Smart Cities (12 February 2013)

Technoport Talks: Smart Cities was held 12 February 2012, and gathered distinguished speakers from a variety of sectors and research disciplines. All of the Talks have been recorded and are available in our database. Click the name of each speaker to watch this Technoport Talk

• Jørgen Randers, professor in climate strategy, internationally known for the book “The Limits to Growth” and The Chair of The Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions of 2005. Read more about Jørgen Randers here  
• Carlo F. Ratti, is an Italian architect and engineer who practices in Italy, and teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, USA, where he directs the MIT Senseable City Lab.
  With his team at SENSEable City Lab, MIT’s Carlo Ratti makes cool things by sensing the data we create. He pulls from passive data sets, like the calls we make, the garbage we throw away to create surprising visualizations of city life. And he and his team create dazzling interactive environments from moving water and flying light, powered by simple gestures caught through sensors.
• Gunnar Johansson, is the head of Transport industry at IBM, Nordics.
  He has been a professional consultant for 20 years. His background with Transek, Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting and IBM has focused on policy evolution and the implementation of large scale programmes for state enterprises and public companies in the transportation industry. Read more about Gunnar Johansson here.
• Anne Beate Tangen has been an adviser in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and in the Ministry of the Environment. From 2001 Deputy Director General in the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, in Department for Climate change and Pollution Control and from 2010 in Department for Regional Planning, Section for Urban Development. She will present Smart Cities of the future, the national collaboration programme Cities of the Future (2008-2014) and how the ministry works with smart city concepts.
• Kirsten Gram-Hanssen is a senior researcher at the Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, where she studies households everyday life practices related to energy consumption. Much technology development within smart-cities relates to energy efficiency, but does the consumer actually save energy or is it rather spent on increased comfort and convenience? How can we make sure that the smarter cities are better for the world, and not just nicer for the citizen?!
• Geir Waage, City Councillor, will talk about what the municipality of Trondheim does to incorporates the idea of smart cities in their work.
• Annemie Wyckmans, Associate Professor at NTNU (the Norwegian University of Science and Technology). In 2009 she was won the prestigious DNB Nor award for talented young scientists for her work on sustainability and innovation. The award was handed out by the Norwegian Minister of Research.