Podcasts about my smart community

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! I sat down with my podcast producer Ellen to record a little update episode, there is a little bit of Smart Community Podcast news and we want to keep you in the loop!  We are planning to take an extended break from the podcast because unfortunately my Mum is very unwell. So I'm going to take some time to be with her and just scale things back a little bit for a while. I will still be doing my consulting work for My Smart Community, working with my amazing clients that I have contracts with at the moment and into the future. But we're pressing pause on the podcast for a time while I spend time with my Mum and family, and while Ellen goes off on her second maternity leave. So your podcast feed won't be updating for a while, but we will be back in some form or another later down the track.  In the meantime, connect with me on LinkedIn or email. I'm not going anywhere, just taking some time to pause and prioritise the people who are important to me.  Talk to you soon! Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Samuel Austin from Episode 340, which was published in May 2023. Sam is an Urban Planner, Community Engagement Specialist and Placemaker, and also the NSW Young Planner of the Year 2022. In this episode, Sam tells us about his background in urban city planning, and his interest and passion for the relationship between people and place. We talk about the role data plays in planning and analysis of how people are using spaces, and Sam tells us about his work on the neon grid and nighttime economy strategy for Sydney. Sam and I discuss the importance of breaking down barriers and silos within cities and communities to foster an integrated approach for a seamless experience for customers, as well as what the nightime economy and neon grid looks like in semi urban and regional or rural settings. Sam tells us about community engagement projects he's worked on in Sydney and we finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of live data allowing for appropriate and timely responses to community requirements. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Sam on LinkedIn  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Michael Wanyama from Episode 335, which was released in March 2023 as part of our annual Mobility March series. Michael and I met at Smart City World Expo in Barcelona in November 2022 where his company Auto Safety Uganda won the Innovation Category of the World Smart City Award. In this episode Michael and I discuss his background in IT and automatic technology and why he's so passionate about happy, healthy and inclusive communities. Michael tells us about the context in Kampala, Uganda, why it's the best tourist destination in Africa and also about some of the challenges Uganda faces with traffic safety, vehicle reliability and air pollution due to lack of systems, skills, infrastructure and regulation. We talk about the many different areas of the community that transport impacts and the importance of supporting the community in the process of transitions to new and cleaner mobility options.  Michael tells us about the projects they are working on, including upskilling mechanics, promoting gender inclusivity in the automotive industry and collecting data to support policy change in Uganda. We also discuss the problem of African nations having to ‘copy and paste' solutions from other countries but finding they don't work in the African context. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of great ideas and policies being stymied by the lack of resources and skillsets to implement the changes, as well as the need for community engagement, leadership and education to work together to solve these problems. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Connect with Michael on Twitter or LinkedIn Follow AutoSafety Uganda on Twitter, LinkedIn or their website www.autosafety-ug.org   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.

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome back to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Dr. Michaela Musilova from Episode 339 which was released in May 2023. Dr. Michaela Musilova is an astrobiologist, speaker, analog astronaut and author. Michaela has been conducting space-related research at institutions around the world and was the Director of HI-SEAS and Commander of over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars, in collaboration with NASA, ESA and many international organizations. She also writes articles for Space.com and co-authored her biography, A Woman from Mars. In this episode, Michaela tells us about her passion for space and for life on earth, how she got into this Space space, and some of the challenges she has overcome to pursue this dream. She tells us about why it's so important to share with the public how science is helping humanity and how diversity and also food have both been key to the success of the missions she's been involved with.  Michaela then tells us about the projects she's worked on, including the Astro Seven Summits, which is focused on performing research related to life in space and also on extreme environments on earth. Michaela and I talk about how to link space exploration science with climate change, as well as what she thinks will happen on the first missions of humans living on Mars.  We finish our chat talking about whether there really is life on other planets, and Michaela tells us what she thinks about the likelihood of finding it. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Follow her on LinkedIn and Facebook, or on Instagram and Twitter @astro_michaela  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. We're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week to kick off the series, we're sharing my interview with Martin Darcy, who was on the show back in July 2022 in Episode 303. Martin is the Service Manager of Business and Innovation with Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. In this episode, Martin starts off by telling us about his background in the tourism industry, his past roles and current role working in local government, and Martin tells us what a Smart Community means to him. Martin then tells us a bit about how his role at the Council has evolved over time, some of the challenges in the Smart Communities space he has faced in this time, before he discusses his experience working to embed Smart Communities in his organisation. He then shares with us some lessons learnt when measuring and monitoring Smart Community benefits, as well as some of the communication and community engagement challenges he has faced.  We then discuss the importance of educating the community about the benefits of Smart Communities and some of the elements that contribute to dealing with change. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of using data to make better informed decisions. There's a few audio glitches in this interview but it's a great conversation so we hope you will forgive us the imperfections. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  Connect with Martin via LinkedIn  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

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome back to the Smart Community Podcast. In this episode I have a fantastic conversation with Calum Handforth. Calum works for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and has led innovation and digitalisation efforts globally, as well as advised governments around the world. He was also Co-Chair of the Digital Infrastructure Taskforce, part of the World Economic Forum's G20 Working Group on Smart Cities. In this episode, Calum and I discuss the types of things he works on at the UNDP, and the progress made on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals since they were introduced in 2015. We talk about using data and storytelling to drive progress and innovation, including Calum's BLT acronym when thinking about data, and the potential of open source digital solutions to improve city infrastructure and services. Calum tells us about his favourite project he's worked on at the UNDP, that incorporated a human-centred design approach to improve a market in Gambia, and the emerging trends of refocusing on the city as the centre of innovation and development.  