The 10 Most Trusted Public Sector Solution Providers 2018 [ Business Magazine ]

Blockchain:
The Next Opportunity for
Better, Safer, Smarter Cities
Today, about 55% of the world’s population lives
in urban areas, but this share is expected to
increase to 68% by 2050. Combined with the
overall growth of global population, this could add
another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050, with
close to 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and
Africa, as reported by the United Nations’ 2018 Revision
of World Urbanization Prospects.
Since the world continues to urbanize, a wiser and farsighted
management of urban resources is more and
more needed, especially in low-income and lowermiddle-income
countries where the pace of urbanization
is projected to be the fastest. Smart technologies and
smart urban platforms can support City managers in
tackling the increasing demand for energy,
infrastructures, affordable housing, well-connected
mobility systems, healthcare and education, as well as
quality of life and jobs.
To understand how smart technologies work, we should
picture Cities as distributed communication systems,
where urban objects – think of streetlights, meters,
parking lots, waste bins, Wi-Fi hotspots, video
About the Author: Gianni Minetti
Passionate and eclectic technology
expert, Gianni Minetti is the President
and CEO, Paradox Engineering SA has
about 25 years of business experience
in information and telecommunication
systems, with peculiar interests in
Internet of Things, smart technologies,
blockchain and cryptography. In 2005
he founded Paradox Engineering as
the vehicle for bringing his unique
technology vision to the market
through pioneer IoT platforms for
Smart Cities and Smart Factories. He
is currently President and CEO of the
Company, which has been part of
MinebeaMitsumi Group since July
2015. Gianni is also chair of the
Southern Alps Chapter of the Crypto
Valley Association, active investor
and advisor to several blockchain
venture projects. He is based in
Ticino, Switzerland.
36 December 2018|