Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy says two combined factors—global population growth and urbanization—could result in another 2.5 billion people living in urban areas by 2050. She asks the question: What exactly is going to happen when more than half of the global population resettles in urban centers? She suggests smart-city services are going to be an important part of how we solve the urbanization puzzle, from smart build...

Peggy and David Stephenson, author, The Future Is Smart, talk about his new book. He explains the primary audience of the book is not the thought leaders and doers, but the skeptical mainstream businesses that have maybe heard a little bit of the IoT, but they are intrigued about the economic payoffs. He talks about the concept of collective blindness, saying for the longest time when we manufactu...

Peggy and Sam George, director of Azure IoT, Microsoft, talk about servitization. He says IoT is a pretty profound technique to sense the real world in realtime. When talking about the digital feedback loop, he explains an IoT solution today is not what the same IoT solution is going to look like tomorrow. Predictive maintenance is evolving into the predictive stocking of parts, for example. He sa...

Peggy asks: Are services really that important to growth? Simply, yes. She goes on to explain that IoT global spending will reach more than $772 billion in 2018—up about 14.5%. Even more, by 2021, services spending is expected to nearly equal hardware spending. She dives into vertical markets, saying in 2018 the industries that stand out in terms of the most money spent in IoT will include manufac...

Peggy and Joshua Peschel, assistant professor, agriculture and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, says if you look at the tracking different assets and understanding their supply chain, having access to detailed information is not something companies were able to have prior to now. He gives an example of taxi tracking in large cities. If you could know where taxis were located, you cou...

Peggy and Duane Wald, VP and managing director, EMEA and APAC, MultiTech, chat about the Internet of Things, and he says in the context of Industry 4.0, it is less about technology, and more about business strategies and business models. He adds that people understand the opportunity, but there is a lot of effort to use technology to solve problems. Creating the ecosystem and business model is wha...

Peggy talks about how servitization can open the door to new revenue streams. She explains that if you are in business today, you are in it to make money. Using IoT (Internet of Things) and data to sell services that complement a product portfolio is just smart business. She talks about how to go on the journey toward servitization—and make it a profitable one. She points to research that shows th...

Peggy and Chuck Freiheit, COO, F.H. Paschen, talk about the aging workforce. He explains that we have to be intentional about inspiring the next generation. He also says we need to use technology to attract the talent. The advent of the iPhone and the iPad have helped and one of the things it did a couple years ago is decide it wasn't going to have one platform to solve all problems. He adds that...

Peggy and Claire Rutkowski, CIO, Bentley Systems, talk about our infrastructure. She explains that we are absolutely failing with our infrastructure and there are a number of reasons including a funding a gap. She says there are offsetting savings. For instance, repairing our roads can save drivers money. She adds that while funding is the most important, private investors have assets under manage...

Peggy says one beacon of hope for people who hate sitting in traffic is connectivity. She says autonomous vehicles will be a part of our lives and it will reduce traffic and road accidents and fatalities. V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication enables the sharing of data, giving the ability to see around corners and through other vehicles. Someday these vehicles will react to the data, she says, r...

Peggy and Cassandra Rutherford, assistant professor at Iowa State University, discuss some of the research she is doing as it relates to soil testing, foundation, and more. She explains that every project we have touches the soil and she looks at how soil responds to different types of loads. She is also looking to the future and doing research as it relates to critical infrastructure. A lot of re...

Peggy and Rich DiClaudio, president, CEO, and founding board member, The Energy Innovation Center Institute, chat about this organization's mission, which is to transform how humans interact with energy and technology. He explains that we need a resilient electric grid and that the institute is always pursuing activities to enable resilient cities. He says in developed economies, it is unusual for...

Peggy says we have some challenges to solve if the IoT (Internet of Things) can be as widely adopted as it could be. She talks about Operation Prowli and how it had been spreading malware and malicious code to servers and Websites. She also points to the example of Adidas, which announced that an unauthorized party may have gained access to certain customers' data. She adds that it is distressing...

Peggy says there are always delays in services because of an outdated infrastructure. She challenges listeners to force their politicians to take action and to finally invest in our future—now. Further, she addresses the challenge of the aging workforce and that the younger generation isn't showing an interest in construction, which makes it more difficult to rebuild roads, bridges, or a smarter i...

Peggy and Rick Splawinski, senior project manager, Nevada Dept. of Transportation, discuss surface transportation. He says aesthetics are important, but we can't have beautiful roads in America if we don't have roads at all. He adds our ability to maintain surface transportation is shrinking every year due to the rate of inflation. He explains that the problem is that Americans are not tuned in or...

Peggy says IoT (Internet of Things) solutions are allowing oil and gas pipeline operators to analyze flow and events in near-realtime. She explains IoT systems can integrate with other systems in the enterprise to improve efficiencies. She continues that oil theft is a multibillion-dollar problem, and remote monitoring can help tackle the issue. Drones can also pinpoint leaks, she says, which is a...

Peggy gives a glimpse into some famous infrastructure. She looks at the new World Trade Center in New York City, Crossrail in London, the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, the Grand Paris Express, and the Chicago Express Loop. She says there is an opportunity for the Internet of Things to drive revenues and new services to clients. She wraps up the show by giving a sneak peek into Elon Musk's p...

Peggy chats with Steven Weitzman, president and CEO, Creative Design Resolutions, who says there is an opportunity for infrastructure to visually speak to the people in the community. He asks: Why can't infrastructure express the story of where you are? He adds that infrastructure will always need to be safe first, functional next, and then aesthetics can come in and that the company is bilingual—...

Peggy avoids the political landmines, but highlights the controversy surrounding pipeline infrastructure. She says in 2017, the amount of energy produced was about 87.5 quadrillion BTU (British Thermal units). Also, the amount of energy produced in 2017 was equal to about 90% of the U.S.'s energy consumption. She explains that there has been a significant shift in the source-and-use balance, and t...

Peggy Smedley is joined by Josh Peschel, assistant professor of agriculture and Biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, who says there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to all of the problems geographically—there are too many variables. He explains that there is a bill, and it has to be paid. People are going to argue about how that has to be done, but ultimately it has to be paid

Peggy chats with Kristina Swallow, president, American Society of Civil Engineers, about our nation's infrastructure and its grade of a D+. Swallow explains that the ASCE sees three solutions that can help solve this: investment, leadership, and planning for the future. She says it has also identified that between now and 2025 in order to bring the grade to a B, it would require $4.6 trillion—and...

Peggy kicks off a new month, looking at the topic of infrastructure. She says today many systems are not modern, as they don't leverage technology to maximize efficiency. IoT (Internet of Things) technology can help by catching breaks before they even occur. She also explains that sensor systems and predictive analytics need to be applied to manage and maintain our infrastructure.

Peggy Smedley is joined by Juan Pablo Segura, co-founder, Babyscripts, who talks about the demand that is being fueled on the patient side in healthcare. He explains that the company has created a new model for managing pregnancy care through IoT (Internet of Things) devices. He says it is focused on capturing data on patients in between appointments, while automating care.

Peggy chats with Dr. Moira Schieke, founder, Cubismi, who says the company is developing technology to tailor care for each patient, explaining that it will create a new technology to reorganize digital data. It will essentially be a Google Map of the human body and it will have higher quality datasets for the predictive analytics engine. She says it can detect diseases sooner with the help of big...

Peggy asks: Do health apps really work? She explains that health apps in general aren't as effective as they could be, and there are just too many different people looking to self-manage their health and each of these individuals have unique needs. She adds that health apps have incredible potential, but only if patients can access them, figure out how to use them, and find the effort worth their...