 Hello, everyone. This is Asha Bey from the Office of Alumni Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Welcome to our fourth episode of Mentor Talks. Mentor Talks is a series designed to benefit exchange program alumni, as well as others interested in improving themselves and the world around them. This is your opportunity to talk directly with leaders and mentors who excel in their fields, like our guest today, Rhonda Binda. Rhonda is an internationally recognized people's choice leader in developing smart cities. And that's what we're here to discuss today. What is a smart city and how can you transform your city or town into one? We'll find out shortly. First, we'll share a little bit more about Rhonda. She is co-founder of Venture Smarter, an executive director of the Smart Regions Initiative, bringing smart city solutions to the U.S. and around the world. She also runs Binda Business Solutions, a consultancy that supports and advocates for the development of smart and connected communities and high-tech industries. Rhonda is a technology lawyer by trade and has traveled to over 200 cities and 40 countries. During her free time, she works with the Caribbean diaspora and serves on the board for the Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, whose mission is, in part, to expose more young women to careers in technology. In addition, Rhonda is an alumna who visited Hungary and Romania as an exchange participant of the American Council of Young Political Leaders Program. She'll be going back to her European exchange program roots, visiting Slovakia later this month, to discuss smart cities at several different conferences. For those of you watching from the region, Rhonda will be a keynote speaker at the Slovakia Tech Forum Expo. It's an international conference of innovative companies in industry tech, energy, logistics, and the environment. Be sure to check it out. And with that, welcome Rhonda and thank you for joining us. Thank you, Asha, and hello to everyone watching on Facebook. Rhonda, can you tell us what is the difference between a smart city and a regular city? A smart city leverages technology. They're digitizing government for more efficient government services delivery, and also for smarter infrastructure. They're using public-private partnerships to, in turn, connect with their citizens in a more interactive basis. And they're improving the quality of life to have places that are better to live, work, study, and to visit. Rhonda, can you give us some examples of smart cities? Yes, I'd love to give you some examples. And, you know, in all of these examples, they're built upon about three pillars that are focused on reaching 100% connectivity. And that's looking at 5G, Wi-Fi, it's looking at broadband, 100% mobility. They're looking at improving the transportation of cities to better connect people, goods, and services. And, of course, they're looking at achieving 100% resiliency. And so that's looking at sustainability, security, and cybersecurity, which are paramount to making all of this work. And so I'd like to start today with, of course, an example that's near and dear to my heart. After traveling to so many cities around the world, I came back to my hometown in Queens, New York and really wanted to have my neighborhood benefit from all of the great modern technology that was coming into New York City. We were still somewhat a little bit lagging behind some of the other 399 neighborhoods in New York. But we looked around and we saw there was so much opportunity and underutilized infrastructure there. And not only that, Queens is sort of the gateway to New York with both airports there, but we were missing a lot of the tourists. So we put together a strategy around technology, transportation, and tourism that gained a lot of success and eventually the number one designation by the Wall Street Journal as the hottest city in New York City. But particularly what I'm proud of is that we received an award from the governor for the number one downtown revitalization award for the entire state. But the majority of that money was allocated towards finally bringing broadband to downtown Jamaica around a plan we had for upward mobility around digital literacy. And so, you know, again, looking at those three pillars, we were able to come up with a customized plan for Jamaica to really take it to new heights. Another city that we can't forget that is always almost number one on any global list is Shenzhen, China. Now, they've done incredible things from going from a city that was somewhat unsafe to one of the safer cities in China by looking at intergovernmental cooperation, sharing information from the local police, the city police, the provincial police, and then also the federal, that they were able to really be able to respond quicker. A lot of the law enforcement were able to become more mobile to have, you know, really, you know, quick, quick response times to anything that was happening around the city. And not only that, they have one control center now that where you have all the information, not just for law enforcement and for the city dashboard, but they've also brought in the Metro, the water services, the energy services all under one building to be able to respond better to disasters like earthquakes, for example, that would, you know, for example, that would very much impact their Metro services. Their Metro itself is about twice the size as DC and connects directly to almost to Hong Kong. And so they've been able to really turn around that city. And it is one of the fastest growing and more popular cities in all of China. And this is, you know, another great example of what happens when you really invest in becoming a smarter city. I would be remiss if I didn't mention what I'm most excited about right now is my upcoming trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. And they have a really great young progressive mayor, Mayor Valo, who has already embarked on a plan for having a smart and connected community and region coming out of Bratislava, the hub and meeting the other, you know, mayors and working on a regional basis. The country itself also has a plan. And they're really focused on the data sharing among all of these different mayors and municipalities and how they can better look at policy from our evidence-based policymaking. I know that they're also very much focused on clean tech and looking at dealing with the congestion that a lot of cities have in the downtown. You know, there's a fair amount of pollution, but they're looking at taking some of the cars away in downtown to make it more walkable and looking at other options to transportation like scooters and bikes and adding, you know, the