Today, UBM Live launched the Safe Cities Conference & Exhibition. The new conference, which will premiere in London next year, responds to the growing complexities and broad spectrum of threats that urban governments, agencies, and key municipal leaders face as they manage critical situations of national importance.
In its December 2011 report entitled “The Build up of Safe Cities – an Emerging Market for Defence and Security Players,” research company Frost & Sullivan has fingered safe cities as one of the top five megatrends for the aerospace, defence, and security sectors, predicting that it will take centre stage over the next 10 years.
Steven Webb, vice president, aerospace, defence, and security, at Frost & Sullivan, said:
As cities grow in size and number, the challenges to ensuring the safety of citizens are becoming more complex, and as a result Frost & Sullivan believes that the demand for Safe City solutions will grow rapidly as the first wave of Safe City projects become fully operational and provide concrete proof of higher efficiency, effectiveness and return on investment.
The Safe Cities Conference & Exhibition intends to create a platform for future development in this emerging space, said Charlie Cracknell, event director in a press release. He added:
Market niches in public safety spaces such as Counter Terrorism, Cyber Security and Emergency Service can no longer work as isolated fixes for public safety. Public budget constraints and technological approaches will no longer allow these niches to occur in siloed approaches.
The show, which will run from June 17 to 19, 2014, will attract a broad audience of city authorities, central government department officials, international government workers, and private sector organizations (e.g., corporate, banking, and critical national infrastructure security). The lineup for the show includes:
- More than 100 specialist exhibitors and access to a further 800 relevant technology and solutions providers across the collocated events
- 4,000 dedicated international decision and policy makers
- Keynote theatre and VIP networking opportunities
- Interactive workshops, panel discussions, standalone presentations, international case studies, and city and facility tours (including live technology and product demonstrations)
Said Cracknell:
Safe Cities serve the interest of the whole industry by bringing together leading stakeholders and technology providers to raise the agenda of how to improve public safety. Authorities and the private sector are under increasing pressure to collaborate through technology and strategy, increase working and budgetary efficiencies, as well as, preparing against the ever increasing threats of cyber attacks, terrorism and natural disasters.
The show takes its place in UBM’s leading international events and conference portfolio, which includes IFSEC International, as well as FIREX International, IOSH Conference & Exhibition, Safety and Health, and Facilities Management. UBM events tend to attract more than 45,000 visitors, a group that already includes Safe Cities technology providers, decision makers, and partners.
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Instead of safe cities it should be called SMART Cities, there are a lot of SMART concepts thrown into the mix in that report. I think it is in governments best interest to invest in green technology because they can start getting some returns to cover their expenses right away and bring relief to burdened tax payers at the same time.
It’s amazing, isn’t it, that sometimes the reality is that being smart is actually the less expensive and time consuming option. As cities make this leap, good things are bound to happen.
@Hailey, thanks for the post. Safe cities is the need of the hour. In India the government is trying build new metro cities and I really hope they will build those cities so as to make the more safe and SMART. I am curious to know if we can get the live updates from the conference online ?
I think it is in governments best interest to invest in green technology because they can start getting some returns to cover their expenses right away and bring relief to burdened tax payers at the same time.
@Jonathan Lipscomb, I totally agree with you. By investing more on green technology we can reduce our dependancy on other technologies which might have an impact on the environment. Governments should encourage more and more green technologies by giving them extra tax break so that the technology becomes affordable.
I am glad that in this report the idea of integration was mentioned. For us to progress, we need to stop thinking of different sanctions as completely unrelated. Most of the time when security is involved, the attacks and solutions are multifaceted and involve many different departments working together to solve the issue. Linking together items such as cybersecurity and counterterrorism will play a pivotal role in solving future issues.
Good question, Sunita…and one that i’m sure will be answered close to the event. I’ll certainly let you know when i find out!
THe green technology piece of this is very interesting. We have a solution provider here (I live in CA, USA) that specializes in green IT and his business is booming. This is the kind of expertise that is going to be increasingly in demand over time.
@JohnathonL
Great point about cities adopting green technology. I think Columbus is starting to give incentives to organizations to go green. Many of our cities buses (COTA), trash trucks, and other city vehicles have switched to natural gas power over the past few years. I can see it slowly happening here.
great point, in Canada GTA I started seeing the same trends almost all of the city vehicle get switched/transfered/adapted to natural gas… in my books it great improvment… as Lord gives us Earth to live… not to destroy… I do hope we would see this trend globaly all other our planet…
agree, I do hope we would see a smart green future… as with this technology cities not only save the envr. but also get a good savings they could take it to the bank and reinvest towards green technology development…
@Alexander Stephens
Me too. Just the other day the gas station down the road from my house had new pumps installed to provide flex fuel. It is getting more and more common in my neck of the woods to see these changes. Now if I could just modify my Expedition to run on one of these more earth friendly options I would be a happy girl. 😉
yes, you could if you near London they have a retrofiting Co. making London cars green 🙂 – http://www.cngvehicles.co.uk/… it cost a bit but saves our planet and few pounds on the long run…
http://www.clientearth.org/reports/bcc-retrofit-guidance.pdf
http://www.nextgreencar.com/lpg-cng.php
@ batye
Thanks for the information. I do live near London, but not in the UK ;). I am about 30 miles from London, Ohio in the US. It is graet that these types of programs are becoming more common in so many places.
same here I’m 75 miles from London, Ontario Canada – lol 🙂
Wow, we really spaced these London’s out around the world didn’t we? Wonder how many London’s there are around the world? Ah, British colonialsim, homgenising communities around the world for half a century. ANYWAY, before anyone accuses me of being a colonialist, I do think it’s interesting that there’s so many London’s around the world and how could the leadership in the Safe Cities Conference lead other cities and ‘London’s’ around the world?
I’m sure there will be some form of coverage, if not live, then soon after.
Yes, cyber security as part of the physical security threat is something that people are waking up to, but very slowly indeed. Achieving convergence in how we deal with the threats is obviously vital.
interesting point Rob, but as long all cities move towards green way of life… we have a future 🙂
OK, so here’s another question for us all then. Safety Vs Sustainability. Can both be achieved? For instance, can security products be sourced sustainably (electronics aren’t famed for this), and can they be power-efficient or even self-sustaining through solar power? Can fire-stopping materials be produced in a way that when they are no longer needed they can be biodegradable. There’s a whole raft of stuff here, potentially.
technology changing towards green, I think soon it will be possible… in one to two years…
I hope you’re right, but with fire protection particularly, I can’t see it happening quickly. Well, fire protection products evolve slowly for obvious reasons. Look out for an upcoming article on fire protection in the middle east which touches on ‘sustainable’ cladding that’s not great for fire protection.
thank you, I do hope so… as this days we hear everywhere technology changing towards green… in Canada 6 months ago during one of the seminars I did chat with CEO of the new start-up… they testing by-products of Canada oil industry in the fire protection products… – I hope it will work… as he painted big “green” picture in my mind 🙂