Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that preserve all the essential information about the data without threatening its security. City tokenization is a process where some forms of assets are converted into a token that can be moved, stored, or recorded on a blockchain. This might sound complex but tokenization is turning a meaningful piece of data, such as an account number, into a random string of characters called a token that has no meaningful value if breached. Tokenization, minimize the amount of data that a business need. It has become a popular way to reinforce the security of credit card and e-commerce transactions, for small and medium businesses. At the same time, it minimizes the cost and complexity of compliance with industry standards and government regulations. Tokens act as the reference to the original data, but cannot be used to estimate those values. Because, unlike encryption, tokenization does not use a mathematical process to transform the sensitive information into the token. There is no key, or algorithm, to use to derive the original data for a token. Instead, tokenization uses a database, called a token vault, which stores the relationship between the sensitive value and the token. The real data in the vault is secured, often via encryption. Smart cities tokenization substitutes sensitive information with equivalent no sensitive information. Token – Smart City Solutions helps Making Smart Cities Smarter

Making Smart Cities Smarter

In smart cities tokenization the token value can be used in various applications as a substitute for the real data. When the real data needs to be retrieved, the token is submitted to the vault and the index is used to fetch the real value for use in the authorization process. For the end user, this operation is integrated by the browser or application nearly instantaneously. The advantage of tokens in city tokenization is that there is no mathematical relationship to the real data they represent. Tokenization technology can be used with sensitive data of all kinds, such as bank transactions, medical records, criminal records, loan applications, stock trading and voter registration. To make token more useful, some considerations can also be given to the design of it. For example, the last four digits of a payment card number can be preserved in the token so that the tokenized number can be printed on the customer’s receipt so they can see a reference to their actual credit card number. The printed characters might be all asterisks plus those last four digits. Because of the security purposes in this case, the customer only has a token, not a real card number.

Token – Smart City Solutions

The concept of Token – Smart City Solutions in the payment card industry, tokenization is one means of protecting sensitive card data to fulfill with industry standards and government regulations. For making smart cities smarter tokenization is used to protect credit card data, bank account information and other sensitive data. Payment processing use cases that tokenize sensitive credit card information, including mobile wallets like Android Pay and Apple Pay, e-commerce sites, and businesses that keep a customer’s card on file. How smart cities tokenization works? Tokens are created in several ways like using a mathematically reversible cryptographic function with a key, using a nonreversible function such as a hash function, and using an index function or randomly generated number. To making smart cities smarter the token becomes the exposed information; so, the sensitive information that the token stands in for, is stored safely in a centralized server known as a token vault. The token vault is the only place where the original information can be mapped back to its corresponding token. So far it is cleared that tokenization works by replacing the valuable data from your environment with tokens. In any business there are at least some sensitive data about different subjects including credit card data, medical information, social security numbers, or anything else that requires security and protection.

City tokenization ; What are tokenized stocks?

In smart cities tokenization tokenized stocks are digital representations of shares in publicly traded firms like Tesla, Apple, and Facebook. The value of these digital tokens is based on the value of the basic asset. But how does tokenized stocks work? Tokenized stocks are similar to standard shares purchased in a listed company, except that tokenized shares are in the form of digital tokens. In different trading platforms, some tokenized stocks are backed by the underlying traditional equities and redeemable, and others simply track the prices of the equities. Tokenized stocks can be purchased with cryptocurrencies on supported trading platforms, allowing you to invest and build wealth in the stock market without any barriers to entry. Making smart cities smarter is to improve people’s lives in areas as policy efficiency, social and economic quality, and maximizing the social inclusion of their inhabitants. Token – Smart City Solutions help cities to provide better services. City tokenization increases government efficiency and help them to tackle major challenges. The ultimate goal of city tokenization is creating a more livable, sustainable and prosperous city or community.

Smart cities tokenization

The goal of the smart cities is to promote basic infrastructure and offer a dignified quality of life to its inhabitants, a sophisticated security system, a clean and sustainable environment and the application of intelligent solutions that improve the operation and efficiency of the city. Tokenization in blockchain refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, also known as a security or asset token. Blockchain tokens are digital representations of real-world assets. When a real-world asset is represented digitally as cryptocurrency, it is actually tokenized. Some of the most common smart city projects for making smart cities smarter include smart lighting, smart transportation systems, and smart utility metering for electricity and water. Tokenization has existed since the beginning of early currency systems, in which coin tokens have long been used as a replacement for actual coins and banknotes. The concept of tokenization is the same as in digital tokenization to act as a surrogate for a more valuable asset.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post The Future Of Cities: The Rise Of Tokenization appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The world today stands at the conjecture between the real and digital world, ready to welcome the phenomenon called the Metaverse. It is through the blend of the two worlds that humanity is believed to progress to new meaningful heights. A digital twin is an initiative to realise this velocity and provide an entry point to this vast immersive world. This is a secure way to introduce a real-world space that is dimensionally precise into the virtual mirror world of the Metaverse.