We finish our chat discussing the importance of community and of sharing failures to achieve SDGs and Smart Community outcomes, plus the power of celebrating even small wins. As always we hope you have enjoyed this episode as much as we have enjoyed making it. Connect with Calum on LinkedIn, @calumah on Twitter/X and via email calum.handforth@undp.org Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity Friends, in this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a fantastic conversation with Nicole Stephensen, Partner at IIS Partners, a prominent privacy consultancy in Australia, where she leads privacy strategy and services. Long time listeners will remember that Nicole was on the podcast way back in Episode 69, in 2018, and again on our Covid Catch Up YouTube series in 2020. In this episode, Nicole and I discuss what's changed in the privacy landscape in the last few years, for better and for worse, including data breaches and the review of Australia's Privacy Act. Nicole reminds us of the essential principle of "Nothing about me, without me," stressing the imperative to engage and involve the community in co-designing solutions. We explore the vital role of public servants in keeping the needs of the community as a focus, and touch on the crossover between information security and privacy. Nicole and I then discuss the pros and cons of privacy laws and regulations, and Nicole advocates for a shift away from ‘incremental change' in order to keep pace with the speed of technological advances. We finish our chat talking about the emerging trend of the intersection of privacy and AI, the potential for Smart City and Privacy Standards to be combined, and why we need to rethink the term ‘responsible AI'. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn or via IIS Partners 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Karandeep Chadha. Karandeep has two decades of diverse work experience in government services, infrastructure asset management, property, procurement, supply chain, consumer goods, technology and financial services industries for top tier Australian, US and European organisations. In this episode Karandeep tells us about his passion for innovation and Smart Cities, and how he ended up in the Smart Community Space. We talk about the importance of coming back to the business purpose and community requirements when implementing Smart solutions, and why foundational transferable skills are so beneficial considering the broad range of skills needed in the Smart Community. Karandeep tells us about some of the projects he's been working on, including what he has been learning from New Zealand's smaller scale ‘do more with less' approach. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of cyber security and data privacy, as well as the need for affordability of Smart initiatives, and why partnering across different sectors and industries is the next step for Smart Communities. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Karandeep via LinkedIn 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community podcast, I'm excited to have Jennifer Sanders back on the show for the 3rd time! Jennifer was also on the podcast back in Episode 170 and also Episode 284, so make sure you go back and check out those great conversations after you've listened to this one. I'm also excited to announce that Jennifer and I will be speaking on a panel together in Barcelona and the Smart Cities Expo World Congress on the 7th November 2023! It's going to be fantastic.  In this episode, Jennifer tells us about what she does with the Dallas Innovation Alliance and some of the projects she's worked on there, including a Digital Inclusion Project and a Drones and Robotics project. We discuss the different ways the Dallas Innovation Alliance collaborates with other groups and how it's different to a traditional approach, as well as what's changed in the last 18 months since she was last on the show. Jennifer then shares with us a bit about the Urban Resilience Fellows Program they are working on, which of course has an interdisciplinary focus, and the power of brave conversations and courageous collaborations for solving wicked problems.  Jennifer and I finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of the fact that now you can find someone talking about almost everything within the Smart Community space, and why we need to lean into multigenerational connections and collaborations as the next step for Smart Communities. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn or via www.ntxia.org  or Dallasinnovationalliance.com   Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. In this episode I have a fantastic conversation with Josh Sattler, the cofounder of TwentySeven Technologies and CEO of Circl Group. Josh tells us about his background in economic development and technology within local government, particularly at the City of Darwin, and how that led him to the companies he's started. Josh and I discuss the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance community connectivity, as well as the benefits and risks of AI, and the need for diversity in the AI space. Josh tells us about some of the possibilities of using AI in government to make data driven decisions, and how he's using AI daily in his work these days.  Josh and I then discuss his work at the City of Darwin, including the challenges and the project he's most proud of, the MyDarwin online platform for economic stimulus that began during the early days of the pandemic and is still going strong. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the way Gen Z and Generation Alpha are integrating technology as they participate in society and why co-design with young people is the next step for Smart Communities. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Josh on LinkedIn or via TwentySeven Tech or Circl Group Pty Ltd Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, host Zoe Eather is back in the hot seat! In celebration of this being episode 350, Zoe and producer Ellen Ronalds Keene sat down for a chat where she answers questions from you, the audience of the Smart Community Podcast.  We can't believe we're at 350 episodes. It's been nearly 6 years of the show and thank you so much for all of you tuning in! Zoe answers 4 questions today from the many that were sent through via LinkedIn. Thank you to those of you who submitted questions! As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  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

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Smart Community Podcast. I'm excited to share this episode with Bas Boorsma, the founder & CEO of Urban Innovators Inc and the author of ‘A New Digital Deal'. I have been wanting to get Bas on the podcast for a while and we finally made it happen. In this episode, Bas tells us about his 2 decade background in urban innovation and his passion for the course of human progress throughout history, and what a Smart Community means to him. We discuss the importance of balancing co-design and bottom up approaches with discernment and leadership, and the need for pragmatism and realism when engaging with citizens. Bas tells us about the maturing of Smart Community thinking over the years he's been in the industry, and why governments and the public sector must balance their risk aversion with moonshot thinking if we are going to solve the problems facing us today.  Bas and I discuss his stint as the Chief Digital Officer for the City of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and the biggest projects and challenges there, including the practical things that can stop innovation in government. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of Smart City silos, the opportunities for AI to help humanity, and the importance of being open-minded about different cultural approaches driving convergence to what works best for the community. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Bas on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community  Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTubeThe Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Smart Community podcast. In this episode I have a great conversation with Michael Healy and Grace de Leon from Smart Christchurch, in New Zealand. You might remember Michael as he has been on the podcast before, Episode 244 in 2021. Michael and Grace tell us about their backgrounds, and the biggest changes they've seen in the Smart Community space over the last 6 years including the shift from technology-first to community-first approaches. We discuss the maturing of the Smart Community conversation towards more collaborative and out-comes focused work, and the natural progression from buzz words and pilots to substance and getting a return on investment for Smart initiatives.  Michael and Grace tells us about a couple of projects Smart Christchurch has been working on, including a fire detection network and a Smart View Data Sharing platform. We then talk about the Innovation Expo happening in Christchurch on the 10th and 11th of September 2023. I'm excited to be emceeing the event and can't wait to be involved because they have some really interesting opportunities for engaging community and young people, not just the usual Smart City types.  We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends and what we'd like to see next in the space, from eSports to Smart Regions. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Grace and Michael on LinkedIn Find out more about the Innovation Expo via the website Innovationexpo.nz  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a brilliant conversation with Nancy Odendaal, who you may remember from way back in Episode 3 (back when we were still called the Smart City Podcast).  