capability for more, you know, clean type of vehicles and using electric buses and the sort. Great. So it sounds like citizens can really benefit from smart cities. Is that right? Absolutely. I mean, really it's about empowering the citizens themselves to be able to share the information and give feedback immediately to their elected leaders and creating that virtuous loop where then the city can also respond in real time. You know, a lot of times elected leaders don't necessarily hear back from their citizens unless it's a complaint or there's something wrong or maybe during the election, that what we would like to see is that engagement and that interaction happening between cities and their citizens all the time. So thanks, Rhonda. We have limited time, so let's get to some questions from our viewers. Emmanuel Gojo asks, will smart cities be inclusive? If yes, how can they consider elements of cities like informal settlements, especially in Africa? Yeah, thank you so much for that great question because, you know, smart cities have to be inclusive. You know, the reason why the three pillars, we talk about 100% of all of that, all of those categories is because we really do want every single citizen to be able to access transportation, access the connectivity and all the benefits that come with that and live in 100% resilient community. And so there's an incredible movement called the Smart Villages Movement and you can definitely go to their website and they're really working with the tribal communities, indigenous communities, the villages all around the world, in particular in India, they've committed to over 100 communities and what they're doing is empowering the villages by, for example, giving a cell phone to one of the leaders there to be able to bring goods to market, not just within that community, but now with the phone being able to market their goods globally. And so I'm very excited about the difference that they're already making and it's a movement that's catching on quite quickly. So I encourage you to go to their website, smartvillagemovement.org to learn more. Okay, great. Okay, we have a question from at Spicey Key on Twitter. What does the employment rate look like in an above average smart city? I'm glad you asked that question because of course, we're seeing that these smart city strategies are leading to economic development wherever they're implemented. What you're seeing is that because of the increased collaboration among all the stakeholders through the public private partnership model, you're meeting the goals of the city in a much more aggressive and a much more comprehensive way. So not only becoming more inclusive, but it's proven by the World Bank and the UN that there's an increase simply with even bringing connectivity in GDP. And so I like to say that the smart city strategies really should be used as an economic development catalyst for any community that's looking to definitely lift up and for example, decrease unemployment or just attract more businesses into their cities and their communities. And one practical example that I love to give is when the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, there is a point a couple of years ago where we realized that there were 70,000 open jobs that were only available if you had a car. And so by closing that transportation equity gap, you're immediately able to help bring up the bring down the unemployment rate and bring up people from an economic development standpoint to be able to access those opportunities, whether they're in the workplace or they're in education. But we're really seeing transformative things happen all across cities in the U. S. and globally. So we have another question from Delca. What are some disaster risk reduction measures for smart cities? I'm so glad that you asked that because there is an increase in the number of natural disasters that are happening around the world at an exponential rate. And so we have to be much proactive in building more resilient communities. So some of the things that I've seen that are working really well, not only by leveraging technology like augmented reality and virtual reality to practice and get prepared and get citizens prepared for when a disaster actually occurs, but it's this collaboration of having a central nerve center where breaking down the silos so that the different law enforcement agencies, the first responder agencies, the city agencies, the community groups can be under one control center to react faster when something occurs. Also, with technology, we're able to build in the cloud to make more redundant services. And so in case there's an outage, for example, that we're able to immediately know where that is, make that repair and have and decrease the amount of downtime and impact on citizens and the community and the economy of those communities. Okay, great. So we have a couple more questions. Are there smart villages and what about smart regions? So the movement is really going towards building smart regional movements using the city as a hub, but then having a much more extended impact to be able to work together on the common challenges in the community. And I'd love to give the example of Karachi, Pakistan. So in Karachi, there, a few years ago, you may have known that there was an incident at a cricket match that really hurt the city because tourism decreased after that. There was a moratorium on holding any matches. And so what the city decided to do is work with the 40 or so suburbs and the villages around the city to agree on a smart city plan. And since then, they've been able to decrease the number of criminal incidents from one to three a day to one to three a month by working in a more regional approach. And so this has really been, as I said, transformative for so many places. And now they have ton of tourists and great cricket matches and everyone's visiting again. In terms of working with villages, I once again cite the smart village movement. But they're also smart islands. And what about the Philippines? Yes, there's so much happening in Asia right now. So I mean, you can attach the name to any community you would like. And I still think it's the same strategy. They're looking at connecting those thousands of islands in a smarter way, using clean energy to do that. And they're part of the larger plan in the ASEAN that's being led by Singapore that's looking at the region as a whole. So yes, you start with the village, you start with the expert, the suburb, you really have to look at the individual communities and what can you do and how can you lead there. But then connecting it back to the city, which tends to be the nerve center for it all. And then again, it's this it's