The urban revolution is transforming cities as we know them.

Insights: Connected Cities

[MUSIC PLAYING] BRIAN O'KEEFE: Ecolab is a company that's been around for a while. Your business is mostly based around water, testing chemicals in water, water systems, water management systems. How do you come at this topic? Where is the opportunity for Ecolab to capitalize on this sensor revolution and apply it to systems in cities? Is this something you're really energized about? DOUG BAKER: Yeah, I guess if I was to define-- we do water, we do hygiene. Hygiene invariably, prime ingredient is water so. Yeah, we treat water in many applications and pretty much throughout the industrial complex. Look if its power, steel, mining, paper, water is kind of the secret elixir that we use in virtually every manufacturing process. It's pretty obvious in food, but it's probably not as obvious in everything else that's made. So we see all these applications. I guess two things-- one, we're already wiring in industrial applications because we have the advantage of scale. And so you have-- if you can reduce water and energy by 30% in a very large industrial application, you can justify a lot of capital. That same justification math doesn't quite work yet on smaller building sites, but it soon will over a piece of time. So I'd say right now what we're working and concentrating on is learning how to do this in industrial applications. And so we're literally monitoring tens of thousands of manufacturing sites now in a facility, that happens to be in Pune, India could be anywhere, to understand water usage, when they're out of spec, what's going on. And that learning, obviously, is something that we can learn to apply. But it's purpose specific. And I think, when I hear smart cities and even in prep is this concept of this big bang and all of a sudden we're going to have all this data. And what are we going to go do? I mean, at the end of the day, you've got to design something to accomplish something. I don't know how you're just going to make a-- you know, take a dumb city and make it smart. For what end? And I think there needs to really be a conversation about what we're trying to accomplish here. And if it's water and energy reduction, that's easily targeted. And I think something that we can get after. If it's also reducing capital pressure and everything else on systems, then you might end up targeting and getting after the process in a different way. But a city is a big complicated beast. I think we're going to tackle it, I would imagine you're going to do it a process at a time. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Insights: Ecolab CEO On How to Build a Smart City

Uncategorized

Doug Baker outlines one approach to building smart cities.

Ecolab CEO On How to Build a Smart City

Doug Baker outlines one approach to building smart cities at Fortune's Brainstorm E conference. (September 2015)

Wow is a, uh, company has been around for a while. Your business is mostly based around water testing chemicals and water, water systems, water management systems. How do you come at this topic, where the opportunity for ICO to capitalize on the sensor revolution and apply it to systems in cities? Is this something you're really energized about? Yeah, I guess I'm going to find we do water. We do hygiene hygiene. Invariably, prime ingredient is water, so we treat water and many applications and pretty much throughout the industrial complex. Power, steel, mining, paper Water is kind of a secret elixir that we use to virtually every manufacturing process. It's pretty obvious and food, but it's probably not as obvious and everything else it's made. So we see all these applications. I get two things. One, We're already wiring and industrial applications because you have the advantage of scale, and so you have. If you could reduce water and energy by 30% in a very large industrial application, you can justify a lot of capital that that same justification Math doesn't quite work yet on smaller building sites, but it soon will over a piece of time so I'd say Right now what we're working and concentrating on is learning how to do this on industrial applications. So we're literally monitoring tens of thousands of manufacturing sites now in a facility that happens to be in pony. India could be anywhere to understand water usage when they're out its back, what's going on and that learning obviously is something that we can learn to apply. But it's its purpose specific. And I think when I hear smart cities and even in proud, is this concept of the Big Bang. And also we'll have all the data on What are we gonna go do? I mean, the end of the day, you've got to design something to accomplish something. I don't know how. You just gonna make a take a dump city and get smart for what end? And I think there needs to really be a conversation about what we're trying to accomplish here. And if it's water and energy reduction that's easily targeted, and I think something that we can get after if it's also reducing capital pressure and everything else on systems, then you might end up targeting and getting after the process in a different way. But a city is a big, complicated beast, and we're gonna tackle it. I would imagine they're gonna do it a process at the time.