IBM’s version of a digital twin is “a virtual representation of an object or system that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning, and reasoning to help decision-making”. In other words, it is a virtual model that is designed in such a manner that reflects an object in the physical world. For instance, the data collected from a packaged food manufacturing unit by various sensors (that measure its performance through parameters like efficiency, input, output, etc.) is applied to create its digital copy (or twin). This virtual model operates in a simulated environment to generate valuable insights about its performance.

The digital twin solution on the Metaverse

Real-world is a complex cluster of spatial elements, coordinating with biotic and abiotic components in a dynamic way. A digital twin, thus, mirrors the real world with similar characteristics, processes, integration, and composition, thereby simulating its capabilities.

A digital twin in IoT seamlessly integrates with data analytics for a plethora of applications- maintenance prediction and fault detection, smart city technologies, intrusive surgery and diagnostics in medical and healthcare, traffic management, viability and efficiency of manufacturing processes, and fault analysis, to name just a few.

Stefano Corazza, head of augmented reality at Adobe says, “We have a very diverse pool of customers, and they are all trying to establish their standard workflow to get to high fidelity digital goods. The one thing they all have in common is the need for the creation of digital twins for all the goods that the brand is representing”.

A Metaverse version consists of multiple digital twins combined to form a composite digital twin technology.

The digital twin economy

According to a report by Grand View Research, the size of the digital twin market is anticipated to reach $86.09 billion by the year 2028. This growth is majorly driven by the use cases under Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR). The increasing demand for Industrial IoT solutions, asset health optimisation (and predictive maintenance), large-scale smart city infrastructure, and energy efficiency (and carbon-neutral economy).

For example, Smart cities, alone, are estimated to account for 2 billion sensors and connected infrastructure. This creates an extensive avenue for the development of digital twin technology, creating virtual cities over the Metaverse.

The privacy concerns with digital twins

Privacy concerns always surface where there is personal data in the picture. Behavioural assessments, the successful culmination of training programs, and 360 surveys are all examples where data has empowered digital twin technology. Maintaining transparency with scrutinised accessibility is the key to a healthier Metaverse with ‘twin’ versions.

Other threatening issues that need to be dealt with are- Intellectual Property theft (hacking of the digital twin blueprint), non-compliance of data, and disrupting the integrity of personal information. A digital twin is two-way communication between the physical and the digital world. This means that traditional methods of security are not enough to keep the systems and data safe. Protective measures for hardware and software need to be stepped up, that are customised based on the nature and scale of the application.

In addition, data governance (parameters and policies) ensures the range of privacy levels, strictly based on data management strategy. This dictates the responsibilities during the lifecycle of data- engineering, analytics, and computation. Governance processes like masking, differential privacy, encryption, redaction, and lifecycle management are the avenues to which privacy products can be effectively applied.

A holistic approach based on the needs of the digital twin technology and the principles of the business vertical is the key to securing trust and popularity for a better Metaverse experience.

Our Future with Digital Twins

Clearly, the world is witnessing a fundamental upgrade in the existing operating models. The asset-intensive industry is undergoing a digital reinvention that requires the integration of physical and digital systems- processes, equipment, and facilities. Digital twin technology has become a vital part of this realignment, playing a pivotal role in bringing the Metaverse to reality.

The devotion of exponential cognitive power to the digital twin technology is carving out its limitless future. With new skill sets and learning capabilities, the technology promises to evolve and generate better and more efficient processes.

“The difference that is taking place now, that hasn’t been there in the past, is that we have a platform that obeys the laws of physics and obeys true-to-reality submit scenarios, so it is not just an approximation, it’s not just a representation, but it’s actually something that is true to reality” Richard Kerris, Vice President of the Omniverse at NVIDIA.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Urban Digital Twins Set To Create The First Real-world Metaverse appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

As cities continue to grow in both size and population, redefining human interaction along the way, a framework for human-centric smart city ecosystems has become critical. The urban population is expected to grow by around 7 billion by 2050 and, while this brings immense opportunities, it also creates huge challenges. In such a scenario, the need of the hour is to create inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. Cities need to become smarter, bring all stakeholders together, and utilise the latest technological innovation.

