The Role of Education in Urban Technology

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

School systems in cities that adopt open digital infrastructure stand to benefit the most.

Our world is changing at an incredibly fast pace.  My wife and I spend lots of time thinking about how we can help our own kids (ages 11, 9, and 7) to build the skills that they’ll need to compete in our economy.  I think many of us are getting used to the idea that real-world experiences and project portfolios are taking an increasingly important role in finding meaningful jobs today.  Good grades are not enough.

We are just entering the age of real operational technology. Analysis places the economic impact from the Industrial Internet to reach worldwide spending of $500 billion by 2020, with forecasts ranging as high as $15 trillion of global GDP by 2030. That’s going to have a big impact on the Smart City 2.0.

Thinking back to the early days of the consumer Internet and Enterprise IT markets, education played a critical role in helping activate these industries.  Many of us remember writing the most basic of html web pages in the early 90s (remember when animated gifs were mind blowing?), only to advance from information delivery, to transaction processing, to process flows and more.  But these markets could not have formed without sufficient work in the school systems.

We are at that same emerging stage for urban technology, but now that we understand growth trends and have students more tech savvy than ever, we have an opportunity to get everyone engaged from their primary and secondary school days.

Just think about it.  Knowing what you do now, if you could go back to, let’s say, 1992, would you have been a part of the massive wave of jobs that the growth of the Internet opened up?  Certainly, it wouldn’t be for everyone, but having foreknowledge about its potential may have convinced some of you to change your minds.  This is the time we are at for the Industrial Internet and the Smart City 2.0 market.

In my last post, I discussed how open, shared digital infrastructure created by industrial companies could open up access to Smart City market opportunities.  This is a significant shift to allow equitable access to a growing market at its early days.

To capitalize on this opportunity fully, we have to invest beyond infrastructure technology to education.  I would like to see every high school student and many middle school students have the opportunity to put their creativity to work in making their environments better.  We can do this with the right digital infrastructure and the right practical education activities.

School systems in cities that adopt open digital infrastructure stand to benefit the most.  Their students will not only be able to develop solutions on simulated data sets, but they will also have the opportunity to make their solutions real and actually improve the cities in which they live.  This is highly motivating for students as they get to see their classroom work become a reality in the world around them. 

I am a firm believer in reducing barriers to motivation as well as innovation.  If deploying a solution to make your city better requires too much effort, such as designing and deploying custom infrastructure, we will undoubtedly see the number of market participants shrink.  By contrast, if we can show every student how easy it is to make a difference in their own lives and those of the people around them, we will have taken a significant step toward building an entire generation of students who are concerned, active and engaged for years to come.

The world is changing around us, and the skills that will be needed tomorrow will be different from those that are needed today.  It is my hope that all of our students will be able to have their minds opened and their motivations enriched by helping to improve their own cities.  Now it is time for city leaders to recognize this opportunity and provide the foundation that only they can deliver.

John Gordon is the Chief Digital Officer of Current, Powered by GE, where he is responsible for orchestrating an enterprise-wide energy transformation by leveraging the capabilities of GE’s Digital business.

NEXT STORY: Google eyes Dallas for fiber network

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.