Insights: A Vision of a High-Tech Smart City

The first phase is expected to launch in 2022.

A Vision of a High-Tech Smart City

The first phase is expected to launch in 2022. (April 2018)

[MUSIC PLAYING] DAN PRIMACK: When you think long term and you think of congestion and transportation inside the cities, you call it last mile transportation, right? Do you feel and pick a year, pick a target, 10, 15, 20 years-- is it still going to be a lot of individuals driving vehicles, or is it going to be some kind of, whether it be fleets or some other mass transit, where people basically park outside the city limits and they get brought in and moved around? DAN DOCTOROFF: Look, I think the future, unquestionably-- I don't want to put a frame on it, we will evolve there gradually-- the future is shared autonomous vehicles. And I think that's true for passengers. I think that is true for freight. I think, increasingly by the way, it is true for mass transit. I mean the big point here is that we believe-- and this is why I decided to create Sidewalk Labs, it's what alphabet and Google are interested in-- we believe that we are on the cusp at the very early stages of what I would call the fourth technological revolution in cities over the last 200 years. The first one was the steam engine, which made cities easier to get to and industrialize them. The second was the electric grid, which made cities vertical, 24 hour, and easier to get around in. The third was the automobile, which had a huge impact on the way we think about land. DAN PRIMACK: I'm curious. Do you go back I guess 100 years and look at the transition from horses to cars essentially and see how that-- DAN DOCTOROFF: Absolutely. And it was a nightmare at the time. And every single one of these three previous revolutions took more than a generation to play out. We think we are at the very beginning of the fourth technological revolution in cities where literally everything is going to change. And that is what I'd call the digital networked revolution. And it's a combination of ubiquitous connectivity. It is advanced computing power. It's sensing. It is social networks which enable us to trust a wider range of people and things and places. And it's, by the way, new design and tech and fabrication technologies which we think are literally over the course of the next generation to two going to change the way we move around, the way we get our energy, and water. It's going to change the way we build things and the built form. It's going to change the way we govern. It's going to change our educational public safety and health care systems, as well. And it's not going to happen in a straight line. It's not going to happen in one place but over time. When we look back 50 years from now, we think the city of 2016 will look totally different. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: We're on the Cusp of an Urban Revolution

Cities as you know them will completely change.

We're on the Cusp of an Urban Revolution

Cities as you know them will completely change. (May 2016)

you think long term anything of congestion and transportation inside the cities you called last mile transportation, right? You feel in pick a year, pick a target 10 15 20 years. Are you still gonna be a lot of individuals driving vehicles or is it going to be some sort of kind of whether it be fleeting somewhere Other Mans transit where people basically park outside the city limits and I get brought in and moved around? I look, I think, future unquestionably I don't want to put a time frame on it. We will evolve their gradually. The future is shared autonomous vehicles And I think that's true for passengers. I think that is true for freight, I think increasingly, by the way, it is true for mass transit. The big point here is that we believe and this is why I decided to create sidewalk labs. What alphabet? Google our interest. Then we believe that we're on the cost at the very early stages of what I would call the fourth technological revolution in cities over the last 200 years. The 1st 1 was the steam engine which made cities easier to get to and industrialized them The second was the electric grid, which made cities vertical 24 hour and easier to get around in that third was the automobile, which had a huge impact on the way we think about Lana. I'm cured. You go back and whether I guess 100 years and look at the transition from horses are essentially and see how that absolutely. And it was a nightmare at the time. And every single one of these three previous revolutions took more than a generation to play out. We think we're at the very beginning of the fourth technological revolution in cities where literally everything is going to change, and that is what I'd call the digital network revolution. And it's a combination of ubiquitous connectivity. It is advanced computing power. It's sensing it is social networks which enable us to trust a wider range of people and things in places. And by the way, new design in tech and fabrication technologies which we think are literally over the course of the next generation to going to change. The way we move around, the way we get our energy and water, it's going to change the way we build things and the built form. It's gonna change the way we govern. It's gonna change our educational, public safety and health care systems as well. And it's not gonna happen in a straight line. It's not gonna happen in one place. But over time, when we look back 50 years from now, we think the city of 2016 will look totally different.