this it's this virtuous loop of feedback loop that that continues to reach and become more and more inclusive. And that's really the vision is that, you know, everyone can be impacted in a positive way and become part of this digital economy that we're in right now. Okay, so an alumni from Nicaragua asks, is digitally mapping cities a part of smart cities to mark hospitals, safe havens, emergency routes, etc. for Christ crisis preparedness. That's definitely a part, especially when we were talking earlier about about being, you know, more resilient and more prepared in the case of any sort of natural disaster or emergency. And so I think that, you know, cities and communities should start with that audit where you are. Where are you in terms of getting to 100% of these areas? And what where the gaps and how can we better than and if there are gaps, say you there are these safe havens, do the citizens know about it? How can we make sure that the information is out there way ahead of time? And that we're we're running drills and and that when something does happen, you've already, for example, put on your, you know, your virtual reality headset and know exactly what you are supposed to do before before and in preparation for, you know, a hurricane, for example, coming to your region. Great. We have another question from Facebook from Mohan. What can smart cities do to prevent cyber attacks in today's environment? So this is such a timely question. And I'm so glad that that this is a question is answered. This is really what I've been focused on the most over these past few months has been around the cyber risk. There's been a number of breaches, especially in the United States across major cities. And then there have been some outages that we're not sure if they're related to cyber or not, but have showed the pattern that they may have been. And so there are a number of of precautions that we all need to take a lot of a lot of when it comes to cyber, a lot of what we can work on is really a human problem in terms of being able to follow the procedures that we are supposed to be following that are instructed to us by the companies that maybe provide the hardware and the software. But then again, those companies also have to make their their technology designed in a way that is better for humans to use to be able to take those protective measures. And so we're beginning to see a lot more interaction when it comes to the the technologists and designers and architects of cities and the tools that we're using. But really, you know, we have the technology to keep ourselves protected. It's just about at this point, how can we interact better with the folks that are using it, the citizens, the the staff of the cities to be able to so we can be much more effective and that we can we can avert these these these cyber attacks. There's another aspect of it, which is also a cultural. As I said, we had a lot of it, we have the technology already. But it's being used in certain ways, good and bad. So culturally, you know, right now, we're not necessarily interacting with folks that maybe have found vulnerabilities in our systems. And we have to start thinking about this differently. And those who are able to help cities determine where those are, how can we better incorporate them and build up more of a cyber core and and you know, those who have the skill set and then ask them to come and work with us as we're, you know, trying to manage this, you know, tremendous influx of technology that has come into our lives and come in come into cities so that we're using it in a in a way that's safe. And we're not trading off too much of our safety and security to for the ability to use this this great technology. Okay, we have a question from an alumni in Nicaragua. Could you provide some examples of smart cities for people with disabilities in developing countries? I, you know, I'd love to talk about this topic as well. A lot of time we refer to this type of technology as as accessible technology. And one of my new favorite apps is an app that if you are someone who's blind, if you are somebody who's who's using a wheelchair, you can you can get directions specific to where you where where is the what is the best route, where are the ramps and and it's connected also to public transportation options and, you know, other transportation options and being able to tell you in real time, you know, what what the time it'll take and the route that you should be able to take. In terms of the developing countries, I do think that a lot of these accessible technologies can be adapted as well for for use in developing countries for for especially the disabled populations. And we have a long way to go. This is an area of opportunity that, you know, even in the US where ADA was passed decades ago, there's still a lot of work that has to be done. And so it's somewhat of a of a green green area now. In terms of using the great smart city technology we have, but making sure that it's inclusive of people with from different demographics, including the disabled community. And so I would challenge you to look at the accessible technology that's out there and think about how you how it can be better applied to your community more specifically. OK, we have another question from Facebook. Do you think that the Internet of Things and 5G technologies are ready for the smart cities? What's the main challenge? So this is another hot topic right now. I do think that we're ready that 5G is already here. We're seeing it implemented in places around all across the world. The main challenge is comes back to the cybersecurity and the security of of all of these, you know, thousands and thousands of of devices and making sure that there's the right collaboration between the public and the private sector and that we are as we're bringing them in. We're securing them. You know, some of the challenges that have been highlighted could be just around the amount of radiation that's coming out of some of these devices. And we have to start thinking about our health. And this is why I think it's so important to the earlier point about working across stakeholders and working with those who are designing cities so that we're still have beautiful cities that have green spaces and it's not just all, you know, robots and technology, you know, sticking, you know, coming every which way. But from a design factor, we have to figure out how do we live in harmony with the environment and technology. And this is where I think we're a lot, a lot of this, the movement is going is to look at that harmonious balance that we can achieve between the built environment that we're in and the great technology that can help us improve our lives and the quality of our lives. Okay. So another question. Are there privacy concerns when it comes to smart cities if everything and everyone is connected? There certainly are privacy concerns. