The event is organized by the Knowledge, Innovation, and Strategies Management Club with the support of the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City of which the partnership is a member, and is part of the cluster's strategy to support the development of knowledge and skills in the field of smart cities.

The context
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The rapid advances in technology are reshaping our economy and society. Technology has been incorporated by cities for many years. The pace at which this adoption takes place is increasing rapidly as disruptive digital technologies have the potential to solve major metropolitan challenges. As a consequence, urban areas transform into smart cities. In this transformation, disruptive technology is the main driver. However, the SMEs as well as the cities, are not seeing the results they aimed for due to the skills gap.

The objectives
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To raise awareness about the benefits of the smart city industry as an innovation domain for business, to promote smart city disruptive innovation, and to present the Smart by design project.

Who is this event for?

The event is targeted at SMEs, smart city experts, consultants, project managers, training centers, policymakers and municipalities, academics, knowledge clusters, professional associations, etc.

More about Smart by Design

The project mapped the disruptive technologies and developed a training program for managers. The key topics within the project are design thinking and disruptive innovation processes to develop smart city solutions by SMEs.

AGENDA

• Mapping the smart city technologies and their impact on cities.
• Business model innovation for smart city solutions.
• Smart city projects cases from Bulgaria, Spain, Netherlands, and Romania:
• Design thinking for smart city developers and UX designers - training modules, tools, and games.

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The article is a continuation of the series of articles for disruptive technologies for smart cities we started publishing in April, 2020. The article is based on the outputs produced by partners under the project Smart Technologies by design (Smart by Design) and is the last from these series.

It was found that there are many digital and/or data-based technologies that are to a large extend applicable in the real conditions of the city and contribute to its coping with public problems or challenges. They are used in diverse areas like transport, energy, utility, urban, health, etc.

These technologies are called smart city technologies and the main purpose of the Smart Technologies by Design project has been to map and select eleven technologies that refer (to the greatest extent) to the concept of a smart city and have already been implemented in diverse areas of application of one city. This article presents Virtual reality.

Virtual reality (VR) is a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment that people can explore and interact with. This technology places the user in a new experience; immersing them and making them interact with a new 3D world.

The main purpose of VR resides in simulating as many senses as possible, like vision, hearing, touching, and even smelling. It is very common to mix VR with the Augmented Reality (AR). While AR simulates artificial objects in a real environment, VR creates a fully artificial environment for the interaction of users.

In order to achieve a full VR experience, it has to correspond with the following aspects:

• Believable: the user has to believe or feel that is in another world.
• Interactive: as the user moves, the VR world needs to move as well.
• Computer-generated: only powerful computers with realistic 3D computer graphics are fast enough to make it believable and interactive enough.
• Explorable: it has to be big and detailed enough, so that the user is able to explore it and discover the “virtual world”.
• Immersive: the VR needs to engage both, mind and body of the user.

As there are some technologies that do not respond in the same way like the previous requirements, there are different types of VR:

• Fully Immersive: which contains a detailed virtual world to explore, a powerful computer and hardware which will help to fully immerse in the environment.
• Non-Immersive: simulators with big screens or headphones, but without a fully immersive experience can be considered as VR. There are some examples in which full immersion is not needed like: flight simulators, 3D buildings, etc.
• Collaborative: it is a non-immersive technology/entertainment which permits sharing the virtual world with other people. Ex: Minecraft.
• Web-based: it is basically trying to create a virtual world on the web but without any immersive experience.
• Virtual Reality needs some gadgets, which make the experience more realistic: Head-mounted displays (glasses), immersive rooms, data gloves or wands.

​Some of the best-known providers of VR technology providers are:

• Daydream
• EON Reality
• Virtuix
• Facebook VR
• Obsess
• Bella VR
• VR-Star 
• WorldViz
• Sansar
• 8i.com
• Vive
• Virtalis

Moreover, currently, VR needs some special glasses or Head-mounted displays (HMD) in order to create the virtual world. Some of those glasses are:

• Oculus Rift
• HTC Vive Pro
• Sony PlayStation VR
• Samsung Odyssey /Windows Mixed Reality

There are already some international standards for VR applications:

• ISO/IEC 14772-2:2004: Information technology -- Computer graphics and image processing -- The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) -- Part 2: External authoring interface (EAI)
• ISO/IEC 14772-1:1997: Information technology -- Computer graphics and image processing -- The Virtual Reality Modeling Language -- Part 1: Functional specification and UTF-8 encoding
• ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24: Computer graphics, image processing, and environmental data representation
• ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009: Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 3: Audio
• ISO/IEC TR 15440:2016: Information technology -- Future keyboards and other input devices and entry methods
• ISO 9241-940:2017: Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 940: Evaluation of tactile and haptic interactions

Apart from these, there are many standards and projects under development by the IEEE.