Nancy is Professor of City and Regional Planning at University of Cape Town and has been in this city space for decades. In this episode, Nancy and I discuss what Smart Community means to her and her research in Cape Town during the pandemic. We talk about data politics and how they relate to the city, city systems and infrastructure management.  Nancy then tells us about her book, ‘Disrupted Urbanism: Situated Smart Initiatives in African Cities', why she wrote it and some of the lessons from it. We discuss the importance of co-designing and co-creating the Smart City with the community, and the emerging trends of interpreting AI from a more localised community perspective.  We finish our chat discussing the move towards a hybrid of old-fashioned offline community approaches combined with technological solutions as the next step in Smart Communities. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Nancy on Facebook, Instagram at @nomadicnancy Instagram or via email Nancy.odendaal@uct.ac.za  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, in this episode of the Smart Community podcast I have a wonderful chat with Boopsie Maran. Boopsie is the founder and director of urban strategy at Places for Good, a collaborative of community advocates, planners, landscape architects, and artists, in Auckland, New Zealand.  Boopsie and I discuss her background and passion for walkability and ensuring the safety of kids independently travelling to school. We discuss what a Smart Community means to Boopsie and why the organisation is called Places for Good.  We talk about how to ask the right questions to collect the necessary data to make better decisions and the difficulties with measuring and communicating liveability and walkability benefits, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Boopsie tells us about the project she's working on now involving walkability infrastructure improvement for a stretch of land near a school in Auckland, and the problems with short-term political cycles in local governments when it comes to liveability projects.  We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of using apps to feed community input back to local governments, and where to next when it comes to the efficiency of feeding data back to the people that make decisions in Smart Cities and Communities.  As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  Connect with Boopsie on LinkedIn  Connect with Places for good via their website www.placesforgood.com or @placesforgood on TikTok, Instagram and 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to another episode of The Smart Community Podcast. In this episode, I have a brilliant conversation with Natasha Blycha, the founder of the boutique digital law firm Stirling & Rose. Natasha advises on web 3.0, crypto assets, data, privacy, digital asset infrastructure and smart legal contracts and helped author the 2022 Oxford Smart Legal Contract text. In this episode, Natasha tells us about her background in emerging tech law and her passion for the digital free movement, and we discuss the need to balance frictionless tech solutions while still keeping humans involved and able to intervene in Smart Communities.  Natasha and I explore the rise of artificial intelligence and the possibilities of Smart Legal Contracts, as well as discussing the potential ‘terms and conditions' of Smart Cities. Natasha tells us why she has a digital free room in her house and the human need to disconnect, and we talk about the benefits and risks of digital free national parks and other public spaces.  We finish our chat discussing the emerging idea of our ‘implantable' future, and the need for regulated digital quiet times within it, as well as where to next for making data and AI more equitable.  You might have noticed in the last few episodes, we have left the ‘where to next for Smart Cities and Communities' question in the main interview. We are making a little shift in our programming going forwards and won't be doing the ‘Where to Next' mash up episodes anymore. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  Connect with Natasha on LinkedIn or the Stirling and Rose website  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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode I have a fascinating conversation with Monalisha Thakur, the co-founder and CMO at Tummoc. Tummoc is India's first multi-modal transport app that provides accurate real-time public transport information, easy ticketing options and last-mile connectivity.  In this episode, Monalisha tells us about her varied background in music and sales, and the problems she encountered commuting on public transport over the years that got her thinking about digitisation solutions. We talk about what Smart Community means to Monalisha and why everybody should have access to convenience and time-saving transport options, not just the wealthy.  Monalisha tells us about the journey of starting Tummoc, how the multimodal single ticket system works for users and the huge feat behind the digitisation of a whole transit network. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of making public transit users aware of the sustainability impacts they're making by green commuting and what's next for Tummoc. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Monalisha on LinkedIn or Twitter @mthakur69 Find out more about Tummoc at https://www.tummoc.com 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! On this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a brilliant chat with Katie Patrick. Katie is an environmental engineer, software designer, author and repeat guest who was last on the show in June 2021 in Episode 234. Katie tells us about her background and why she's passionate about sustainability, as well as how feedback loops are central to her idea of Smart Communities. Katie and I discuss the need for individual actions as well as systemic change, and what she's been up to since she was last on the podcast, including some of the gamification projects to get individuals to take more sustainability actions. Katie explains the power of human conversation and group identify for driving behavioural change, and the deep need we have for community connectedness. We finish our chat discussing the potential of using goal directed psychology in the sustainability movement and why it should be the next emerging trend. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a brilliant conversation with Tegan Kop, an applied innovation expert and the lead for the Smart City Incubator at City of Melbourne. Tegan and I discuss their background and how they landed in the Smart Community space. They then tell us about some of their favourite projects working at the City of Melbourne Smart City Office, including behind-the-scenes nerdy stuff like managing data across the lifecycle. We talk about how the City of Melbourne is being transparent and accountable in the data they collect and inviting people into the conversation to build data and digital literacy of the community, as well as the global trend of mistrust towards both government and tech companies.  Tegan and I explore the opportunity for scaling local government tasks through sharing data and practice, as well as the ways our personal digital footprints could be better used if we had control or access. We finish our chat discussing the vital importance of digital inclusion and accessibility, including a great example of how the City of Melbourne approached digital exclusion and isolation during the lockdowns. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  Connect with Tegan on LinkedIn  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests:  Tim Neale from Episode 337 Julia Spicer from Episode 338 Dr. Michaela Musilova from Episode 339 Samuel Austin from Episode 340 Some themes that come through in the guest answers are around regionalisation and continued growth and investment in our regional areas, but also in the way we can continue to use technology and data to inform planning and analysis and decision making at all levels: local, state, national and even global.  The other theme that comes through in these snippets is around the opportunity for people to get involved in the Smart Community, whether it's at the leadership level of business, industry or government, or just in the new job types and skillsets needed for the continued growth and development of our modern communities.  As Michaela says, “Even helping community on a small scale, if it's your neighbourhood or whatever it is, it's still going to make that a better place and it's still going to make a difference.” As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community podcast. In this episode, I have a great conversation with Samuel Austin. Sam is an Urban Planner, Community Engagement Specialist and Placemaker, and also the NSW Young Planner of the Year 2022. In this episode, Sam tells us about his background in urban city planning, and his interest and passion for the relationship between people and place. We talk about the role data plays in planning and analysis of how people are using spaces, and Sam tells us about his work on the neon grid and nighttime economy strategy for Sydney. Sam and I discuss the importance of breaking down barriers and silos within cities and communities to foster an integrated approach for a seamless experience for customers, as well as what the nighttime economy and neon grid looks like in semi urban and regional or rural settings. Sam tells us about community engagement projects he's worked on in Sydney and we finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of live data allowing for appropriate and timely responses to community requirements. