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Smarter Planet is a corporate
initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...
of the
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
company IBM. The initiative was formed to encourage the ideas of business, government, and civil society leaders worldwide towards their path of achieving
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
, near-term efficiency,
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
, and societal progress. Examples of smarter systems include
smart grid A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including: *Advanced metering infrastructure (of which smart meters are a generic name for any utility side device even if it is more capable e.g. a f ...
s,
water management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...
systems, solutions to
traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
problems, greener buildings, IBM's goal and strategy is to use the capacity of these technology and process management capabilities and, outside the realm of technology, to advocate for policy decisions that, according to the IBM's management, could "make the planet smarter.


History

Smarter Planet was officially formed in November 2008, when IBM's Chairman, CEO, and President
Sam Palmisano Samuel J. "Sam" Palmisano (born July 29, 1951) is a former president and the eighth chief executive officer of IBM until January 2012. He also served as Chairman of the company until October 1, 2012. Palmisano was appointed president and chief ...
at the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
presented a new agenda for building a "smarter planet". In his speech, he emphasized how the world's systems and industries are becoming more interconnected and intelligent, and that
leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
s and citizens can take advantage of this state of affairs to improve these systems and industries. In January 2010, Sam Palmisano gave a follow-up speech to the Chatham House called the "Decade of Smart". He highlighted dozens of initiatives in which leaders created smarter systems to solve the planet's most pressing problems. The speech aimed to inspire others to follow the leads of these innovators by helping to create a smarter planet. Smarter Planet's goal is to use the technology and intelligent systems in order to create smarter power grids, food systems, water, healthcare, and traffic systems.


Advertising campaign

In 2008 and 2009, IBM ran a series of marketing campaigns in newspapers such as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''. Each of these "op-ads" featured an essay about a system or industry that IBM claims can be made "smarter" through the application of technology. In January 2010, a display at
Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
's Innoventions was installed. Its goal is to showcase how using technology can solve world problems "from reducing road traffic and city crime to improving food safety and local water supplies." A video that plays on a 12-foot globe in the exhibit was created by Christian Matts and edited by Ben Suenaga. Smarter Planet's advertising campaign is also supporting
TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...
(Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks.


Smarter cities

In 2009, IBM launched the Smarter Cities Challenge. Its goal is to aid major cities worldwide to run more efficiently, save money and resources, and improve the quality of life for their citizens. To date, Smarter Cities Challenge serves thousands of cities around the world in all areas of management including public safety, health and human services, education, infrastructure, energy, water, and environmental. IBM Smarter cities also include citizen participation through People4SmarterCities.com, so they can be part of the technological advances transforming their cities. Examples of major cities around the world using IBM Smarter Cities technology: #In 2015,
Surat, India Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...
implemented an emergency response solution using IBM Technology in Surat to advance it in India to be an advanced technological city. #In 2010,
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, UK, visualised the city systems using data to accelerate collaboration and better decision making. #In 2013, New Taipei City Police, implemented an IBM solution to enhance police productivity and ensuring public safety. #In 2013,
Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
, implemented a water conservation solution with IBM focused on smart metering and water leak detection. #In 2013, Digital Delta transformed Dutch water management system using
Big Data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
.


See also

*
CeNSE CeNSE or the Central Nervous System of the Earth, is a project by Hewlett-Packard and others to place sensors everywhere. Wireless accelerometers and other types of sensors transmit data at the speed of light (taking into account delay on networks) ...
(similar project by HP)


References

{{Ambient intelligence IBM Internet of things