility. He has an exciting idea about how every new human could make the world a better place. We talk a lot about what Car Next door actually does, and finish our conversation talking about impacts on infrastructure and costs of autonomous vehicles, public transport and car sharing. As always I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes: thesmartcitypodcast.com

Connect with will via the website carnextdoor.com.au or email him at

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect via Twitter and Facebook @smartcitypod