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Sam on LinkedIn  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Smart Community Podcast. In this episode I have a fascinating conversation with Dr. Michaela Musilova, an astrobiologist, speaker, analog astronaut and author. Michaela has been conducting space-related research at institutions around the world and was the Director of HI-SEAS and Commander of over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars, in collaboration with NASA, ESA and many international organizations. She is currently a visiting Professor at the Slovak University of Technology, Global Faculty at the International Space University and Head of Research of the space technology company NEEDRONIX. She also writes articles for Space.com and co-authored her biography, A Woman from Mars. In this episode, Michaela tells us about her passion for space and for life on earth, how she got into this Space space, and some of the challenges she has overcome to pursue this dream. She tells us about why it's so important to share with the public how science is helping humanity and how diversity and also food have both been key to the success of the missions she's been involved with.  Michaela then tells us about the projects she's worked on, including the Astro Seven Summits, which is focused on performing research related to life in space and also on extreme environments on earth. Michaela and I talk about how to link space exploration science with climate change, as well as what she thinks will happen on the first missions of humans living on Mars.  We then discuss the emerging trend of commercial investment in space and especially in things like rockets, but why it's not just rockets that make successful missions. Michaela shares with us her concerns about the commercial space race potentially taking unnecessary risks for the sake of meeting goals and boosting egos.  We finish our chat talking about whether there really is life on other planets, and Michaela tells us what she thinks about the likelihood of finding it. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect: Follow her on LinkedIn and Facebook, or on Instagram and Twitter @astro_michaela  Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community Podcast. This month we are highlighting Smart Regions with two fantastic guests. If you haven't yet listened to our interview with Tim Neale in the last episode, I definitely recommend listening to it after this one. In this episode, I have a wonderful chat with repeat guest and Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, Julia Spicer. We first had Julia on the podcast way back in Episode 152, which was in January 2020. (The beforetimes!) In this episode, Julia and I discuss what a Smart Community means for her and what has changed for Queensland regions since January 2020. We talk about the COVID experience and how it can teach us about what rural communities experience in prolonged drought and other parallel type experiences. Julia tells us about the generosity of spirit that she sees coming through in regional Queensland, and what COVID has taught us in terms of regional and industry level resilience.  Julia and I explore the role of technology and data when responding to crisis, and the role of government in supporting people and businesses to modernise. We talk about the absolute necessity of internet connectivity and the challenges and opportunities for Smart Communities in regional areas. Julia then tells us about the projects she's involved in as part of her role with the Office of the Chief Entrepreneur in Queensland, as well as the emerging trends of global workforce shortages and the need for sovereign capability in Australia to support supply chains and industries. We finish our chat discussing how everyone in Queensland can leverage the opportunity of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, even if you think it doesn't apply to you. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  Connect with Julia via LinkedIn or with Engage and Create Consulting on Facebook and Instagram @engageandcreate 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community Podcast and this month we are highlighting Smart Regions with two fantastic guests. First up is Tim Neale, the co-founder and Managing Director of agtech company DataFarming. We first had Tim on the podcast in Episode 308 in August 2022. Then we featured Tim again in our recent Summer Series so we knew we had to get him back on the podcast. In this episode, we get a little update from Tim about what he's been up to since we last spoke. We talk about how much and how fast satellite technology is improving and the many ways the data can support farmers in making better decisions and increasing yield, efficiency and sustainability on farms. Tim shares how a number of macroeconomic factors globally are having big impacts regionally for farmers in Australia, and we discuss the opportunities and challenges of our interconnected and interdependent world. Tim then tells us about some of the new projects his team is working on, including using data to help farmers demonstrate the sustainability of their operations, and an investigation into the long term performance of Australian farms. We talk about the impacts of weather and climate change not only on farm production but also the mental health of farmers and rural communities, as well as the big problem with connectivity and access to communication technologies in regional and remote areas. We finish this episode discussing the emerging trend of robots and automation being used on farms and how technological innovation can solve agricultural problems. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community  Connect with Tim via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunityfriends! I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests:  Dan Barr from Episode 330 Jessica Coldrey from Episode 332 Bonnie Shaw from Episode 333 Mike Day from Episode 334 Michael Wanyama from Episode 335 Being the end of our Mobility March series, there's a strong mobility theme, particularly with ideas for transport and town planning and policy decisions that impact all our communities.But the main theme that comes through in the guest answers is around getting communities engaged and building their literacy in how they can play a role in shaping the communities they are a part of. This includes getting involved ourselves in our own local groups, using data to make better decisions and also making sure policies and resources are there to support our bottom-up community design ambitions.As Dan Barr says, “We'll be able to use technology in the future to help us build more democratic places that have community input to how we live.”As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!Connect:Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTubeThe Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, and welcome to our second Mobility March episode! In this episode of the Smart Community podcast, I have a brilliant conversation with Michael Wanyama. Michael and I met at Smart City World Expo in Barcelona in November 2022 where his company Auto Safety Uganda won the Innovation Category of the World Smart City Award. In this episode Michael and I discuss his background in IT and automatic technology and why he's so passionate about happy, healthy and inclusive communities. Michael tells us about the context in Kampala, Uganda, why it's the best tourist destination in Africa and also about some of the challenges Uganda faces with traffic safety, vehicle reliability and air pollution due to lack of systems, skills, infrastructure and regulation. We talk about the many different areas of the community that transport impacts and the importance of supporting the community in the process of transitions to new and cleaner mobility options.  Michael tells us about the projects they are working on, including upskilling mechanics, promoting gender inclusivity in the automotive industry and collecting data to support policy change in Uganda. We also discuss the problem of African nations having to ‘copy and paste' solutions from other countries but finding they don't work in the African context. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of great ideas and policies being stymied by the lack of resources and skillsets to implement the changes, as well as the need for community engagement, leadership and education to work together to solve these problems. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Connect with Michael on Twitter or LinkedIn Follow AutoSafety Uganda on Twitter, LinkedIn or their website www.autosafety-ug.org   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.