VR is a technology that is used in a lot of different types of applications:

• Military: flight simulation, medic training, virtual boot camp, battlefield simulation
• Healthcare: human simulation, virtual reality, virtual robotic surgery
• Fashion: a virtual fashion show, second life fashion
• Business: virtual tours of business environments, 360º view of products, training of employees
• Sport: VR performance, equipment design and innovation, events closer to the audience
• Scientific visualization: showing complex ideas in visual formats for physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry
• Construction: virtual exploring design, simulated construction, viability
• Education: virtual reality astronomy, technology closer to children
• Entertainment: virtual museums, galleries, virtual theme parks, discovery centers
• Virtual heritage sites: monuments, sculptures, historical buildings, old towns, caves, archaeological sites
• Engineering: design-cycle, rail construction, car design
• Film and TV: music, books, art
• Training of professionals in different sectors
• Support for cognitive diseases and elder people

It is obvious that Virtual Reality is one of the most promising technologies for the future. Firms will continue trying to send users to new places that have not been before and providing new solutions to multiple sectors.

VR is originally linked to the gaming and entertainment industries but it will also influence other fields. For example, students will be able to explore historical places immersing them in virtual worlds. Even if it seems a very difficult approach in the short term, new platforms and solutions will be developed in order to improve and evolve Virtual Reality towards a more realistic and affordable technology.

​The idea is that the future of VR will involve more than headsets and controllers, it is expected to be more physical. It will be more sensory-oriented than nowadays, which is more focused on the visual sense.

Next devices are expected to introduce much better touch controls, temperature change or smells, making them more complete reality simulators.

​There are already some standards established in VR. But, as mentioned above, there are lots of working groups conducting new projects with the objective of placing new standards. Some of the most relevant ones are:

• IEEE P2048.1: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Device Taxonomy and Definitions
• IEEE P2048.2: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Video Taxonomy and Quality Metrics
• IEEE P2048.3: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Video File and Stream Formats
• IEEE P2048.4: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Person Identity
• IEEE P2048.5: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Environment Safety
• IEEE P2048.6: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive User Interface
• IEEE P2048.7: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Map for Virtual Objects in the Real World
• IEEE P2048.8: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Interoperability Between Virtual Objects and the Real World
• IEEE P2048.9: Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Audio Taxonomy and Quality Metrics

As it is a very cross-sectorial technology that can be applied to most sectors, countless applications will be developed in the future. Some of those can be next ones:

•  Business : virtual conferences which will save lots of traveling costs
• Gaming: the fully immersive experience
• Travelling industry: being able to transfer any environment from the world to some local point allowing people with difficulties to travel
• Films: in the same way that the 3D films started, a fully immersive watching films experience will be available in the future
• Surgery: even if some platforms already appeared, there is still a very long way to go in order to implement it in a more practical and wide way
• Space exploration
• Quality of life: the life of people with impairment, diseases or physical problems will be able to enjoy a better life, simulating other realities
• Training for any industrial or logistic sectors

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​Augmented Reality (AR) is the enhanced version of reality where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world environments are augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user's view of the real-world. In other words, AR is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time.

It is common for people to confuse it with Virtual Reality (VR), but AR uses an already existing natural environment and superimposes on top of it. Users of AR experience a new and improved natural world with the interaction of virtual information which provides different interactive options. On the other hand, VR creates a totally new artificial  environment.

Even if the technology, apparently, is perfect for leisure and enjoyment, the truth is that AR is becoming very useful in many other industries such as healthcare, public sector, tourism, marketing, etc.

Augmented Reality embraces different type of technologies. All of them have different own use cases:

• Marker Based Augmented Reality: using a camera and a visual marker, some results are obtained when a reader senses a marker (ex: QR Code). This is the simplest AR technology as it does not need much power to process.
• Marker-less Augmented Reality: this kind of AR uses GPS, digital compass, velocity meter or other type of sensors to provide data on location. This is mostly used for mapping, locating directions or businesses...
• Projection Based Augmented Reality: it projects artificial light onto real world surfaces. It is used mostly to overlap holograms.
• Superimposition Based Augmented Reality: it replaces the original object with a newly augmented view of that object. It is very useful for commercial uses.

There are some components required for AR devices: sensors, cameras, projectors, processors and reflection machines.

As mentioned above, there are many different types of applications of Augmented Reality in different use cases. Below are some use cases and providers:

• Google glass
• XºVito Technology's Star Walk
• Layar
• Augmented Reality for IOS
• Ikea augmented reality furniture catalog
• Microsoft Kinect for Xbox
• Vuforia
• Roar
• Eon Reality
• Plattar
• ViewAR
• Augment
• Apple AR Kit 

There are many international standards for the application of the Augmented Reality in multiple sectors. Some of the most relevant ones:

• IEEE P802.15.8 - Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Peer Aware Communications (PAC)
• IEEE P1278.2 - Draft Standard for Distributed Interactive Simulation - Communication Services and Profiles
• IEEE P1484.11.1 - Draft Standard for Learning Technology--Data Model for Content Object Communication
• IEEE P1589 - Standard for an Augmented Reality Learning Experience Model
• IEEE P2048.1 - Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Device Taxonomy and Definitions
• IEEE P2048.2 - Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Video Taxonomy and Quality Metrics
• IEEE P2048.3 - Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Video File and Stream Formats
• IEEE P2048.4 - Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Person Identity
• IEEE P2048.5 - Standard for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Environment Safety
• IEEE P2200 - Draft Standard Protocol for Stream Management in Media Client Devices
• IEEE P3333.1.2 - Standard for the Perceptual Quality Assessment of Three Dimensional (3D) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) Contents
• IEEE 802.1AB-2009 - IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks -- Station and Media Access Control Connectivity Discovery
• IEEE 802.1AE-2006 - IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks: Media Access Control (MAC) Security
• IEEE 802.1AX-2008 - IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Link Aggregation*
• IEEE 802.1AR-2009 - IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Secure Device Identity
• ISO/IEC 23000-13:2017 Information technology - Multimedia application format (MPEG-A) - Part 13: Augmented reality application format
• ISO 9241-940:2017 Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 940: Evaluation of tactile and haptic interactions

For a more exhaustive list with standards, read here.

