About the Speech:

Simon Giles discussed the opportunities presented by ‘Smart’ cities — urban spaces that harness the latest ICT developments to deliver more efficient and sustainable services and infrastructure. From electric cars to e-health services to energy-efficient buildings that use ‘smart’ meters, intelligent cities comprise a wide range of innovations that can be of enormous environmental and economic benefit.

Mr. Giles explored the challenges involved in developing these spaces, as well as the importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors, as well as between the ICT and energy industries. Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte T.D. has highlighted the energy/ICT interface as one of the priorities of Ireland’s EU Presidency. ESB and IBM have already developed this interface extensively in Ireland in a joint project to build and implement a cloud-based electric vehicle IT platform.

About the Speaker:

Simon Giles is Accenture’s global lead for Intelligent Cities Strategy and is currently advising cities, government and developers on economic development, citizen centered design and digital masterplanning. He runs a global advisory team, based in London, that works with interdisciplinary teams of architects, engineers and digital designers to develop new development strategies for existing and new build cities. Mr. Giles also leads the advisory group for the World Economic Forum on Low Carbon Finance and Future Urban Development. He is currently working on projects in the UK, Mexico, Estonia, Denmark, Germany and Japan.

This address is the third event in the ESB Lecture Series 2013, kindly sponsored by ESB.