Hi #SmartCommunity Friends and welcome to Mobility March! This month I have 2 great episodes for you all about the theme of mobility. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Mike Day from integrated planning, design and placemaking practice Hatch RobertsDay. Mike tells us about his background in town planning and why he is so passionate about shaping neighbourhoods and making better places for humans and nature. We have a great discussion about his aversion to the term Smart and the importance of long-term thinking in building sustainable, connected and liveable cities. Mike shares a great example of this regarding putting a train line in a new suburb, and how some governments don't do it because they are caught up in short term thinking. Mike and I explore how we can make more accessible neighbourhoods that privilege the transport modes of walking and cycling over cars, and why it's town planning and design to blame for our current car dependence. We talk about the decline of kids walking to school and the importance of planning places and cities for children. Mike then tells us a bit about the history of Copenhagen's intentional creation of a culture of active transport and what we can learn from precedents like that. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of the distributed or hybrid workplace, the future of mobility in our neighbourhoods, plus the new dual mandate for Transport Departments of both movement AND place. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn and Twitter @walkplace Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome to this bonus episode of the podcast! We will be kicking off Mobility March next week but this week I wanted to share this fantastic conversation I had with Bonnie Shaw. Bonnie is co-founder of Place Intelligence, a geo-AI startup focused on democratising access to big data to support evidence based design, policy and decision making. She has a varied background in landscape architecture, urban design and game design and in her role as the Smart City Practice Lead at the City of Melbourne, Bonnie helped to establish and lead Australia's first (and multi-award winning) Smart Cities team. In this episode, we talk about the importance of building literacy and critical thinking around Smart concepts in our Smart Communities, and Bonnie's framework for meaningful change that looks at toolset, skill set, and mindset. Bonnie tells us about Place Intelligence and some of the projects they've been working on, including the Data Informed Design conference which will be held in Melbourne on the 23rd and 24th of March 2023. Tickets are out now so click the link to get yours now! Bonnie and I finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of opportunities for engagement to help people understand the things that are influencing our lives, plus how game design helps us approach community engagement! As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn or PlaceIntelligence.ai Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode I have a great chat with return guest Jess Coldrey. Now we first had Jess on the podcast back in Episode 258, which was released in October 2021. But more recently we re-shared that episode as part of our Summer Series and promised to have her back for an update, so here it is! In this episode Jess and I talk about what she's been up to in the last 18 months, including doing her Masters of Humanitarian Engineering in the UK. She tells us what Humanitarian Engineering is, and what a Smart Community means to her. We discuss the power of having different experiences and disciplines involved in projects because it leads to asking a different set of questions, and why we should be shifting to a more community-led project design approach. Jess then tells us about her work in endometriosis advocacy, including becoming a Laureat of The Australian French Association for Innovation and Research. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of the role of AI and machine learning in art, and how that influences work more broadly, including what we do with our time as more and more is automated. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Jess on LinkedIn and art website jesscoldrey.com Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends and welcome to this very special bonus episode to celebrate the Smart Community Podcast's 5th Birthday! Our Podcast Producer Ellen Ronalds Keene jumps into the host seat to interview Zoe about the history of the podcast, the ways it has changed Zoe's life and the impact it has had on others. Ellen and Zoe discuss the network effect of the podcast and the ways the Smart space has matured over the last 5 years. Zoe shares why she is excited about seeing Smart being embedded in boring government processes, and the opportunities and challenges of the ‘collision of professions' in the space. Zoe and Ellen finish their chat sharing what they are looking forward to including Smart concepts becoming general public conversations and a personal example of why this work is so important. Thanks so much for tuning in over the years, #SmartCommunity friends! We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Connect with Ellen on LinkedIn or hello@perkdigital.com.au Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity Friends and welcome to the first new episode of 2023! We hope you enjoyed our summer series sharing some of our favourite episodes over the preview 12-18 months. In today's episode I have a fantastic conversation with old friend of the show, Dan Barr! Now Dan has been on the show before but it was way back in the early days, in episode 44 in 2018. Dan leads the multi-disciplinary consultancy, Better Cities Group and is a co-founder of the major event planning technology collaboration, Better Events VR. The Better Cities Group specialises in design, economics and engagement and proudly supports clients in the private, public and start-up sectors throughout the APAC region. In this episode, Dan and I discuss how our thinking has changed on a number of topics since 2018, and how the Smart space in general has matured. We talk about the problem of unintended consequences of technology, and the tension between political ambition and commercial reality in Smart projects. Dan tells us a bit about some projects he's working on, and he tells us what he thinks will be the big story of the next 10 years in city and urban development. We discuss why we need to get the hierarchy right between people and cars when designing our cities, and the importance of both qualitative and quantitative data, what I like to call the numbers and the stories. We finish our chat talking about the emerging trend of geopolitical factors in the Smart space. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn, via the Better Cities Group website or email danbarr@bettercitiesgroup.com Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Tim Neale from Episode 308, which was released in August 2022. Tim, who was named Australian Agricultural Consultant of the year 2018, has over 25 years' experience across Australia and internationally, 20 of which has been running his own agtech businesses. He is co-founder and Managing Director of DataFarming, a five-year old agtech business out of Queensland. In this episode, Tim begins by telling us about his background in agtech and current work, his passion for helping farmers to up-skill and use tech to enhance their farming, and Tim tells us what a Smart Community means to him. Tim then tells us what led him to work in the agtech space, we discuss how technology can help in this space, and Tim tells us a bit about his company DataFarming and what they do. Tim then discusses some of the positive impacts his work has had for his clients, the changes he has seen in the agtech space over time, and we discuss the role of data in the future of the agriculture industry. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of tackling data connectivity and data processing sustainably to unlock the possibilities that data can provide. Tim's interview is the last in our Summer Series but we will be back next week with a brand new episode and after that we will return to the fortnightly release schedule. We've got some great guests lined up in 2023 and of course if you have suggestions of guests or topics, do reach out, we'd love to hear from you. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Tim via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome back to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my conversation with Raymond Sun and Susannah Wilkinson from Episode 276, which was released in February 2022. Ray is a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills, specialising in technology, media and telecommunications and privacy law. Susannah is the Digital Law Lead - Australia & Asia at the same firm, leading the development of Smart Legal Contracts and the provision of digital law solutions in conjunction with the development of the Australian National Blockchain. We start off by talking about Ray and Susannah's backgrounds in law and their current work looking at how laws are able to adapt to the new issues of emerging technology. Ray then tells us about his passion for technology and AI, and Susannah, her passion for improving digitised processes and how that involves the law, before they tell us what a Smart Community means to them. We then discuss the importance of data in Smart Communities, the increased use of data and risks associated and therefore the importance of having legal frameworks in place. We then discuss how data leads to Smart Communities and emerging technologies. Ray and Susannah then share with us a bit about some of the projects they were working on at the time of recording and we finish our chat discussing several emerging trends including; lawyers roles in Smart Communities and forward looking legislation, digital twin representation and accountability in the ‘real world', more flexible and adaptable infrastructure projects, shifts in privacy laws and finally digital identity. We will be sure to get Ray and Susannah back on the show in future for a full update about what they've been up to since we recorded this episode and how our thinking has progressed since our conversation. But in the meantime, as always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Susannah via HSF Digital Law Group Website Connect with Raymond via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome back to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Laila Al Hadhrami from Episode 263, which was released in November 2021. At the time of recording, Laila was the Smart Cities Development Manager at the National Energy Centre in Oman and ready to talk about her favourite topic, Smart Cities. Laila begins by telling us about her background and her passion for the digital world and Smart Cities, how sustainability drew her into the Smart Communities space and we discuss the importance of knowledge sharing in Smart Communities. Laila then shares with us how she is working to build Smart Communities in Oman, what a Smart Community is to her and we discuss the importance of investing in people's skills and empowering people. Laila then tells us about her work leading Smart City projects at the National Energy Centre, before she discusses how Oman has embraced the Smart Community concept and its evolution over the last 5 years. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of serving the basic needs first in communities before looking to the future, and the changes the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to our working and online learning lives. We will be sure to get Laila back on the show in future for a full update about what she has been up to since we recorded this episode and how our thinking has progressed since our conversation. But in the meantime, as always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Laila via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Jess Coldrey, from way back in Episode 258, which was released in October 2021. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a fascinating talk with Jess Coldrey about how art can shape the future of Smart Communities. Jess is a human geographer and creative technology artist and through her work, aims to harness the under-utilised potential of infrastructure to address social and environmental needs. Jess tells us about her varied and interesting background, her studies in Visual Arts and Human Geography, her current work and latest venture heading to England to study humanitarian engineering, before telling us about her passion for futurism and how societies progress in a socially different way. Jess and I discuss how her work fits into the Smart Communities space, how she has used her creative and collaborative skills in past projects to bring in new ways of thinking and ideas, how her training has helped give a different perspective and what a Smart Community is to her. Jess then shares with us some of the projects she has been working on as well as some of her achievements before we discuss how art can trigger emotional responses allowing people to think differently and boldly about the future of communities, how art galleries and libraries could potentially be the hub of communities and the value that could bring. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the post Covid world and the different requirements communities will need in future. Since we recorded this interview, Jess has been up to a lot! She was named Top 50 Women in Engineering in the UK; she did an art residency in France raising awareness of endometriosis; she obtained her MSc in England as a John Monash Scholar, focusing on drone tree planting; she exhibited a piece in the Tate Britain, which houses the UK's national collection of art; spoke on the radio about inspiring and retaining women in engineering; created a series of 3D scanned postcards to encourage environmental volunteering and recently she's been to India as a United Nations UNLEASH Global Talent to work in international teams prototyping technological solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals. She's got some exciting projects on the horizon too, including leading a drone tree planting project with AirSeed/RedCross, responding to landslides and flooding in Lismore here in Australia, and she's doing an art residency at King's College London Engineering, working with robotics and photography to help shape a creative identity for the new department, and understand 'what inspires us' as engineers to share with the world and encourage others into the profession. We will be sure to get Jess back on the show in future for a full update about what she has been up to since we recorded this episode and how our thinking has progressed since our conversation. But in the meantime, as always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Jess via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. As you know, we're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Katie Patrick, from way back in Episode 234, which was released in June 2021. Katie is an environmental engineer, software designer, author and co-founder of the two environmental database startups Energy Lollipop and Urban Canopy. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast we begin our conversation by Katie telling us about her background as an environmental engineer, how she transitioned to running her own publishing company to now her own startups. Katie then shares with us what a Smart Community is to her and her passion for environmental data. We then talk more about environmental data and how it can help drive change in human behaviour before Katie talks about her interest in behavioural psychology. Katie then shares with us her two startups and the work they are involved in and we talk about her transition from a more conventional style of work to the startup space, before discussing personality types and the value different personalities can bring to an organisation. We talk about the basis of Katie's book “How To Save The World'' and how important it was for Katie to deliver her complex messages in the book in a readable way to her audience. We finish our conversation discussing the emerging trends of granular data and data-to-data comparisons. One recent project of Katie's that has happened since this interview is the Sustainability Street masterclass she's been running, which is about how to gamify neighbourhood decarbonisation. We'll pop a link in the show notes if you want to check that out. And of course we will be sure to get Katie back on the show in the new year for a full update about what she has been up to since we recorded this episode and how our thinking has progressed since our conversation. But in the meantime, as always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Katie via LinkedIn Twitter or Instagram 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! Welcome to the Summer Series here on the Smart Community Podcast. We're taking a little break from new content over the Australian summer holidays, and instead we are sharing the replays of a few of our all time favourite episodes. This week we're sharing my interview with Michael Holmstrom, from way back in episode 201, which was released in November of 2020. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Michael Holstrom, the CEO of STEM Punks (and that's STEM as in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths.) STEM Punks provides immersive STEM programs for students and teachers from grade 1 to 12 and through their programs, enables creative and entrepreneurial thinking to inspire tomorrow's innovators. In this episode Michael and I discuss his background as an engineer and in technology commercialisation and startup development, as well as what sparked his interest in the Smart Community concept. Michael then explains how STEM Punks came to be and why the real world application of STEM skills is so important, not just learning to code in isolation. We share our thoughts on buzzwords and acronyms, like STEAM, but why STEM is the foundation. Michael tells us what STEM punks does in both the education and home market and how they've shifted in 2020 with COVID accelerating their shift to online delivery. We discuss technology as an enabler for humans, the importance of lifelong learning and the mindset shifts we need in order to think more holistically and change the narrative of what STEM is. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of AI and the ethical and philosophical conversations that are needed now that the technology is here, as well as Michael's favourite resources. We will be sure to get Michael back on the show in future for a full update about what he has been up to since we recorded this episode and how our thinking has progressed since our conversation. But in the meantime, as always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Michael via LinkedIn or at stempunks.com.au 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.

