Proud, optimistic, inspired.
I came away from last weeks Berlin SmarterCities forum feeling all these things. Apart from the great weather it was a great experience to see so many clients and IBMers exchanging ideas and being captivated by the vision of smarter cities. I’ve been lucky enough to have been to several events similar to this and haven’t felt such a buzz before.
@coastw Event about to start. Main tent is jam packed.
There is really no debate that we need smarter cities, we all complain about them, from traffic and healthcare, to water and public safety – we all think they could be improved. How we go about creating them is also emerging through collaboration and open standards.
@ThePetra asked 40 people what’s the worst thing about living in Prague. Most of them said traffic, congestion & lack of green space
So highlights for me from the two days were the address given by the former Mayor of Berlin, Dr. Richard von Weizsaecker, which was the last talk of the first day. It was one of those honest and open talks that started out being a history lesson but turned into a very insightful demonstration of why we need to change our cities and planet to avoid making the same mistakes again and again. A real pleasure to have been able to listen to him.
@AndreaDiMaio Smarter planet and cities need smarter people: are we developing those?
Martin Jetter, General Manager IBM Germany, earlier had announced IBM’s first Analytics Solution Center was to be hosted in Germany, which will focus on public sectors clients so they can make smarter decisions. I just wonder when a personal version comes out that I can run on my phone. Joking aside, analytics and interesting are not usually two words I would put together but learning more about this centre is really exciting. With the flow of information available today it’s important to make intelligent decisions with it.
@sandyberman new analytics center in Berlin ! can’t wait to hear more about that!
The break-out sessions on the second day could have gone on all day, I think in the two sessions I attended there were almost too many hands up wanting to put a question forward.
Finally on day two CEO Sam Palmisano reiterated his keynote speech from day one but with a call to action, to follow those that have already started to make the vision a reality, as we saw in the break-outs and to do something ourselves, from the individual standpoint, reach-out and keep the conversation moving and collaboration going.
If you have time, you can read a tweet by tweet summary of the two days.