[MUSIC PLAYING] LEIGH GALLAGHER: Almost from the start, this has gotten a little bit of pushback from privacy critics who are saying, "This is Google. This is too much. How are residents going to be able to opt out? There is no opting out," et cetera. How do you respond to that? Actually, I want to read Jim Balsillie, the former CEO of Research in Motion, wrote on op-ed in the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago that had some choice words. I'll just read from it and I'd like you to respond to it. He called the project a "Enlightened urban partnership with a foreign company whose business model is built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance." He said, "Sidewalk Toronto is not a smart city. It is a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism." I know you have made some changes since then, but comment on that if you would. DAN DOCTOROFF: Well, first of all, without commenting specifically on sort of what his motives might be, he made that comment before we actually said what are our policies toward privacy and responsible data use were actually going to be, which we did announce this week and had been planning to do this for a while. And there's four basic principles to it that fundamentally respond to any concern, I think, that he would have. The first is that we believe that urban data, data garnered in the public realm that could potentially have personally identifiable information is actually a public asset. Second is we proposed a pretty revolutionary idea which is an urban data trust that would be an independent body to decide what to actually do with that data. Third, we said we should be subject to exactly the same rules as anybody else. So that to the extent that we or anyone else want to use that data, you'd have to go through and get approval of this independent body. And then, we said fourth, is that all of the systems and services that are constructed to underlie this place need to be open. So the infrastructure systems, et cetera should be open. I don't think anybody would ever expect a company like us to actually propose something like this. It's a pretty radical approach, but one we think is necessary to protect the public interest. And yes, while data is important to this, it's not the main driver. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is make a place where people want to live because it's going to improve their lives, where we can actually find ways to solve the problem that is bedeviling this city and so many others of affordable housing, where we can actually find ways to move people around more efficiently and with less difficulty, where we can actually create the first climate-positive community essentially anywhere on earth. We think it's possible. Yeah, data is a piece of it. But at the end of the day, there are many, many other initiatives that will, I think, be ultimately more important. LEIGH GALLAGHER: So do you think that this proposal, this new plan that you put forth on Monday will quell some of the criticism? DAN DOCTOROFF: I think, it should. I think, for all, but the most extreme advocates, it should answer the vast majority of questions. Now, it's a proposal. There's lots of details to be worked out. We acknowledge that, but that's part of what the discourse actually should be. 

Insights: Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism

Dan Doctoroff discusses critiques of Toronto test.

Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism

wait. Almost from the start, this has gotten a little bit of pushback from privacy. Critics were saying, you know, this is, uh, Google. This is too much. How How are residents gonna be able to opt out there? There is no opting out, et cetera. How do you respond to that? Actually want to read? Jim Balsillie v, former CEO of Research in Motion, wrote a op ed in the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago that had some choice words just read from it, and I'd like you to respond to it. He called the project a quote, enlightened urban partnership with a foreign company. His business model is built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance, he said. Sidewalk Toronto is not a smart city. It is a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism. I know you have made some changes since then, but come in on that. If he was well, first of all, without commenting specifically on sort of what his motives might be, Hey, made that comment before we actually said What are policies toward privacy and date responsible data use were actually going to be, which we did announced this week and had been planning to do this for a while, and there's there's four basic principle to it that fundamentally respond to any concern. I think that that he would have the first is is that we believe that urban data, you know, data gain garnered in the public realm that could potentially have personally identifiable information is actually a public asset. Second is we proposed a pretty revolutionary idea, which is an urban data trust that would be an independent body to decide what actually do with that data. Third, we said we should be subject to exactly the same rules a cz, anybody else so that to the extent that we or anyone else want to use that data, you'd have to go through and get approval of this independent body. And then we said four is that all of the systems and service is, you know, that are constructed to underlie this play. I need to be open so the infrastructure systems, et cetera, should be open. Um, I don't think any whatever anybody would ever expect, you know, a company, um, like, actually propose something like this. It's a pretty radical approach, but one we think is necessary to protect the public interest. And, yes, while data is important to this, it's not the main driver. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do make a place where people want to live because it's going to improve their lives where we can actually find ways to solve the problem that is bedeviling this city and so many others of affordable housing where we can actually find ways to move people around more efficiently and less and less with less difficulty where we can actually create the first climate positive community, essentially anywhere on earth. We think it's possible. Yeah, data is a piece of it, But the end of the day there's many, many other, um, initiative will, I think, be ultimately more important. So do you think that this proposal, this new plan that you put forth on Monday will quell some of the criticism? I think it should, I think, for all but the most extreme, um, advocates. It should answer the vast majority of questions. Now it's a proposal. There's lots of details to be worked out. We acknowledge that, but that's part of what the discourse actually should be.

 HOST: How much smarter does the power grid have to be to accommodate some of that energy storage technologies are distributed solar energy? SUSAN KENNEDY: Right now, it doesn't have to be a lot smarter in order to be able to solve some of the problems that Nick just mentioned. We're dealing with four major clients right now that have put in a whole bunch of solar. And if you don't size the solar properly, you can create massive voltage problems on your campus, big university campuses. That's one. Number 2, you have customers that are net metering. They've put on solar. And so at the middle of the day, their load drops and they're net metering, their solar. At the end of the day, when the sun stops shining, their load shoots back to the grid. So not only are they caught that very, very expensive. But that means that for every ton of carbon they think they're saving by taking this all off the grid, they're actually adding one or two tons of carbon because he has to build a peak of plant in order to be ready for when their load shoots back to the grid. So the first level of smart is simply controlling your demand, using energy storage. So it has both a salutary effect on your costs and on the environment, but also it allows the distribution planners to not have to build that extra redundant layer. That doesn't take a lot of smart. So that's just smart deployment. JOHN WOOLARD: Let me put a little more pressure on Nick and the utilities on where the grid needs to be because it's decent right now. It works well. It is an impressive machine. And we're not-- I can't forecast a future without it. But it does need to get smarter, it needs to be more dynamic, it needs to have more bidirectional control. We need to have better demand response and better interaction. We've got the biggest connected battery in the world is the US Building Stock with a lot of thermal inertia in it. We don't use it, we don't manage it, and so till devices are IP addressable and networked and really used in a way that's more dynamic, we're not there yet. So I think, Susan's right that you can do things today that are smart, but it can and should continue to improve. But the network is a very-- we're a network-focused company and the concept of living without the network and being off on your own with your solar and your battery storage is, I think, somebody you Alex yesterday said it was an intellectually lazy argument. You're not going to be like a cell phone because a cell phone doesn't operate by itself. Cell phone is part of a network. And it's a function of how many other users are on that network that makes it more valuable. And so I think the network matters, the network needs to improve. It can get better, but it's absolutely key to have a dynamic network that enables-- there are two things. There's a strategic discussion and a tactical discussion. The strategic piece should be how robust and dynamic can and should the network be. And what are the market signals on that network you know. It's not just energy, but it's capacity and reliability. And the tactical piece is now what do I build, what do I do, where do you put storage, where do you put all these pieces. That you need to solve that strategic piece first. And it's, we've got a good start is the good news. But we've got a ways to go. 

Insights: Smart Cities Face Big Obstacles

Redesigning the electrical grid works is the main challenge.

