Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to 2022. This is our first episode of new content in 2022 and I am absolutely so excited to bring a very special guest back onto the podcast to start us off! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a great conversation with Kris Libunao, the Executive Director and Chief Sustainability Officer of SmartCT, improving the way Smart Cities and digital transformation are being developed in the Philippines and developing countries. You might remember Kris from back in episode 191 and we are so happy to have her back on the show to catch up on what she has been up to since we last spoke in 2020. Kris starts by telling us about her background in urban planning, policy research, project management and sustainability, she tells us about her professional and personal passions and what sparked her interest in Smart Communities. Kris then tells us what a Smart Community means to her, what she has been doing in developing countries to build Smart Communities and discusses the key gaps in operationalising and sustaining Smart Communities in developing countries. Kris then gives us an update about what she has been up to since 2020, what her 2022 focus is and she discusses how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected her projects. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science, and the importance of educating the public about data ethics. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!
Listen here:
What we cover in this episode:
- Kris’s background in urban planning, policy research, project management and sustainability
- Her passion for how digital transformation is being done in local government and developing countries
- What sparked Kris’s interest in Smart Communities
- What a Smart Community means to Kris
- What Kris has been doing in developing countries to build Smart Communities
- The key gaps to operationalising and sustaining Smart Communities in developing countries
- What Kris has been up to since 2020 and what her 2022 focus is
- How the Covid-19 pandemic affected Kris’s projects
- The emerging trends of AI and data science, and educating the public about data ethics and data consumption
Quotes:
“I am passionate about how digital transformation is being done in the government, especially in the local government in developing countries like the Philippines and its cities and communities. Why? Because I believe there are urgent challenges in how things are implemented in developing countries that needs to be addressed.”
“More than 80% of digital government digital projects really fail in the developing world. And there’s a lot of reasons why it failed. You know, which international development organisations already decided, for example, limited funding, lack of implementation capacity and political instability among others.”
“So, our current approach, in digital transformation, really sparked my interest in Smart Communities because it left us with projects that no one really uses right, and initiatives that the community, the Smart Community, doesn’t really ask for. And basically, this is where I am coming from.”
“[Smart Communities] is being embraced in developing countries, but operationalizing it and sustaining it on the ground is a different story altogether. And I believe this is where the challenge and the opportunities lie.”
“The challenge in developing countries is, as you’ve mentioned earlier, everything is too technology centred, they focus on the supply of the technologies, they focus on the supply of the data so to speak, but they don’t really focus on the demand of the people and the capacity of the people.”
“The really big question is how can we reach the everyday citizens, right? On what this particular data on what this particular, like critical technologies is, are so that they would understand the limitations so they would understand the benefits, what can they do about it? What can they not do about them and really understand the values or ethical responsibilities that they have in terms of using this data and technologies.”
“Smartness really is a continuous variable, on how the community uses data, and on how the community uses technology for its own benefit.”
“The biggest silver lining [from the Covid-19 Pandemic] is that now the government is willing to meet with us online, before if you’re from the Philippines, it’s really hard for you to meet with them in person online, because they want you to write a letter, it’s very formal, write a letter, ask for an appointment, and meet with them in person, but now they’re really open in terms of meeting with us virtually, and even attending events virtually.”
“We really need to look for the balance between these growing and emerging trends, emerging technology, this supply of data and technology talents, and look for the solutions and consumption, of course of this data and critical technologies like AI. I feel like there’s still a need for ethical deployments, there’s still a need for responsible deployments and acquisition of products and services. And, of course, on top of that, there’s also a need for intelligent consumption of the general public.”
Links:
Episode 191 with Kris Libunao
Connect:
Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community
Connect with Kris via LinkedIn, email kris@smartct.org or Twitter
Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community
Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube
The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital
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