In this interview, Bernard Têtu, founder and CEO of Dimonoff, reflects on the state of smart city development. He argues that the necessary technology already exists, including sensors, control electronics and telecommunications networks, and that a truly smart city would be “a lot more equipped to gather information in a more real-time manner and to create much more flexible decision-making processes in order to quickly eliminate the bottlenecks in the system.”
Asked about current trends, Têtu points to growing real-time monitoring of municipal assets and expanding use of security cameras to track citizen activity, while acknowledging that this trend is raising privacy concerns in some communities. He identifies two main obstacles slowing broader adoption: municipal officials who see new technology as a threat to jobs rather than a tool for efficiency, and telecommunications companies that continue to favor cellular networks over more resilient wireless mesh technology.
Looking ahead ten years, Têtu expects cities to place greater emphasis on consumption control, improved transportation, increased densification, and better coordination across public services. He predicts that “smart edge-devices will enable us to collect a lot timelier information” to monitor factors such as noise, road conditions and environmental quality, helping municipalities respond more quickly to residents’ needs.