Smart Cities Face Big Obstacles

Redesigning how our current electrical grid works is the main challenge. (May 2016)

How much smarter does the power grid has to be to accommodate some of that energy storage technologies? They're distributed solar energy. Right now, it doesn't have to be a lot smarter in order be able to solve some of the problems that Nick just mentioned. We're dealing with it with four major clients right now that have put in a whole bunch of solar. And if you don't size the solar property properly, you can create massive voltage problems on your campus. Big university campuses. That's one Number two. You have customers that Arnett Mead a ring they put on solar. And so what? The middle of the day, their load drops and their net metering their solar at the end of the day, when the sun stops shining their load shoot back to the grid, right? So not only are they caught that very, very expensive, but that means that for every ton of carbon they think they're saving by taking off the grid, they're actually adding one or two tons of carbon because he has to build a peaker plants I know to be ready for when their load shoots back to the grid. So the first level of smart. It's simply controlling your demand. Using energy story show it has both a a salvatori effect on your on your costs, but also and on the environment. But also it allows the distribution planners to not have to build that extra redundant layer. That's not that doesn't take a lot of smart. So that's just a smart deployment. Let me put a little more pressure on Nick and the utilities on where the grid needs to be because it's decent right now. It works well. It is an impressive machine, and we're not can't forecast the future without it, But it does need to get smarter, needs to be more dynamic. It needs to have more bi directional control. We need to have better demand response in better interaction. We've got the biggest connected battery in the world. Is the U. S. Building stock with a lot of thermal inertia and we don't use it. We don't manage it. And so, until every tell devices are addressable on network and really used in a way that's more dynamic, we're not there yet. So I think Susan's right that you can do things today better smart, but it can and should continue to improve. But, you know, the network is a very you know where network focused company. And you know the concept of living without the network and being off on your own with your solar in your battery storage is I think, uh, somebody, Alex, yesterday it was intellectually lazy argument. You're not going. You're not gonna be like a cell phone because a cell phone doesn't operate by itself, a cell phone is part of a network, and it's a function of how many other users are on that network. That makes it more valuable. And so I think the network matters. The network needs to improve. It can get better. But it's absolutely key to have a dynamic network that enables, you know, there's two things. There's a strategic discussion in a tactical discussion. The strategic piece should be how robust in dynamic can insure the network being one of the market signals on that network, you know, you know, it's not just energy, but its capacity and reliability and the tactical pieces. Now what will build what I do? Where do you put storage? Where do you put all these pieces? But you need to solve that strategic piece first, and it's gotta get Start is the good news, but we got a ways to go.

[MUSIC PLAYING] ROBERT HACKETT: I'd love to know what failed, what doesn't work when you try to roll it out. GUY DIEDRICH: That is again a city-to-city issue. It's, do you want smart lighting? Well, smart lighting is good but it's not cheap. So your lights have to be on a certain amount of time, and there has to be a certain amount of traffic in order for it to pay for itself. So we know that you put up smart lighting, lighting that gets darker when it gets lighter outside, gets lighter when it gets darker outside. We know that that saves about 20% off of energy consumption for your typical city. Is that going to pay for itself in a particular city or not? We have to do that analysis. Do they want to have surveillance? Do they want to have Wi-Fi at the top of those lights? It all depends. It's on an individual basis. ROBERT HACKETT: You mentioned surveillance, so I'd like to talk a little bit about security and privacy. GUY DIEDRICH: Sure. ROBERT HACKETT: How do you go about thinking about how a state might use these tools for surveillance, for tracking. A lot has been talked about. Facial recognition technology in China. Tell us how you think about this issue. GUY DIEDRICH: No. It's a difficult issue certainly, but Cisco is a technology company. And like many of the technology companies in this room, and I'm sure that have been up on this stage, we're enablers. Technology is agnostic. Technology doesn't necessarily know borders. We can only set up a company or a country for success, for prosperity in the digital age. How it gets used is a cultural consideration, a government consideration, a citizenry consideration. But we're really focused on setting them up for success in the future. ROBERT HACKETT: And how do you about ensuring that that data is going to be secure? GUY DIEDRICH: Well, we're in the process now. The digital age is about connecting things. The information age from 1990 to 2010 was about connecting people. Now, it's about connecting things. And we're going to go from about 20 billion connected things currently to 500 billion connected things by 2030. So we're going through this massive transformation with the right security. Each new connection is a new opportunity. With the wrong security, each new connection is a new threat. And so there's nothing more important than security. And I mean, architecture security built into the architecture itself from the edge to the data center to the cloud back out to the edge again. It has to be comprehensive. And yeah, we see, in Cisco as a company, about 70% of the world's traffic crosses our equipment. We stop 20 billion cyberattacks a day. We stop six times more cyberattacks a day than our Google searches. And it's only getting worse, and it's getting more sophisticated. So without the right strategy upfront and without cybersecurity actually built into the network, it will be a daunting task. 