Previous models for smart cities have suffered challenges, owing to the shifting dynamics of physical and cyberspaces. The “Blueprint for Smart Cities” redesigns the current model to provide a new social contract with humans at the core. It focuses on extensive coordination between policymakers, universities, industry, and citizens: the four agents that make up the Quadruple Helix Innovation model on which the analysis has been based.

The multilateral feedback systems that exist between these agents are crucial to consider if we are to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Blueprint for Smart Cities is an approach based on the intersection of human and technological aspects of development.

“A smart city does not simply mean ‘smart + city’, but emphasises who is leading the city. This means developing a city by the people, for the people, where the goal is to create a human-centric ecosystem. ‘Blueprint for Smart Cities – A Social Contract’ with citiesabc indexdna provides a way of developing a human-centric ecosystem where physical and cyberspace systems are interconnected to bring about social, economic, political and environmental changes”, explains Her Royal Highness, Princess Katarina de Silva of Yugoslavia and Serbia.

Compiled by citiesabc indexdna and the University of Durham in partnership with University of Surrey, Big Innovation Centre and World Smart Cities Forum and led by Professor Kiran Fernandes and Dr. Atanu Chaurhuri, the Blueprint for Smart Cities advocates a human-focused approach to building smart cities of the future.

The blueprint highlights the dynamics that exist in cities globally between the four agents at the outset of the Quadruple Helix Innovation model. It explores the multidirectional feedback systems that emanate from their respective decisions and understands the complexity of these constant adjustments and adaptations, proposing a framework for the holistic development of cities.

“We realised that smart city indexes operated within a static framework, making the results unreliable and in constant need of updates. Our approach is dynamic, identifying smart cities as human-centric and analysing the multidirectional feedback systems between the different pillars that make up a smart city. We are thrilled to have collaborated with the Centre for Innovation and Technology Management at the Durham University Business School, whose academic insights and deep research were crucial to creating this Blueprint for Smart Cities. In doing this, we hope to set a new standard for future smart city indexes and rankings”, said Dinis Guarda, founder citiesabc & openbusinesscouncil, author.

The report identifies a number of factors for consideration that are outlined as essential to the development of a human-centric smart city alongside technological advancements:

1. Innovation & Technology,

2. People & Human Resources,

3. Wellness, Health, Education & Liveability,

4. Financial Funding,

5. Leadership & Governance,

6. Business Professional ESR,

7. Circular Economy, and

8. Energy Net Neutrality.

According to Dr. Kiran Fernandes Professor at Durham University and co-author of the report, this blueprint serves as a “handbook for developing human-centric cities. The report is in direct sync with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and specifically promotes sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic growth. It ensures productive and decent employment for all. We aim to make our cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable on a global scale”.

“Blueprint For Smart Cities” is an initiative in continuation of the governments’ constant efforts for building smarter and more digitised cities worldwide. It is an enhancement of the global efforts to create sustainable, more habitable smart cities, and ready for the future.

Download the report here

About citiesabc indexdna

Citiesabc indexdna is the data analysis platform powering the dashboards for citiesabc. It is a digital transformation platform to empower, guide and index cities. citiesabc was formed by a team of global industry leaders, academics and experts creating new solutions, lists, rankings and connections for the world’s top cities and populations. citiesabc offers the best of innovation in 4ir, digital transformation, blockchain, AI, NFTs, smart cities technologies and big data.

Along with Durham University and strategic partners, citiesabc indexdna has produced the research “Blueprint for Smart Cities: A Social Contract” which highlights the dynamics that exist in cities globally between the four agents at the outset of the Quadruple Helix Innovation model and propose a framework for the holistic development of cities.

About Durham University

Durham is an international triple-accredited business school. Founded in 1965, we are one of the UK’s longest established business schools and are proud to be integral to Durham University.

Sharing insights, supporting innovation and teaching tomorrow’s leaders. We believe that to succeed in business, you need to get closer to the realities of business – so that’s what we do. We combine our academic excellence, insightful research and exceptional global business connections, to equip our students and alumni to become innovative business thinkers of the future and influential individuals in and beyond their careers.

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, and a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Blueprint for Smart Cities : A Social Contract, A Research Publication by University of Durham and citiesabc appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The constantly shifting paradigms of humanitarian actions, owing to the increased complexity and range of needs, has resulted in a steep demand for innovation in the area. Technological advancements, like Big Data analytics and AI, have proved effective and efficient for humanitarian applications to date. However, like any other innovation, it has also introduced new challenges and risks, making the end-user vulnerable to its repercussions. Redesigning AI seems to be the most plausible solution to accommodate the dynamics of various parameters within the sector. 