Augmented Reality is a very new technology that is still working in setting standards. Especially the IEEE Standards Association is working on new standards for virtual and augmented realities, with a working group establishing categories for devices. Standards related to video quality, user interfaces, and file formats. Even if there are already a great number of projects and standards identified, more will be discussed due to the different sectors able to apply them.
​
Some of the standards under development are:

• ISO/IEC DIS 18039 Information technology -- Mixed and augmented reality (MAR) reference model
• ISO/IEC AWI 21858 Information model for mixed and augmented reality (MAR) contents
• ISO/IEC DIS 18040 Information technology -- Computer graphics, image processing, and environmental data representation -- Live actor and entity representation in mixed and augmented reality (MAR)
• ISO/IEC DIS 18520 Information technology -- Computer graphics, image processing, and environmental data representation -- Benchmarking of vision-based spatial registration and tracking methods for mixed and augmented reality (MAR)
• ISO/IEC CD 18038 Information technology -- Computer graphics, image processing, and environmental data representation and coding of audio, picture, multimedia, and hypermedia information -- Sensor representation in mixed and augmented reality (MAR)

Augmented Reality has an enormous potential in most of the sectors. Some of the potential uses are:

• Healthcare: probably one of the most benefitted sectors thanks to the AR. It will help to improve complicate medical procedures. It will also help for the training of non-expert surgeons and students.
• Education: it will allow students to be trained in the simulation of real environments accelerating the learning process.
• Recruitment: new recruiting techniques imply the use of new technologies like VR and AR.
• Reality glasses for people with any visual impairment to help them with daily life difficulties.
• Reparation and maintenance of machines.
• Ecommerce: previsualization of products.
• Shows and sports visualization: it will provide a better view of what is happening in some fields in which the view is not the best (ex: golf).
• Navigation and location, showing best places or meeting points in 3D.
• Gaming will keep improving and trying to maximize the AR which will help them to provide a more realistic way of gaming.
• Silver Economy: where elder people will be able to recreate some of past moments and will be able to train their cognitive capacities.
• Sales: where sellers will be able to show previously how their product will be produced (Automotive industries for example
• The gaming industry will continue evolving thanks to the application of AR on most platforms.

​Author
KISMC

​

Blockchain is a technology that stores transactions between two users belonging to the same network in a secure, reliable and permanent way. It is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record virtually everything of value.

Data related to exchanges is saved in cryptographic blocks which are interconnected with a hierarchical sequence, creating a chain of different data blocks, giving the name to the technology. It allows users to trace and verify all transactions made. It is impossible to manipulate or change retrospectively making these transactions safer and more secure than current systems.

One of the most important and well-known uses of this technology are the crypto-currencies like Bitcoin.

There are three technologies required for the implementation of the Blockchain:

1. Private key cryptography
2. Distributed network with a shared ledger
3. Incentive to service the network’s transactions, record-keeping and security

The way it works is the following one: two individuals who are willing to make a transaction hold two keys each: a public and a private one. Combining these two keys and thanks to the cryptography allows users to generate secure digital identities referencing points. This security is the main component of Blockchain, which using both keys generates a digital signature, enabling a useful tool for the certification and controlling of the ownerships. This digital signature is combined with the distributed network where individuals act as validators of transactions who will reach a consensus about transactions. The process is certified by mathematical verification and is used to ensure the network and accept the transaction with new types of digital interactions.

The main advantages of this technology are:

• disintermediation
• empowered users
• high quality data
• durability
  
• reliability
• longevity
• process integration
• transparency
• immutability
• ecosystem simplification
• faster transactions
• lower transaction costs

Big firms have their own blockchain platforms. Here are the most well-known ones:

• Microsoft Enterprise Smart Contracts
• Etherum
• R3
• Hiper R3
• SAP Cloud Platform
• BitSE
• Blocko
• Blockstream
• Paystand
• Peer Ledger
• Deloitte
• Waves
• Blockstarter
• Ripple
• NEM

Main international standardization offices like ISO and IEEE have currently working groups for the standardization of Blockchain processes. But currently they do not have concrete standards implemented.

It is still a young technology which is currently being implemented in different sectors. Some of the most common applications are:

• Payment processing and money transfers
• Monitor supply chains
• Firm loyalty reward programmes
• Digital ID
• Data sharing
• Copyright and intellectual properties
• Voting systems
• Real state, land and auto ownership transfers
• Food safety
• Immutable data backup
• Tax regulation
• Medical recordkeeping
• Equity trading
• Managing IOT networks
• Security access to belongings
• Tracking prescription drugs

Blockchain will be implemented in several sectors and will be able to evolve the way users interact. Therefore, new platforms will be developed in order to face the challenges and opportunities that this new technology will bring.
Some of those opportunities are:

• Most governments are expected to use or create some virtual currencies which are based on blockchain technology.
• A cross-border, blockchain-based, self-sovereign identity standard will emerge for individuals, as well as physical and virtual assets.
• It is expected that by 2030, most of world trade will be conducted using blockchain technologies.
• Existing legal system will become obsolete and will need to be updated.
• Blockchain will join IoT technologies.
• People will take control of their online identities.