Insights: Cisco VP Focused on Setting Communities up for Success

Guy Diedrich says that technology knows no borders.

Cisco VP Focused on Setting Communities up for Success

Guy Diedrich says that technology is "agnostic" and knows no borders. (November 2018)

I don't know what failed. You know what doesn't work when you try to roll it out? That, that is, that is again a city to city issue. It's Do you want smart lighting? Um, well, smart lighting's good, but it's not cheap. So it has to your life have to be on a certain amount of time. There has to be a certain amount of traffic in order for it to pay for itself. Right. So we know that you put up smart lighting lighting that gets darker when it gets lighter, outside gets lighter when it gets darker outside. We know that that saves about 20% off of energy consumption for your typical city. Um, is that gonna pay for itself in a particular city or not? We have to do that analysis. Do they wanna have surveillance? Do they want tohave WiFi at the top of those lights? It all depends. It's on an individual basis. You mentioned surveillance, so I'd like to talk a bit about security and privacy. Sure. How do you go about thinking about how a state might use these tools for surveillance for tracking? You know, a lot of been talked about facial recognition technology in China. Tell us how you think about this issue. You know, it's a difficult issue, certainly. But Cisco, uh, is the technology company, like many of the technology companies in this room on, I'm sure that have been upon the stage where enablers, Um uh, technology is agnostic. Technology doesn't necessarily know borders. Um, we can on Lee set up a company, our country for success, for prosperity in the digital age. How it gets used is a cultural consideration, a government consideration citizenry consideration. But we're really focused on setting them up for success in the future. And how do you about ensuring that that day is going to be secure? Well, we're in the process now. The digital age is about connecting things. Thean formacion aid from 19 92,010 was about connecting people. Now it's about connecting things. We're going to go from about 20 billion connected things currently 500 billion connected things by 2030. So we're going to this massive transformation with the right security. Each new connection is a new opportunity. Uh, with the wrong security, each new connection is a new threat. And so there's nothing more important than security. And I mean architecture security built into the architecture itself, from the edge to the data center to the cloud back out to the edge again, it has to be comprehensive and way C and Cisco's accompany the about 70% of the world's traffic crosses our equipment. Um, we stopped 20 billion cyber attacks a day. We stopped six times more cyberattacks today than there are Google searches, and it's only getting worse and it's getting more sophisticated. So without the right strategy of front and without cybersecurity actually built into the network, you know it will be a daunting task.

Insights: Connected Cities

Insights: Ecolab CEO On How to Build a Smart City

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Doug Baker outlines one approach to building smart cities at Fortune's Brainstorm E conference. (September 2015)

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Insights: Ecolab CEO On How to Build a Smart City

Insights: A Vision of a High-Tech Smart City

Insights: We're on the Cusp of an Urban Revolution

Insights: Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism

Insights: Smart Cities Face Big Obstacles

Insights: Cisco VP Focused on Setting Communities up for Success