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Minority Report where everyone is 100% safe because, you know, you have your heroes, you know, coming in to protect you before an incident happens. And with the technology we have today, we can actually do that. And the question is, do we want to live in an environment that's 100% safe? Or do we want to have what we have today, at least in the United States, is a right to our privacy? And so these are questions that are right now, I think we're grappling with all around the world. And I think the international community can come together, take examples from what we've experienced and come to, you know, a list of principles that we should follow. This is, you know, a big conversation that's happening at all levels that I hope that in your own community that you can begin to talk more about this because we have technology like blockchain that can help segregate and segment certain information at the same time while making what's happening behind the scenes and with our data more transparent. And so it's, again, finding that balance. And I think it will be, I think it will be custom to, you know, your particular culture and what you're used to and finding out what works best for you in terms of how much technology do you want to use to be able to have a more efficient outcome for your city or for your community? And, you know, versus how much of your information are you willing and planning to give up? Okay. And wasn't there a smart cities panel in San Diego? Were you involved with that? Yes. Yes. And the work, they're doing a lot of great regional work out of San Diego. It's an effort called City Launch. And the main conversation there was around this data sharing. And so this is what the great smart people there are looking at right now is how can cities share data with the private sector and vice versa, but also not not necessarily give away that data for free. It could be something that cities can actually monetize and benefit from. And then how much of that should be shared back to local governments or the individual itself? So these are all just, you know, really interesting questions that we're now beginning to think about. Another reason why I'm still looking forward to hearing what our colleagues in Slovakia and in Europe have to say about this next week, because I think it's top of mind, not just in Southern California, but in places like Europe and all around the world. How can we come up with perhaps a set of global standards and principles around data sharing and the ethics of technology? So we have one last question from our viewers. What are some features you think the smart cities of the future will all have that they now don't have? So quickly we're moving into this era of artificial intelligence and, you know, anything from facial recognition to license recognition. We are moving towards this system where we can model based on the data, certain outcomes, and be able to predict, for example, where a car or a certain car that passed a certain intersection may go. So if you're looking for that particular car, you can sort of get ahead of it and be able to meet that person that you're interested in questioning, you know, ahead of time. And so, I mean, this is just, you know, one practical example of artificial intelligence, but the great thing about artificial intelligence, I think, is that ability to do risk the process. If you could model ahead of time, you can, you know, come up with your policies and your procedures and then make a decision whether you're, this is worth implementing or not. And, you know, the ability for cities to showcase what they're doing with artificial intelligence is really incredible because what happens is that cities can have a disproportionate impact no matter how small you are on this global conversation of how to use artificial intelligence. So this is another new area that we really have to start thinking about, again, in terms of what are the ethics around it. I think that, you know, in 50 years from now we'll all have our own individual avatars, our, you know, our virtual equivalent and ourselves, telling us and helping advise us so we have a better day and we can get through it more smoothly. But we want to be able to hopefully shape what that is going to look like and hopefully be able to use it as a vehicle for us to express our creativity and our individual needs and not necessarily something that's programming us in reverse. So I think we're, it looks like we're running out of time. So in one minute or less, Rhonda, if you would give one piece of advice to people who want to make their stays smarter, what would it be? Well, as you know, technology is everywhere and I know that wherever you are there is a conversation that's happening. A lot of times it's at the city level but sometimes it's also at the academic level. And so I would look for where those conversations are happening and encourage your communities to take a more inclusive public-private partnership approach. Come together, determine what the priorities are for your community in a collaborative way and I guarantee you that the resources will start to appear, that the sharing of best practices will happen if you show that you're eager in moving forward in this direction. There's a lot of great information out there and I guarantee you that it's worth the investment. So I encourage you to take leadership wherever you are, whether you're in the workforce or a student or in government, city government itself. Look for those partners and start to strengthen those partnerships. Okay, great, solid advice. Thank you. So thank you very much Rhonda and thank you to you, our online viewers for participating today. You can connect with Rhonda directly on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. She's at Rhonda Binda on all of those platforms. Be sure to keep your calendar open for our next mentor talks in November when we speak with Chef Nasser Jabber about how he uses food to empower others and create positive change in his community. And before we go, we've got a special photo to share. Two ACYPL alumni, our very own assistant secretary Marie Royce and Rhonda, right here in Washington, DC. Would you like to become an exchange alumnus or alumni? Visit exchanges.state.gov to learn more about the right exchange program for you. You can also join us on social media on Facebook and Twitter. Search for the hashtag exchange alumni. Thanks for watching and see you all November for our next mentor talks.