There are several working groups working on standards for the blockchain technology. Here are some of those which are under development:

• ISO/AWI 23257: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Reference architecture
• ISO/AWI 22739:  Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Terminology 
• ISO/NP TR 23578: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Discovery issues related to interoperability 
• ISO/NP TR 23576: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Security of digital asset custodians 
• ISO/NP TR 23455: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Overview of and interactions between smart contracts in blockchain and distributed ledger technology systems 
• ISO/AWI TS 23259: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Legally binding smart contracts 
• ISO/AWI TS 23258: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Taxonomy and Ontology 
• ISO/NP TR 23246: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Overview of identity management using blockchain and distributed ledger technologies 
• ISO/NP TR 23245: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Security risks and vulnerabilities 
• ISO/NP TR 23244: Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies -- Overview of privacy and personally identifiable information (PII) protection 
• IEEE SA - 2418.1: Standard for the Framework of Blockchain Use in the Internet of Things (IoT)
• IEEE SA - 2418.2: Standard Data Format for Blockchain Systems

Blockchain is identified as one of the most disruptive technologies and is destined to change the way internet works nowadays. As it is still quite new and firms are starting to implement it, there are still lot of potential applications including for smart cities’ solutions.
​
Below is presented a non-exhaustive list of areas of blockchain applications:

• Smart cities by adding a security level in economy, mobility, security, culture, environment sector depending on urban administrations.
• Ending of piracy in music, books and movies. It will help to control this, by signing each digital copy of a single file to a single purchaser.
• Smart contracts: it will create secure and irrevocable contracts with more transparency. It will strengthen relationships enhancing the innovation.
• Identify theft control.
• Governance: will improve transparency and reliability in voting and taxes.
• Automated management: using the P2P (peer to peer) system, it does not need central authorities to manage transactions.
• Digital assets: bonds, land titles, stock and flyer miles will be digitized thanks to the blockchain in the same way of cryptocurrencies.
• Supply chain: blockchain will help companies to communicate easier with clients, enabling faster and more efficient processes.

The article is a continuation of the series of articles for disruptive technologies for smart cities we started publishing in April, 2020. It is result of the ongoing Erasmus+ project Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design) and is based on the outputs produced by the project partners GAIA & DEUSTO and ARIES T.

Cybersecurity consists of tools, policies, guidelines, risk management, actions, training and technologies that users use to protect their virtual environments. They include concepts that establish network security. Nowadays, a great deal of information from users and enterprises such as personal data, banking information, passwords, purchases, bookings, etc., is transmitted online. All this information poses a risk to the security of both individuals and enterprises, hence cybersecurity management is vital to ensure the safety of all those movements that take place on the internet.

Today, Cybersecurity is an aspect which companies must deal with in order to carry out their activity in the current environment. Virtually all companies will suffer cyber attacks throughout their lifetime. Therefore, it is important for companies to establish defense programmes and strategy against these attacks (Jaramillo, H et al., 2015).

The experts believe that cybercrime will generate annual losses of 6 trillion dollars by 2021, as cybercrime is the fastest growing crime in the world. Although costs spent on security will be higher than a trillion dollars between 2017 and 2021, it will not be able to cope with the growth of attacks that are presumed to occur. These data shows that even if you try to fight against it, cybercrime is the greatest threat to the majority of enterprises and users in the world.
​

​Due to the large number of different areas that may be associated with security, there are wide range of solutions related to cybersecurity in different areas, some of them are:

• Accenture
• Comodo
• Eset
• Cradelpint Netcloud
• Lookout Mobile Security
• Random.org
• StaySafeOnline
• FCC Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0
• Symantec
• Cloudfare
• NS Focus
• CSID
• HTTPS Everywhere
• Social Engineer

​With regards to cybersecurity, several standards and regulations are in place that are being developed by different entities, the most noteworthy are ISO standards and those developed by ETSI.

• ISO standards, on cybersecurity include:
• ISO/IEC 27001: Specifications for a good information security management system in organisations
• ISO/IEC 27032: provides a secure framework for the exchange of information, incident management and coordination to make processes more secure.

​The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published the following, although it is still working on new specifications:

• TR 103 421       CYBER; Network Gateway Cyber Defence
• TR 103 306       CYBER; Global Cyber Security Ecosystem
• TS 103 307       CYBER; Security Aspects for LI and RD Interfaces
• TR 103 305       CYBER; Critical Security Controls for Effective Cyber Defence
• TR 103 331       CYBER; Structured threat information sharing
• TR 103 304       CYBER; Personally, Identifiable Information (PII) Protection in mobile and cloud services
• TR 103 369       CYBER; Design requirements ecosystem-          EG 203 310      CYBER; Quantum Computing Impact on security of ICT Systems; Recommendations on Business Continuity and Algorithm Selection
• TS 103 307       CYBER; Security Aspects for LI and RD Interfaces
• TR 103 303       CYBER; Protection measures for ICT in the context of Critical Infrastructure
• TS 103 487       CYBER; Baseline security requirements regarding sensitive functions for NFV and related platforms
• TR 103 308       CYBER; Security baseline regarding LI and RD for NFV and related platforms
• TR 103 306       CYBER; Global Cyber Security Ecosystem
• TR 103 309       CYBER; Secure by Default - platform security technology
• TR 103 305       CYBER; Critical Security Controls for Effective Cyber Defence 