Hi #smartcommunityfriends! I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests: Peter Bjorn Larson from Episode 319 Johanna Hoffman from Episode 320 Suzanne and Ashish Prabhudesai from Episode 321 Sarah Pink from Episode 322 Some themes that come through in the guest answers are around making the future better for the humans and the environment, collaborating and integrating across sectors and organisations, and of course using technology intentionally, effectively and responsibly. We have so many tools and technologies now and the Smart City message has come a long way in the industries that are connected to it, but we still have a lot of work to do to make sure we aren't getting caught up in tech for tech's sake but making real impact and bringing citizens into the conversation. There are also so many ways we are still working in silos or getting stuck in pilot mode, so continued collaboration and participation is a must within organisations, between organisations, between the public and private sector, and with the general public as well. And of course what is the point of any of this Smart Community approach if we aren't aiming to make the future a better place, more liveable, accessible and sustainable for humans and the planet. Sarah tells us about some of the projects her team is working on in this realm, and Johanna reminds us that the decisions we make now will have ramifications for our children's children. As Suzanne says, “It's about ensuring that people are not slaves of the technology, but are making use of it to drive better outcomes, not just for now, but for the future, as well.” As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Sarah Pink, Founding Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University in Melbourne. Sarah is a Futures and Design Anthropologist and in this episode she tells us about her background in both anthropology and as a documentary filmmaker, and how that has shaped her career. We then talk about some of the projects Sarah has been working on with the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, including some key insights from some of these projects. Sarah and I discuss why you need to start projects from a place of values and outcomes, rather than starting with the data, and how we can enable people to connect technologies with their human values. Sarah also tells us about a really interesting and powerful approach called ‘Thing Ethnography' that involves roleplaying people as technology in order to understand what people actually want from their technology, not just what technologists think they want. We finish our chat discussing the problem of Smart City debates being driven by people who don't understand real life contexts, and why we should be simulating future experiences to get a better understanding of how people behave in order to better plan for the future. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn or Twitter @pinkydigital Find out more about the Emerging Technologies Research Lab on the Monash Website or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a fascinating chat with Suzanne and Ashish Prabhudesai about the app they created called RemoveAlist, which helps people project manage their house move while also participating in the circular economy and promoting sustainability and waste reduction. We start off talking about what Smart Community means to each of them, and then Suzanne and Ashish tell us how their own house moves and also recent natural disasters in Australia inspired them to create the app, and their tech startup Simply Save Australia. We talk about how harnessing data at the time of moving house can save people money and resources and brain power, the status of the app development itself, and some different use cases they've found based on feedback and collaborations. We finish our conversation discussing the need to provide kids the opportunity to move into the Smart space and getting kids involved as active citizens of the future. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Suzanne on LinkedIn and Ashish on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a fascinating conversation with urbanist and author Johanna Hoffman. Johanna is the founder of the research and action institute Design for Adaptation, and works primarily at the nexus of design, planning, fiction and futures. We talk about what a Smart Community is for her, and what inspired Johanna to write her book, which is called “Speculative Futures: Design Approaches to Navigate Change, Foster Resilience and Co-Create the Cities We Need”. Johanna tells us how we need to be using our imaginations more in our Smart Cities and Communities work, how that can build our personal and social resilience, and why we need to focus on future possibilities not just solving current problems. Johanna and I discuss the issue of information overload and interpreting data so that citizens can actually understand it and the role memory plays in speculative futures. We finish our chat talking about the dangers of tech goggles and silver bullet thinking. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with Johanna on LinkedIn, her website or Instagram @johannaehoffman Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the podcast I have a fantastic conversation with Peter Bjorn Larsen, the founder of Smart City Insights, which is a Smart City advisory consultancy based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Now you may remember Peter from way back in Episode 190. In this episode we discuss some of the projects Peter has worked on, from Copenhagen to Canada to Scotland. Peter tells us about why it's so important to have both public and private sector working together on Smart Community projects, and how we can create projects with multiple benefits or different benefits for different stakeholders. Peter and I then talk about the concept of data collaboratives, and how they're different to data marketplaces, plus why we should be using data to solve “normal” problems. We explore the problem of “who will pay for it?” when trying to work collaboratively and break out of silos, and Peter tells us about the real reason we need walkable cities. We finish our chat discussing why Peter tries to never use the word ‘data' when talking to people about Smart City projects, and how useful Digital Twins will be in the future for helping citizens visualise projects. At the end of our chat we also mention being in Barcelona, I'm heading off to the Barcelona Smart City Expo in November. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect: Connect with Peter on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunityfriends! I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests: Leni Schwendinger from Episode 313 Emran Amin from Episode 314 Cheryl Desha from Episode 316 David Catalovski and Louis Limnios from Episode 317 Some themes that came through in these guest answers were around having more creativity and imagination in the way we think about Smart projects, keeping the customer and context of different projects in focus, and balancing that with the need for standardisation and interoperability. We talk about the fact that different contexts require different approaches and that a mature Smart Community learns from other projects but doesn't just think that ‘one size fits all'. While at the same time, we need more interoperability and some level of standardisation so we can actually collaborate and share data and knowledge. As Emran says, “Once we streamline things and [have a] more standardized approach in adopting Smart technology and learning from each other, having those communications...then we can work together and have more effective pathways [for the] future.” Several guests also mentioned the need for more creativity and imagination, but that we also need space and time for that creativity to happen. And hopefully the conversations we have here on the Smart Community podcast spark some ideas for you and prompt reflections and conversations in all of these areas going forwards. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 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.

