Though Europe is currently battered by a refugee crisis, economic laggards and Britain’s potential exit, some argue that its future smart cities will still be more innovative than those in the US.

In the global entrepreneurial landscape, the EU has a reputation as an overly bureaucratic, risk averse zone with poorer access to venture capital than America. But over at FastCompany, Boyd Cohen argues that the old continent is nonetheless poised to steal the innovation crown from a US that offers dimmer prospects in its entrepreneurial technology hubs.

“The EU is well positioned to not only compete but even potentially lead the democratized and urbanized entrepreneurial revolution in the decades to come,” said Cohen, who lists several key factors for the EU’s coming dominance.

“European cities tend to be way ahead of North American cities in the smart cities arena,” he said, with the EU pushing the smart cities agenda for about a decade. The US is comparatively late to the party, with President Obama beginning to push smart city initiatives only last year.

Cohen also sees the EU benefiting from better designed cities that are intrinsically more walkable and liveable. Liveability remains a key attractant for millennials, mobile professionals and the “creative class” of entrepreneurs, technologists and artists.

A 2016 Mercer quality of life survey revealing seven of the top ten global cities to be European. The highest rated US city was San Francisco, ranked 28th.

America may be scrappier..but is Europe more agile?

Next he sees greater European proliferation of soft infrastructure, such as maker spaces and co-working facilities than in the US. There are only 115 Fab Labs, or maker spaces, in the US, compared to 300 in Europe. As well, co-working locations have blossomed in Europe, with Barcelona boasting more than 300 compared to a paltry dozen in Philadelphia, though both have similar populations.

America has generally a higher tolerance of failure in its entrepreneurial communities. However, Cohen sees the rise of US inequality combined with its poorer safety social safety nets impeding US innovation prospects, as the real cost of failure to the individual is much higher stateside than in Europe.

America also lags Europe in removing barriers to entrepreneurial immigrants, where obtaining visas in the US keeps getting harder while in the EU it’s become easier than ever before.

And as more smart cities compete for the global pool of high quality entrepreneurs, technologists and investors, whichever metropolises can attract the best minds and talent will ultimately win the day.

How IoT’s Buddy could help solve Flint’s water crisis

Buddy has a goal, to use IoT for the greater good. They’ve created a water quality demo that showcases how Buddy integrates with distributed devices and sensors as part of an initiative they are setting up called IoT for Impact.

The result is quality, real-time data, that could be used to preemptively alert health officials of system abnormalities – like those that impacted Flint, Michigan, recently – that could then be addressed immediately.

I spoke to CEO and co-founder David McLauchlan, about the initiative. He explained:

To some, IoT data is seen as superfluous.  Events with disastrous impact are surfacing all around us and coming to a head. The contaminated drinking water in Flint, poisoned water from fracking in New York and Pennsylvania, continued e. coli and listeria break outs in Massachusetts, or air quality issues in Oregon — these problems could have been predicted or in some way contained if IoT technology had been implemented.

If sensors were placed in common water filters used in homes, the Flint water crisis could have been discovered and remediated. This could extend to solve other environmental problems, for example:

If air quality sensors were as inexpensive and easy to install as LED garden lights, how many homeowners would be willing to place them in their yard and contribute to an early warning system for abnormal levels of pollution? And if micro-thermometers could be packaged with meat and produce from the time of harvest to the time of consumption, how quickly would noxious foods and their origins be identified and mitigated?

McLauchlan believes there’s a real opportunity for IoT data to bring value to communities by predicting these events. He wants to start a conversation that will engage and ideally move other IoT and data solution providers into taking action. Fundamentally, he believes that people and positive social impact should be at the center of IoT value creation. 

How could it work?

The Buddy demo uses water turbidity as a proxy for the overall water quality.  A variety of other water quality characteristics could be measured using this same design.  In their demo, data is captured from a turbidity sensor and displayed real-time on a dashboard.  If the turbidity level crosses a certain threshold (for example, 100 NTU), the sensor alerts by changing the color of smart lightbulbs in two separate locations.

The demo can be broken down into the following key steps:

1. Turbidity sensor is placed in water sample
2. Data is collected, processed, and streamed real-time to Splunk
3. As the sensor detects key thresholds, light bulbs change color indicating a threshold was met
4. Data is compared against a data-set of water quality data provided by USGS

5. Flint and other cities need help from all sectors

   McLaughlan admits that none of this is easy.  

   Sensor and beacon developers must work with product manufacturers to enable easy, low-cost data generation and transmission. Data collection, aggregation and processing platforms must be able to ingest the data, connect it to advanced software tools and make it accessible for in-depth analyses. And public agencies, policymakers, advocacy groups and scientific organizations must leverage the data in ways that increase our collective ability to prevent or minimize social crises.

   This type of information supply chain can’t happen in a vacuum. It can’t be achieved through closed-door meetings, and it can’t be contained in a lab. It requires widespread participation and collaboration, but the incentives are clear. Businesses can profit. Public agencies can reduce the human and financial cost of health crises. And individuals can play a greater role in their own safety and well-being.

   It will be exciting to follow up on IoT for Impact and the goal to create an information supply chain that would help confront—and in many cases prevent—human emergencies.

Lifestyle Like Follow Follow Topshop wants to bring affordable wearable tech to the high street

LONDON —  Wearable tech is this season's hottest trend, but it often comes with a hefty price tag. Topshop, however, is looking to change that. 

he high street brand just launched an innovation programme in collaboration with tech investment company L Marks to discover and co-develop emerging tech startups and bring fashion-forward wearable tech to the high street. 

Through Top Pitch, Topshop wants to draw fashionable yet functional wearable tech further into the fashion arena with a "democratic approach to pricing". 

The programme isn't limited to smart accessories; Topshop is also hoping to move into emerging high-tech apparel. 

Successful startups will have access to mentors, who will offer support and expertise during a month-long bootcamp of intense coaching. The winning team will be given the chance to secure equity investment, and they could eventually see their product launching in Topshop stores. 

"The merge of style and function has yet to have been seen in a true consumer-ready sense and our aim is to discover new-to-market, highly desirable product at accessible prices for our fashion-savvy customer,” Sheena Sauvaire — global marketing and communications director at Topshop — said in a statement.

Applications for the programme are now open. 

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