As the number of networked systems and devices prone to external attacks is growing, there are different types of fields where the importance of cybersecurity should be given consideration:

• Mobile devices
• Email security
• Signing of documents
• Smart cards
• Robust authentications
• Counterfeiting prevention
• Virtual private networks
• Secure communications
• Software development
• Online validations
• Unique signatures

In order to deal with future cybersecurity problems, various aspects of security must be taken into account (David, C. 2015):

• The malware that attacks users and enterprises is becoming smarter and they are getting to operate them more independently. Therefore, the new cybersecurity platforms must be more sophisticated and should evolve to deal with these malware.
• All new products and services based on the internet of things, must consider the security and privacy intrusions that they may infringe. These products generate a lot of information and collect sensitive data from users and hence companies must be very careful while establishing their privacy policies.  
• The cloud based systems are growing in volume, making them more vulnerable to external attacks. As the number of devices connected to the cloud is growing, new attacks are expected, and thereby, new defense platforms will appear.
• Smart Cities will contain an increasing number of new elements such as traffic, automation, lighting controllers, etc. There will be new vulnerabilities which the cybersecurity experts should consider.  
• At present, there are a small number of cybersecurity professionals. Although many organisations would like to enter the global digital economy, they cannot do so due to the lack of human resources who are subject matter experts.

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Hence, it will be difficult to establish security policies and strategies by themselves and will have to resort to external professionals. This is why, security vendors will design open security platforms designed to engage the highest number of companies in these issues.
​

As to future standards and regulations, the European Commission is striving hard in this area (Díaz Vico, J. 2015). In May 2017, the EC announced new initiatives and legislation on online platforms, cybersecurity, and the new economy based on information management, in order to address some of the weaknesses of the digital single market. 
​
With regard to cybersecurity, the Commission stated that at the end of 2017 it will review the current strategy and the mandate of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) and promote new measures on safety standards related to the digital realm, certification and labelling so that new “objects” have greater security.
​

According to the Definition of cybersecurity business framework based on ADM-TOGAF (Jaramillo, H. D et al., 2015), the potential applications in the cybersecurity area are:

• Big Data: with exponential growth in information volumes through new devices, cybersecurity must grow and adapt to the new requirements so that criminals may not seize this information.
• Machine learning: in this field professionals can process information more efficiently and predict attacks with more ease.
• Health: cybersecurity can play an important role to protect medical equipment from threats.
• Internet of Things: protection of ever-increasing objects that will have networked connections.
• Artificial Intelligence
• Drones
• Smart Cities
• Robotics

​Author
KISMC

This is next article from the series we started this year for disruptive technologies for smart cities. The content is based on the outputs produced under the project Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design).

Collaborative Robotics (Cobots) is referring to machines which are designed for a direct interaction with humans in their working spaces without any security fence. They are lighter, more flexible, easier to install and with an affordable price than traditional production machines. This is the reason why they are perfectly suitable for SMEs. These robots have a fast return of investment; do not require specialized technicians for the assembling and launching and they are reconfigurable which allows them to be incorporated in different points of the production line, optimizing productivity.

They represent a new era in the industrial automation, as they allow the introduction of robots in sectors and industrial processes in which was not feasible until now.

The Collaborative Robots are feasible for any type of companies. Some of the most remarkable advantages in comparison with traditional robots are:

• Able to relocate in different installations: cobots are very flexible and easy to integrate them in different processes;
• Human interaction: cobots are conceived to work side by side with workmen offering a cooperation environment;
• Shared space: cobots are very safe and are able to work with humans without the requirement of protections and added security;
• Easy to program: they have an intuitive and easy-to-use interface and do not require any specific skills;
• Profitability: robotic arms have an amortization period of less than a year.

The number of robotic companies offering collaborative robotics is increasing due to the advantages described above. But, some of the most well-known producers are:

• VECNA
• ROBOTIQ
• Rethink Robotics
• Universal Robots
• ABB Inc.
• FANUC
• Omron
• Festo
• Locus Robotics
• Epson Robots
• CEATECH

There are some standards related to collaborative robots at international level: 
​

• ISO 10218-1:2006 (updated 2011) and ISO 10218-2:2011 are the industrial robot standards that initially covered collaborative applications
• Part 1: Robot only (manipulator and controller)
• Part 2: Robot system/cell and application
• ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 is an adoption of ISO 10218-1:2011 & ISO 10218-2:2011
• And under the ISO/TS 15066:2016: Robots and robotic devices – Collaborative robots. This standard is a technical specification on collaborative robots
• ISO/TS 15066:2016 specifies safety requirements for collaborative industrial robot systems and the work environment, and supplements the requirements and guidance on collaborative industrial robot operation given in ISO 10218‑1 and ISO 10218‑2.
• ISO/TS 15066:2016 applies to industrial robot systems as described in ISO 10218‑1 and ISO 10218‑2. It does not apply to non-industrial robots, although the safety principles presented can be useful to other areas of robotics.

