What if the cities of tomorrow could offer more than just a promise of technological advancement, but a tangible improvement in the quality of urban life? Steve welcomes Andrea Sorri to share insights on how smart cities are evolving, with lessons drawn from the established frameworks of European metropolises and new opportunities in the Middle East. They discuss the dynamic interplay between traditional infrastructure and cutting-edge innovation, and how each city, regardless of its stage of maturity, can harness technology to enhance urban mobility, safety, and citizen engagement. Learn how cities are integrating existing resources, such as video surveillance systems, for dual-use purposes, maximizing their potential for public safety and environmental monitoring.

Amidst the promise of smart cities, challenges such as scaling designs and ensuring cybersecurity are ever-present. Andrea highlights the importance of leveraging local resources and fostering innovation through City Labs and technology enablers in rapidly developing regions. Hear about the groundbreaking technologies being installed in places like Saudi Arabia, and why no single city can be hailed as the perfect model.

About our guest:

With over 25 years of experience, Andrea Sorri is Segment Development Manager Smart Cities EMEA at Axis Communications. Andrea Sorri helps put Smart City solutions into practice at Axis Communications, where he is responsible for key markets. He has globally created and implemented efficient strategies for cities and critical infrastructure. His daily commitments include introducing technology that brings effective benefits to communities, particularly in the public safety, mobility and environmental monitoring areas, with a strong focus on enabling cities to reach their sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn

Chapters:

(00:05) Evolution and Challenges of Smart Cities: Smart cities vary in maturity and face challenges in upgrading infrastructure, but offer benefits like improved mobility and safety through citizen engagement and alignment with SDGs.

(10:09) Fostering Collaboration in Smart Cities: Trust, transparency, and ethical AI are crucial in smart cities, with collaboration, dual-purpose infrastructure, and ecosystem-driven approaches being key.

(18:23) Overcoming Challenges for Smart Cities: Smart city scaling in the Middle East faces challenges like cybersecurity, but can benefit from local resources and city labs.

(27:28) Rethinking Smart City Innovation: Smart cities require pragmatic, adoptable, and replicable technology, with potential for collaboration between technology companies and government entities.

Resources:

See more about the Smart City Expo World Congress

Read about the European Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act

Read Andrea’s blog post about using people counting tech to improve transport in cities

See how