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a wonderful conversation with David Catalovski and Louis Limnios. Now, you might remember David from way back in episode 140, which was in 2019, in the before-times. David is the co-founder of Green Be, and Louis is the Chief Customer Officer and Director of Nucleus 3. I've had them on the podcast together today because they are working together on some interesting projects in the area of IoT, community engagement and Smart management of resources such as water, waste and energy. After telling us about their companies and what they are each passionate about, David, Louis and I discuss the importance of measuring more than the things that have traditionally been measured when making investment decisions as a local government or organisation, plus the challenges and rewards of being a pioneer using IoT for resource management. David and Louis tell us about trends in projects they've been working on, including councils working together to leverage data for interoperable customer engagement and how opening the conversation to the community not only gets more people at the table but also helps find new use cases for the IoT data. We finish our chat talking about how we are finally getting away from the mentality that “deploying something is enough” and moving towards using data to measure outcomes and deliver better solutions, plus the emerging issue of data security that poses for councils. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Connect with David via LinkedIn or via email Connect with Louis via LinkedIn or via email Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a brilliant conversation with Cheryl Desha. Cheryl tells us about her background in Mauritius and Australia, and in Environmental Engineering, Disaster Management and Resilience. We discuss why resilience, including digital resilience, needs to be part of the Smart Community conversation, and how we can forward plan for better disaster management. Cheryl tells us about ways communities often come together in practical ways after disasters and how we can continue those positive aspects of community long term. We talk about how it's important to balance the wonderful things about technology, such as data driven decision making and digital twins helping us be agile, with the way our digital junk food diet has reduced our ability to focus. Cheryl shares with us some of the projects she's working on and some of the great books she's been reading. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of the need for Digital Resilience in the Smart Community space. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! This is a bit of a bonus episode of the Smart Community podcast because we are catching up with a former guest but it's a very different conversation than we usually have. So in this episode I have a brilliant chat with Joy Taylor, who you might remember from way back in Episode 154. Joy is a banker turned Coworking Space Founder and Startup Mentor, turned Software Developer and Digital Nomad. So when we last spoke, Joy was the Community Manager of Canvas Coworking space here in Toowoomba, but in this episode we talk about how that's changed as well as why and how she decided to re-train to work in tech. Joy tells us about where she has been travelling as a digital nomad this year, and we discuss the differences between levels of infrastructure compared to levels of community in big cities versus more regional or rural locations. We finish our conversation talking about the power of living by your values, and the importance of providing relevant, timely and easy-to-absorb information for people in order to elicit behaviour change. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Connect with Joy on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube Podcast Production by Perk Digital

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great conversation with Engineer and Smart Technologies advocate, Dr Emran Amin. Emran tells us about his background as an engineer and academic and his passion for contributing his knowledge of Smart Technologies. Emran explains a bit about the standard for barcodes, parallels between standardisation of barcode technologies to other Smart Technologies such as printable RFID and why interoperability is so important. We then discuss what he's been working on with the City of Casey as a Community Reference group member in the Smart Casey team, plus some interesting projects he's worked on in his home country of Bangladesh. We finish our chat talking about data ethics shaping the future of Smart Cities and Communities, and how context really changes the way you approach Smart technologies, data-driven decision making and community engagement. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Emran via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a wonderful conversation with Leni Schwendinger. Leni is a published, award-winning authority on the many issues of city lighting with more than 20 years of experience creating worldwide illuminated environments. In this episode Leni begins by telling us about her background in arts and community activism, her passion for weaving those two things together and what sparked her interest in the Smart Communities space. Leni then shares with us what a Smart Community means to her, and takes us through her journey that led her to the work she is doing now, before she shares with us some of her observations and learnings of the city lighting space and some of the differences she has seen across cultures and different job types. Leni then discusses the role city lighting plays in safety, in particular for more vulnerable groups of society, and shares with us some of the projects she has been working on recently. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of community engagement and the value it can bring to Smart Communities. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Leni via LinkedIn 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

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast host Zoe Eather is back in the hot seat! Zoe and producer Ellen Ronalds Keene sat down for a chat where she answers questions from you, the audience of the Smart Community Podcast. We can't believe we're at over 312 episodes and now over 162,000 downloads. It's been just over 4 years of the show and thank you so much for all of you tuning in! Zoe answers 5 questions today from the many that were sent through via LinkedIn. Thank you to those of you who submitted questions! As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 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

Hi #smartcommunityfriends! I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests: Russell Bennett from Episode 307 Tim Neale from Episode 308 Ryan McManus from Episode 309 Gaya Gounder from Episode 310 Some themes that come through in the guest answers are around corridor concepts in our cities, breaking down silos and nurturing the culture of innovation, regional partnerships and keeping and retaining skill sets. We talk a lot about embedding the Smart Communities approach, which is important to break down silos and barriers so we can move forward with our Smart Communities initiatives. We need to continue to think differently and creatively to really gain traction and start seeing some of the benefits Smart Communities can bring. Another theme our guests are commonly finding is skills shortages in their particular regions, and really want to work on keeping and retaining those skill sets. It really is time to start uplifting our regions and showcasing regional capacity and capabilities, and educating school leavers on the many career paths of STEM to either attract those needed skill sets or retain the current talent in our regions. As Tim Neale says, “Trying to educate early stage school leavers to the potential of what opportunities lie ahead, for the region's I think that's a massive thing we've got to do right now. And hopefully, people coming out of the cities back into regional areas, is going to drive some of those incredible skill sets that we need back in the regions to solve these big problems that we've got.” As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 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.