​

Cobots are very useful in most of industrial environments, but some of their applications are:

• Pick and place
• Machine tending
• Packaging
• Material Handling
• Injection moulding
• CNC
• Quality inspection
• Assembly
• Polishing
• Screw driving
• Lab analysis and testing
• Gluing, dispensing and welding

​

The industry is beginning to recognize the benefits of more standardization in robotics. This is also becoming recognized within research, where there has been a lack of standardized benchmarking practices. The standards already developed for Collaborative Robotics are fundamentally in guidelines to ensure the security, like the above-mentioned ISO/TS 15066. This and more standards will be necessary to integrate and update in order to respond the changing needs of the robotics industry.
​
In the next future, researchers will be working in order to introduce domain-specific safety standards and will test them on specific robotic systems. In the long run, it will be expanded to develop industry norms for robot operation and standards for long-term interaction with multiple users. Another topic for future rules and standards will be the development of robotic based interfaces.  
​

The number of industrial companies using cobots in their facilities will keep growing, due to the advantages they bring. But in the future, new “generation” robots will be needed, with “smarter skills”:

• Dialoguing robots
• Truly Collaborative Robots with ability to “take decisions”
• Fully autonomous robots
• Robots with AI
• Machine learning
• Adaptative robots to users
• Self-repairing robots
• Application in new industries

Author
KISMC

This article is a continuation of the series of articles for disruptive technologies for smart cities we started publishing in April, 2020. It is a result of the ongoing Erasmus+ project Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design) and is based on the outputs produced by the project partners led GAIA & DEUSTO and ARIES T.
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Cyber-physical systems or CPS involve the merging of computing, storage and communication capabilities with capabilities of monitoring and control of physical elements. That is to say, endow physical objects with “intelligence” so that they can interconnect. As they are interconnected to each other they employ the global digital networks to monitor, control, and use the information that is available in the virtual world, and even learn, cooperate, and evolve. This sort of technologies have a wide range of uses and may be used in most sectors (manufacturing, power, health, smart cities, transport, etc.).

A cyber-physical system is made up of objects, electronics and software. There are two types of objects that connect CPS to the outside world: sensors that collect and process data and actuators: which control the systems. The services connected to the internet use the data obtained and send commands to the actuators which then perform the appropriate actions (Derler. P, et al 2012). While IOT (Internet of Things) are individual objects that offer services over the internet, CPS systems are able to interpret the physical elements and interact creating smart environments.
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• Quark System on Chip Platform (Intel) 
• Connectivity Platform (Schneider)
• INEMO inertial Platform  (STM) 
• Power Management Platform (Infineon) 
• Integrated and Open Dvt Platform (AVL)  
• STM32 Microcontroller Platform (STM)  
• Nexmachina 

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The National Institute of Standards (NIST) is working to create a draft version of framework for cyber-physical systems (CPS). This framework has been created to establish a basis with which CPS may be developed, designed and built to work with other smart systems. The framework has been developed with a two-year period by a working group (public-private) with information from various interest groups, including government agencies and telecommunication, ICT and transport sectors.

​Traditional standards such as ISO-29002 have been complemented with open standards from the Internet world managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as in the case of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
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CPS systems are used to connect a physical element to a digital element in order to improve performance and efficiency. They are ever increasingly common within the industry and in production processes along with the Internet of Things (IoT).

At present, there are many uses of CPS, such as (Obradors, M. 2016):

• Controlling an industrial machine to optimise performance
• Monitoring the status of machines and maintenance
• Driving assistance with vehicles that are interconnected to one another and to the road infrastructure
  
• Collaborating robots that can learn from each other
• Improve healthcare systems through the monitoring and personalisation of care
• Improve traffic control avoiding jams, choosing alternative routes, etc.
• Smart Buildings, creating smarter buildings with reduced energy consumption.
  
  As can be seen, such technologies offer a large number of possibilities in virtually any industry.

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When we speak of the fourth industrial revolution, we say that it will be based on cyber-physical systems, IOT and services. Hence, work will be done on the development of platforms in these areas. Industrial assistance systems based on CPS will be needed to attract, help and train the next generation of workers in smart factories. Systems such as dual or augmented reality will identify workflows and accelerate the learning of new production processes and will allow manufacturing to be done at any place.
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The products must be reproducible within the whole ecosystem of the factory, so that anything can be done at any place. That is to say, there will be greater flexibility in terms of resource capacity. With the use of smart capabilities in real time functions with sensors at all levels of the factory and production cycles, manufacturers will be able to see whatever is happening in the production lines of the company at all times. Quick decision-making capacity will grow ensuring greater quality and flexibility. In this regard, cyber-physical systems will be key offering connectivity and interaction between machines within the production processes.
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​Research on standards is being conducted at many laboratories such as NIST, including programmes in advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, structures and buildings, disaster resilience and smart grids. The design and development of a CPS test bench to characterise CPS equipment, systems, performance and standards is key to progress. 
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New applications for CPS systems along with IoT especially in the field of Industry 4.0 will continue to appear. It is expected that the production hierarchy that has been in use until now be transformed into a “decentralised self-organisation”. The production plants will gain flexibility and will be much more independent while all systems within the production will be interconnected and will “learn” from each other.
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Once they are integrated into smart electricity grids, it is expected that they will control the generation and distribution of electricity in the near future. Work will also continue on improving traffic safety, reducing CO2 pollution.



