This video shows Trieste a science town, a place between East and West, in the center of Europe. An Italian town that could be the place for Global Forum 2013?

Session 9: Smart Energy: Coopetition Field

The Smart Energy Session was largely about how to use ICT to help develop better energy usage.

It started with Hannes Carl Borg who is Acting State Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, Sweden. He talked about how Sweden was capable of being world-leading when it comes to renewable energy and that ICT could be a big part of that.

“ICT can be a big part of the solution for many global problems” – Hannes Carl Borg

Kamel Essegrairi who is the Executive Director Arab Platform For Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, talked about how the opinion makers (the public) are an integral part of smart energy and the Smart Grid.

The Smart Grid is an electical grid that gathers information using information technology to monitor your energy consumption. This is a way for individuals to be aware of their energy consumption and the data can be used to further Smart Energy projects.

Jerry Hultin who is the President of Polytechnic Institute of New York then came on to talk about the consequences of the path we’re heading. He talks about how Americans are the worst at energy efficiency.

“If everyone used energy like Americans we would need the energy of 6 earths to power everything” – Jerry Hultin

He goes on about how important it is for cities to become more efficient as 70% of earths population lives in cities as well as a New York initiative was passed that forces huge buildings to report their energy usage.

Gunnar Söderholm who is the Director of Environment and Health Admission for City of Stockholm then came on to talk about some solutions.

“We want to make cities more bike and walk friendly” – Gunner Söderholm

In the 1930s Stockholm was the most unhealthy city in the Europe, but then came to win the “European Green Capital Award” 2010 and is now striving to be Fossil-Fuel Free by 2050. So change is possible, and with alot of countries from Europe, United States and even from Arab countries taking initiative, this type of change seems possible everywhere.

Sarah Zhao, Partner Perkins Coie LLP, China

This is a continuation of the session this morning about the Cloud Computing and e-health.

The first speaker for the afternoon, Paolo Barichello (Chied Information Officer of Asolo), presents about the New e-health paradigms with cloud computing. He explains how the project aims to implement services that allow direct  access to information. “The real goal will only be achieved when cloud is involved in critical processes”

Enrico Fiore (Chairman of Medic4all) begins his presentation with a question to the public, of which application you need to install in computers in order to treat patients. He then proceeds to present his project, Medic4all, which has features such as self-monitoring watches and medical concierges, seen as very innovative. At the end of his presentation he answers his original question: “You just need a browser & Cloud”

Thereafter Jovan Stevovic (Researcher CRG) talks about data management processes customization to satisfy organizations’ requirements. He explains that organizations have certain basic requirements: privacy&security, compliance as well as existing information systems and existing procedures “There is a need for customization in our society, which is achieved with the use of Cloud”.

Ingrid Andersson (Senior Executive Advisor) presents about LearnforLife and Cloud Computing. She explain how the project aims to increase health awareness among a target community of users to prevent lifestyle based disorders.

Cecilia Bergh (CEO Mando AB) initiates with very striking statistics about how obsession is now more common than malnutrition, which is a waste of resources, not only of food, but also of medical treatments. Around 2 million people are overweight today, which is a result of our society not having to exercise as much as before and food being generally easily available and at reasonable prices. With their innovative product, the Mandometer, they would like to combat this disease by normalizing eating behaviors. It will be made into a smartphone application, which communicates wirelessly to a scale.

Maria Beatrice Fasano (Product Marketing Director) enthusiastically speaks of how evolution of IT technology will strongly affect healthcare ” Adopting cloud technologies means taking advantages of innovative applications and freeing IT resources for much needed innovation”

Sylvia Mazerin, Project Coordinator of Euroméditerranée

Sylvia Mazerin from Euroméditerranée answered a few questions about Global Forum 2012

Why did you decide to come to Global Forum 2012?

I am here to represent my company, which is the biggest innovation operation in southern Europe.

What have you thought of the sessions you have seen so far?

They are very interesting from the perspective of our city [Marseille] , which is looking for innovation and development. Its good to hear about all the new projects and perspective for the future.

Which has been your favourite session so far? How come?

The one this morning about the woman in leadership. Their ideas of networking and public relations is really interesting to me.

Urban Fagerstedt, Huawei Technologies Sweden

Didier Thunus, DG Informatics

André Hoddevik, OpenPEPPOL AISBL, Norway

Johannes Wimmer, Austrian Federal Procurement Agency

Myeong-ki Baek, e-Procurement Bureu, Korea

Eleanor Stewart, Government Digital Service Cabinet Office, United-Kingdom

Dan Shoemaker, US Department of Defense, USA

Paul Wormeli, Integrated Justice Information Systems, USA

Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook Inc, Denmark

Stéphane Grumbach, INRIA, France

Florence Dupré, Cassidian CyberSecurity, France

Wojciech Cellary, Department of Information Technology, Poznan University of Economics

Samia Melhem, World Bank Group

Annika Bränström, eGovernment Delegation, Sweden

Steven B. Adler, IBM, USA

Dr. Alan R. Shark, Rutgers University, USA

Uwe Holzmann-Kaiser, Technical Manager

Eikazu Niwano, NTT Corporation, Japan

Pascal Poitevin, Institut de l’Elevage, France

Helena Lindskog, Linköping University, Sweden

This video was shared at Session 6: Eprocurement Interconnecting People and Organizations and nicely illustrates the challenges of interoperability.

Session 8: Content Evolutions

The session’s theme was using digital technology in creative ways to improve society.

It started with Thomas Spiller talking about how digital technology is influencing the world more and more.

“Mobile entertainment in the number one use of mobile phones in India” – Thomas Spiller, Vice President, Global Public Policy EMEA, Walt Disney Company

He also said the fastest growing digital movie industry is in Nigeria, “Nollywood”.

Michael Bartholomew from the Center for Social Responsibility in the Digital Age,  talked about content positioning and how we needed a global content positioning system for digital media so that the youth don’t can’t get their hands on content  meant for mature people.

Yasser Elshayeb, Director of Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Egypt,  then went on to talk about how digital media can help perserve and recreate our history. Using 3D technology to digitally restore ancient artifacts, using digital media to revive ancient folklore and other techniques to make digital media to make our history available to the public. “We can reconstruct history with Digital technology”, according to  Elshayeb.

James M. Fraser, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Highlands and Islands, talked about how digital media can be used for education. Evolving on distance education by using digital media to even get that face-to-face value of education from a distance. They’re even able to educate in professions like dentistry from a distance using digital technology.

Julia Gidden talked about how Government needs to be at the front of digital media. They should use digital media to evolve public service, use things like 3D models to show new shopping centers, show traffic jams, use apps to easier communicate with the public and so forth.

“Our government needs to keep pace with the change that is happening with digital technology” – Julia Gidden

In conclusion the session was v new ways digital technology can be used and how it needs to be intergrated with society.

“We’re still in the digital middle ages” Alfredo Ronchi, General Secretary, MEDICI Framework of Cooperation