Key to progress in smart technology, according to Digital Jersey’s chief executive, Tony Moretta, is the data and so his organisation is putting the data together into a number of data sets which will enable informed decisions to be made about a Smart City or Island.
‘We are starting to build a data programme together with partners which will provide us with a good backbone for the development of a Smart Island,’ Mr Moretta said.
Creating an Island where everything is connected to the internet and there is an island-wide technology road map, will therefore not be as big a technological challenge as going to the moon, and perhaps all that is lacking is the vision.
Through Digital Jersey initiatives, the Island has already developed a digital skills strategy and is working on digital health schemes, which perhaps hold the most promise for Jersey. There are also agritech projects to monitor soil characteristics remotely and an outside company is testing 250 real-time air quality sensors around the Island, which includes the schools. Next could come smart traffic, transport electrification and a host of other services and data enabling a Smart Island to run more efficiently.
Jersey already has the advantage of very high internet speeds using JT’s fibre broadband network, which recently helped the Island come third in the world for speed after Taiwan and Singapore which Mr Moretta described as ‘pretty amazing’. Next will come the superfast 5G mobile network which experts at the International Data Group are predicting will link up nearly 42 billion devices through the Internet of Things in 2025.
Digital Jersey is using the advantage of good connectivity to help boost revenue by promoting the ‘sand box’ capabilities of Jersey for major suppliers who want to test their product or service in a
small, controlled island environment before introducing it on a bigger scale. This is providing useful economic benefits as well as providing immediate practical advantages.
However, Jersey has another perhaps even more significant feature which is lacking in most other countries adopting innovative technologies; it has a blank canvas to work on.
The reclaimed land south of La Collette has been talked about for years as the site of a new harbour or the location of an enormous number of other developments. It could help solve the Island’s space problems by providing 34 acres of new land with 600 to 800 new homes, as well as a new efficient port with deeper water.
Reclamation is ongoing so it could be some time before anything is built. However, that is no excuse for simply continuing to talk about it and it is not too early to start planning for a new Smart Port, which will benefit from the latest green technologies. This could all be part of the Smart Island mission, and produce benefits a long time before the first ship plugs in to a new environmentally- friendly berth.
This could produce other, much more immediate benefits as part of a Smart Island. This might simply represent inevitable progress, but Jersey could be in the vanguard if it adopted this mission and benefitted from first-mover status. Huge investment is already going into these new technologies from large corporations in major countries, and Jersey’s small size could be a big advantage. The products and services developed in Jersey as it becomes a Smart Island, will be designed specifically for small islands, which the big corporations largely ignore. That small island approach could mean big business as there are about 40 island states with populations of less than 150,000 and Jersey could be one of the leaders, if it is smart enough.
PAUL MUNDY BUSINESS CONSULTANT
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