Alcatel-Lucent

By Debbie Fisher, Market and Consumer Insight, Alcatel-Lucent.

As we continue our blog series around smart cities, research now shifts to the beautiful city of Zurich — best known by many for being the city with the highest cost of living. But to the citizens of Zurich, their city is one that today offers a high quality of life. And given this positive view, it’s no surprise that citizens are also very satisfied with the city’s overall “smartness.” This view is backed up not only by local residents, but also reported in Mercer’s 2011 Quality of Living ranking.

I’ve just returned from Zurich where we interviewed several citizens on their definition and vision of a smart city. As well we asked which services they thought could make a difference in their lives. Along with unseasonably warm weather, I heard what I can best describe as the “sunny,” satisfied disposition of Zurich citizens. The most commonly repeated phrase seemed to be “I have everything I need.” We’re proud to hear that our customer EWZ, via its ewz.zürinet, plays an important part in providing residents with the needed infrastructure. Internet access is nearly ubiquitous and allows for a virtual workplace. Swiss Railway and Zurich Traffic apps are already available for iPhone users and support the heavily used, efficient trams and trains.

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By Debbie Fisher, Market and Consumer Insight, Alcatel-Lucent

As Louis Witters wrote in his blog post, we’ve now extended our research and partnered with Erin L. Henry, PhD Program in Organizational Behavior and Sociology at Harvard Business School, to gain insight from the people living in or relocating to what many are calling “smart cities.” How did they define a smart city? Were they aware they lived in a smart city? What services would make a difference in their lives? And, what was their vision for their city? We’ve captured three amazing stories in our recently completed video with citizens from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, that speak to these questions. These citizens are served by EPB, the local utility and now the proud supplier of North America’s fastest and largest 1 gigabit network. Watch this interesting and enlightening video:

Jack, Jim, and Helen exemplified what we heard from others — that a smart city is one that shares a culture and passion for collaboration. It celebrates differences and sets aside personal agendas for the greater good of the city. Moreover, a smart city respects the fact that technology is an enabler which touches the lives of its citizens in many ways.

But there’s more to the story … so I thought a Top Ten list might be the best way to share more of the presentations and visions of these wonderful people who are working and living in Chattanooga. And believe me, it was no small task selecting ten as I could have easily shared many more … maybe another day, another city.

So here’s my favorite “Top Ten Stories of the People Living in the Smart City of Chattanooga.”

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By Louis Witters, Market and Consumer Insight team, Alcatel-Lucent

Isn’t it amazing that today half of the world’s population lives in cities, and just a few decades from now, more than three out of four people will call a city “home”? At the beginning of last century, the number of mega-cities worldwide could be counted on the fingers of one hand. But within some decades, adding the toes of our feet will not be enough to count them.

This growing concentration of people in cities will lead to constraints, new needs and additional pressure on the cities’ various systems. That’s why Jane Anderson, Debbie Fisher and I, all members of the Market and Consumer Insight (MCI) team within Alcatel-Lucent, were asked to study smart cities — and consider related market opportunities.

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Last year the European Commission, as part of its Digital Agenda for Europe Key Action 12, called for industry volunteers to help establish a framework for measuring both the energy intensity and carbon footprint of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Accurate measurement is an essential first step toward identifying appropriate solutions.

As part of its commitment to environmental responsibility, Alcatel-Lucent joined a consortium with BT and Cisco to pilot test three measurement methodologies, using them to evaluate a wholesale Internet service offered by BT. Through the pilot tests, Alcatel-Lucent is contributing to the standards and helping demonstrate their usability. Gabrielle Giner – Programme Manager, Environmental Sustainability at BT explains what prompted her company to ask Alcatel-Lucent to join the pilot study. We discuss the importance of establishing industry-standard assessments and the role that ICT can play in enabling a low carbon economy.

For more information about this project at Alcatel-Lucent, you can contact Tom Okrasinski, Eco-sustainability Program Manager.

By Richard Goode, Director of Sustainability, Alcatel-Lucent

This week, the Carbon Disclosure Project issued its 2011 Europe 300 report, and this year Alcatel-Lucent earned a place in its Carbon Performance Leadership Index.  The Carbon Disclosure Project is an independent, not-for-profit organization that has created the largest database of primary corporate climate change information in the world.  Representing some 550 investor groups with combined assets of $71 trillion, its mission is to “accelerate solutions to climate change by putting relevant information at the heart of business, policy and investment decisions.”

More than 3,000 organizations voluntarily disclose their carbon emissions to the CDP, and for this report the CDP analyzed disclosures from 271 (90 percent of the FTSEurofirst 300 Index) of the largest European corporations based on market capitalization. The organization provides two scores and a performance band.  In addition to being named to the Carbon Performance Leadership Index, Alcatel-Lucent rated placement in the “A” band and its score in the disclosure section improved by 10 percent over last year’s score to 89 out of 100 points.

Because it comes from the most visible carbon and climate change NGO, we consider this a terrific acknowledgement of the strength of Alcatel-Lucent’s climate change and sustainability program.  It is particularly gratifying coming on the heels of being named a sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in September and earlier this month being ranked fourth worldwide by the Environmental Investment Organization for the comprehensiveness, public reporting and verification of our emissions in our annual Corporate Responsibility report as well as with the CDP.

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