Author
KISMC

We are pleased to inform you of the celebration of the “Smart Technologies By Design” Webinar for the presentation of market-oriented technological solutions in the field of Smart Cities. The webinar is scheduled to take place on October 15th, from 9:30 to 11:30 - Brussels time.

The webinar is aimed at managers and professionals of organizations in the ICT sector, active in the change and transformation of their processes, products or services, who seek, through the sharing of experiences, solutions to support the digital transformation of cities.

This event seeks to value the technological offer by European companies, through experiences of digital transformation in customers.

For more information and the AGENDA, click below.
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This article is a continuation of the series of articles for disruptive technologies for smart cities we started publishing back in April, 2020. It is result of the ongoing Erasmus+ project Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design) and is based on the outputs produced by the project partners led GAIA & DEUSTO.

It is expected that Internet of Things may be considered as the arrival of new disruption in the digital realm. The term is quite recent. It was in 2009 when Kevin Ashton, a professor at MIT at that time, used the expression Internet of Things. In a summary it can be described that it is based on interconnection of any product with any other around it. Its significance is brutal and, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute (Manyika, J., 2015), IoT is one of the 12 most important technological trends for the future.

It is difficult to make estimates in this area and vary based on the source. In terms of the number of embedded devices, taking into account that every human being is surrounded by at least about 1,000 to 5,000 objects, it is not unreasonable to expect that Internet of Things could grow to over 30 million devices in 2020 and 75 million in 2025, although there are forecasts, such as Gartner which are much higher. The business turnover of IoT platforms market is expected to reach a market value of one billion dollars by 2019 and 1.6 billion dollars by 2021, although there are estimates that far outweigh these forecasts.
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The IoT platforms are the superbase for interconnecting devices and for generating an ecosystem of their own (Ashton, K. 2011). At present the issue is not the number of platforms, over 300 have been identified, but what this high number shows. It is an immature “space”, which is being accessed by large number of potential service providers.

Some of the important platforms are:

• Thingspeak
• Carriots
• Adafruit IO
• Sentilo 
• Devicehive (open source)
• Smart Cities as a Service 
• Pubnub
• Thingworx
• Temboo
• Thethings
• Thinger
• Ubidots
• Bought by Amazon
• Onion Cloud
• IBM Bluemix
• B-scada      
• Amazon      
• An interesting open source project that allows different IoT devices to speak among themselves: http://thethingsystem.com/index.html

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The fact that there are no consolidated standards regarding connection, protocols and, in particular, security is a decisive factor for the expansion of IoT. Since the past few years there are a number of associations of players in this field working to define these standards (AIISeen Alliance, ZigBee, Open Interconnect Consortium…), as well as global leaders such as Google or Apple are positioning themselves on elements to standardise, such as connection.

​In fact, there is still a long way to go, although currently progress is being made. Concentration movements, such as the Open Connectivity Foundation are happening, which bring together several of the existing consortia, giving rise to standards such as IEEE P2413, for internet architecture.
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IoT has application in virtually all sectors and environments, some of them include (CeArley, D et al,. 2012):·      

• Transport: connected cars are already a reality and it is estimated that in 2020 there will be more than 220M.
• Agriculture: sensors that measure acidity levels, temperature and other variables that help to improve crops.
• Retail: study customer behaviour, offer them personalised ads and improve the distribution and location of products.
• Power: ranging from sensors that record metrics in power generation and distribution systems to smart meters in the homes of end customers.
• Connected home: it is estimated that by 2030, the majority of home devices will be connected, this opens up a wide range of new applications.
• Health: devices in the healthcare field can collect data and automate processes that allow a better diagnosis and improve treatment of patients.   
• Tourism: smart doors in rooms, sensors, beacons and other devices that improve the comfort and experience of customers.
• Smart cities: Smart cities are already developed, IoT is one of the key elements for information gathering and knowledge management.

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It is expected that the evolution of the importance of IoT in the field of interconnectivity will be a determining factor in the near future. The estimated evolution of basic elements in this area are expected as follows:
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It is expected that not more than 10% of the platforms currently running or being advertised in the market are going to survive in the short term (Chatelain, J. et al,. 2017).

The features of the ones that will survive will be:·      

• Credibility , based on relevant use cases relating to consumers, to develop solid business. 
• Experience of owning, managing and monetising a platform.
• A strong community of developers who can amplify and diversify the IoT solutions to end customers.
• Experience in the handling of large infrastructure and its management, to achieve economies of scale.
• A scalable infrastructure and capacities in the information value chain for the integration, storage, processing and presentation of data.

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KFIWARE is an open source initiative that aims to promote the creation of standards needed to develop Smart applications in different domains. There are also agreements between companies to create common standards: Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), born from the Alliance between AllSeen and Open Interconnect Consortium, backed by Intel (IEEE P2413 by end 2017) is to serve all kinds of industries, as well as for consumer devices, and although it will not replace the existing data formats it will serve to reduce the effort these devices need to share data.

​There are technologies to function as common interoperability layers, such as: Dotdot, presented at CES by the ZigBee Alliance, which aspires to become the universal language of the Internet of Things. On its behalf, Sigma Designs has presented the Z-Wave language, which aspires to become the layer with which the developers can integrate services and applications in IoT networks through cloud platforms, such as Apple HomeKit.