The world has been in constant strife to meet people’s demands while improving the efficiency in the humanitarian sector since the very beginning. Improvements and innovations in technology have led to the augmented use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems since the past few decades to satiate this hunger. However, the application has always been debated and ignited controversy, owing to its ethical and human rights-related implications.

“The instrumental conception of technology conditions every attempt to bring man into the right relation to technology. Everything depends on our manipulating technology in the proper manner as a means. We will, as we say, “get” technology “spiritually in hand.” We will master it. The will to mastery becomes all the more urgent the more technology threatens to slip from human control. But suppose now that technology was no mere means, how would it stand with the will to master it?”

Heidegger, Martin. “The question concerning technology (W. Lovitt, Trans.) The question concerning technology: and other essays (pp. 3-35).” (Heidegger 1977).

In 2013, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs officially proposed the recognition of information during crises as a basic humanitarian need. This led to a series of digital transformation and innovation initiatives in the humanitarian sector.

Various AI applications like chatbots, biometrics, satellite imaging, and Big Data analysis became an essential and inevitable part of the wider phenomenon. Critical algorithms were developed to focus primarily on assisting human intelligence for betterment. However, the phenomenon drew greater power asymmetries with time. What began as the “AI for social good” movement gradually started turning to “unethical innovation”.

Chatbots, for instance, has been around for quite a few years now, becoming a prevalent part of our digital culture now. Even though these bots don’t intend to take over the world (like in Transformers or Matrix) or destroy humanity just yet, there have been instances of less-than-professional behaviour shown by them in the past. Microsoft’s Teenage chatbot Tay and its successor Zo, and Nabla (a text generator at the Parisian healthcare facility) are just a few examples of AI going wrong.

Chatbots (and other AI) are based on simple algorithms and are programmed manually. Their actions are explicitly based on the mappings chalked out by the creators. Natural language, on the other hand, is a complex thing with slang, misspellings, humour, and intonations. How can it be expected that interactions involving sarcasm and intonations (that are sometimes even beyond human comprehension) could be interpreted appropriately by a machine? The latest advancements based on humanitarian innovation are the prime focus area for researchers.

Redesigning AI for Humanitarian Innovation

Though there is no specific definition of humanitarian innovation, according to HIF-ALNAP (by Obrecht and Warner, 2016)

“Humanitarian innovation is an iterative process that identifies, adjusts, and diffuses ideas for improving humanitarian action”. 

This leads to consolidated learning, bringing a measurable and relative improvement in the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the innovative approaches over the conventional ones. Further, it also improves the scale of adoption to improve humanitarian performance. In the end, this all leads to more exploration and research.

Currently, organisations that are involved in humanitarian endeavours collect, store, and share huge amounts of personal information. Challenges, however, arise when this data is mistreated or misused. There are a variety of guidelines for the promotion of ethical and fair use of AI across different sectors. These recommend the designing, development, and deployment of the latest innovation and technology.

Further, AI reduces communication to its barest instrumental forms. This widens the gap between the humanitarian efforts and the society itself. The disconnects compound further when data experiments with untested technology. This actually degrades the value of data. In other words, it is the reproduction of the colonial powers of AI.

Sensitive data, especially from the vulnerable demographics (such as the Internationally Displaced Persons, refugees, mental health patients, and senior citizens), needs to be handled in a sophisticated manner to ensure its privacy and security. AI redesign, therefore, is aimed to broaden and deepen the interdisciplinary efforts to enhance the innovation on humanitarian assistance.

Redefining the Future of Humanity

Though AI is paced to make huge advances to revolutionise medicine, transport, employment, and markets, it is ready to take a leap and reshape the fabric of society (and its citizens). On the other hand, its perils, owing to increased automation and misinformation, are threatening the very society with bias and surveillance.

“Whenever I hear people saying AI is going to hurt people in the future I think, yeah, technology can generally always be used for good and bad and you need to be careful about how you build it … if you’re arguing against AI then you’re arguing against safer cars that aren’t going to have accidents, and you’re arguing against being able to better diagnose people when they’re sick” —Mark Zuckerberg

Redirecting (and arguably redesigning) AI is one step closer to a smoother and seamless work, democracy, and justice for humanitarian efforts in society. However, the question remains- how. Time will reply that soon.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post A Seamless And Smoother Future Of Humanitarian Efforts With Redesigned AI appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.