Many individuals have helped develop, communicate and bring to life the Smarter Planet agenda. Below are some reflections from just a few of the enterprising minds involved in this Icon of Progress.
“Building a smarter planet is realistic precisely because it is so refreshingly non-ideological. Yes, debates will continue to rage on many contentious issues in our society. … But no matter which viewpoint one shares—or which ultimately prevails in any given society or industry—the system that results will need to be smarter—more transparent, more efficient, more accessible, more equitable, more resilient.”
Sam Palmisano
IBM CEO and chairman
“Welcome to the Decade of Smart,” remarks presented at Chatham House, London
January 12, 2010“When we talk about a Smarter Planet, you can say that it has two dimensions. One is to be more efficient, be less destructive, to connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more conscious and deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, new forms of social relations. So, you could look at the planet as an information creation and transmission system—and the universe was hearing its information, but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can. Early days, baby steps days—but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to us.”
Mike Wing
Vice president of strategic and executive communications, IBM
“The Internet of Things,” YouTube video, 5:25, posted by “IBMSocialMedia,”
March 15, 2010
“We shouldn’t undertake projects simply for the sake of creating economic activity. Rather than just stimulate, we should transform. Let’s seize this opportunity to create more and better jobs, cultivate valuable skills, and not simply repair but prepare our economy for the 21st century. The best news of all is that investing in innovation will cost less and yield faster results than investing in renovation.”
Sam Palmisano
IBM CEO and chairman
“Let’s Spend on Broadband and the Power Grid,” Wall Street Journal op-ed
January 13, 2009“The constituency we most appeal to has been the forward-thinker in everyone. … This is the basis of our Smarter Planet strategy. We are specifically and deliberately working to validate and stoke the optimism of forward-thinkers. We are saying to them—because we really believe it ourselves: ‘Your hopes for your industry, your city, your environment, your community are now within your grasp. This isn’t a metaphor. We can actually build a smarter planet.’”
Jon Iwata
Senior vice president of marketing and communications, IBM
“Toward a New Profession: Brand, Constituency and Eminence on the Global Commons,” remarks presented at the Yale Club in New York City
November 4, 2009“If you think there are a billion transistors to every human alive today, that gives you a feel of where technology’s got to. Everything’s connected. That technology allows us to get sensing out of almost anything in the built world. We’ve probably got enough technology today to sense every single grain of rice if we wanted to.”
Rashik Parmar
IBM Distinguished Engineer
“TEDGlobal 2010: What Smarter Cities Can Do for You”
wired.co.uk July 20, 2010