​Although Internet of Things is a reality now, trends to which they will be applied are as follows:

• Connected vehicles: Fleet management, pay-as-you-drive, smart parking, electric vehicles. 
• Industry 4.0: smart products, adaptive plants, agile logistics, optimised value chains.
• Monitoring and tracking: location information, cold chain tracking, security and fraud detection.·
• Remote service management: real time monitoring, remote diagnostics, guarantees, consumption management, marketing and usage-based billing.

Author
KISMC

This article is a continuation of an article we published in August 2020 - “Disruptive Technologies for Smart Cities – Cloud Computing” for the presentation of the interim results of the ongoing Erasmus+ project Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design). The article is based on the materials produced by the project partners GAIA & DEUSTO.
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Data Analytics is the approach that allows companies to analyse the data they generate in their activity enabling them to draw conclusions that affect their business. Better known as Big Data, companies manage this information in order to adopt strategies that will help them to improve their business turnover. Thus, it helps them improve operational efficiency, customer user experience and also allows them to improve their business models. All these data generated by companies in their activity is one of the concerns they have to face today. They should evaluate the importance of this information, what information they will have to store or even what part of all these data they can sell.
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Data analysis means the translation of information into opportunities for companies to take advantage of all these data (Schneider. 2017). This is why, “Data Analytics” is also called as a translator or business generator, because it allows to explore personalised solutions to carry out your projects. At present, information as services is a business model that is expanding wherein increasingly more businesses are seeking to monetise the information they obtain. According to the International Statistical Institute, businesses that use information will see their productivity increase by 430 billion dollars by 2020 in contrast with those that do not use it.
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Services offered by platforms related to information analysis is growing along with new solutions in terms of storage capacities as well as processing. Some of the platforms that currently exist are as follows:

• Hadoop
• Gridgain
• HPCC
• Storm
• Spark
• Hive
• Kafka
• Flume

​The first standard on big data was published in the end of 2015 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), hence, there are already international rules and standards. ITU-T Y.3600: provides requisites, capabilities and use cases of cloud computing based big data (Y.BigDatareqts, 2015).

Big Data when merged with Cloud Computing offers the ability to collect, store, analyse, visualise and handle large amounts of data, which cannot be analysed with traditional technologies (Iglesias. A, 2015).
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When we refer to data analysis, we can differentiate five key applications of such technologies: ​

1. Explore massive data or Big Data management. Information management is assumed to be one of the biggest challenges that the companies will be facing for best decision-making, operations improvement and risk reduction. To obtain a more complete view of customers. The companies have a greater number of information sources about their customers, which they manage to provide better and more personalised services, as well as to predict customer behaviour.

• Increase in security. Such technologies are used in order to prevent attacks by locating anomalies that may occur, by analysing patterns and threats. In this usage type, we can distinguish three applications:

• Improve intelligence and surveillance: with continued real time analysis to find patterns.
• Prevention of attacks: with network traffic analysis to deal with espionage, intrusiveness, cyber attacks…
• Prediction and prevention of cybercrime: by analysing telecommunications and social network data to analyse threats and to act before the criminals.

• Operations Analysis. Helps companies to make operational decisions, increasing their intelligence and efficiency. To do so, they can check the updated information with the different possible systems.
• Increase in data storage. Creation of new data storage structures.

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​The expected evolution is that the data volumes will continue to grow due to the expected increase in the number of networked devices. The future platforms will improve the ways in which data is analysed, while SQL will continue to be the standard, Spark is emerging as a complementary tool which will continue to grow.

New tools will be created to analyse without an analyst, companies such as Microsoft and Salesforce have announced such type of solutions. Programmes such as Kafka and Spark that allow to use these data in real time will also continue to be developed. According to many experts, it is thought that “fast data” and “actionable data” will replace big data. It is also expected that algorithm markets will emerge. Companies will begin to buy algorithms instead of programming them and add their own information (Logicalis, 2016). Although such type of solutions already exist, it is assumed that these will grow multi-fold.
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On the other hand, one of the challenges data analytics platforms will face is privacy, especially since the latest regulations made by the European Commission.
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With regard to standards, The Big Data Value Association (BDVA) is working to define standards of Big Data priorities and interoperability. The association has a team dedicated to this matter (Task Force 6) that, as of today, has already defined a reference model for Big Data.

​A workshop was held in Brussels in June 2017 to collaborate with other standardisation communities to create a roadmap for the harmonisation of Big Data standards. Representations from ETSI, AIOTI WG3, CEN/CENELEC, OASC, ISO/JTC1/WG9, W3C, OneM2M, Industry 4.0, European Commission, PPP based important Big Data projects among others, participated in the event. Follow-up activities took place in 2017 on the side-lines of the ISO IEC JTC1 WG9 Data Reference Architecture meeting held in Dublin.
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Information analysis has a large number of potential applications and areas of use (Marr.B, 2016):

• Continue working in customer segmentation
• Optimisation and understanding of business processes
• Monitoring and optimisation of business processes
• Improve public health systems
• Improve sport yields of citizens
• Improvements in science and innovation
• Optimise the performance of machinery of companies
• Improvement in security and support for the fulfilment of law
• Applications in Smart Cities related solutions
• Finance

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