Peer2Politics

A technology revolution is brewing that uses sensors, networks, and analytics software to connect physical objects and infrastructure to computing systems over Internet-styled networks.

One year ago, Abha Dawesar was living in blacked-out Manhattan post-Sandy, scrounging for power to connect. As a novelist, she was struck by this metaphor: Have our lives now become fixated on the drive to digitally connect, while we miss out on what's real?

Providing good user experience is not a network issue alone, but will always involve a balancing act between networks, devices and apps.

"We are describing a world where the demands on the network are coming from other industries," said Ulf Ewaldson, Ericsson's chief technology officer.

Some cities tell you they’re awake all night based on the number of sirens you hear driving by in the wee hours, or by the lights left on in downtown office buildings. Here in Stockholm, the sun sets this time of year by 4pm, but the city doesn’t go to sleep. Lights go on, bicyclists ride by with lights and safety vests, road crews stay outside doing their jobs, and the shops are still open. By 10 pm however, things have started to slow down. The question is, can you tell by how much just by looking around you?

In a remarkably short time the internet has changed our world. Its impact has been more pervasive than that of electricity. The digital revolution has often been called the 3rd industrial revolution following previous ones driven by steam and electricity. While these earlier shifts were about creating efficiency and improvements in how products were manufactured, the ICT revolution is about a transformation of what is being processed. It’s redefining critical business assets, creating new economic models and transforming business in the process.

Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) is great example of innovation – empowered by ICT, technology and people – that is reducing carbon emission and making city life better.

Cross-border data flows have significant implications on the economy and should therefore not be labeled as an ICT-only issue.

In the Networked Society, it is interesting to see a new philosophy spreading – the philosophy of being connected, and it is much larger than the technology itself.

The annual Trends in Telecommunication Reform publications are a key part of the dialogue with the world's information and communications technology (ICT) policy-makers and regulators to ensure that all citizens can safely benefit from innovations taking place in the market leading to new applications, services and businesses opportunities brought by a converged digital environment.