A Smarter Future

Today, everything aspires to be smart: from the ubiquitous—the smartphone in your hand—to sometimes the ridiculous (Google Glass, Fitbit for dogs, Lily the selfie drone). But, if we want our future to be smarter, we need to start thinking beyond "smart for smart's sake" now.

Cities are complex ecosystems that must be run efficiently to function well—and they are growing fast. According to the United Nations, by 2050 the number of urban residents will reach 6.2 billion, 66% of the projected global population.

A shining example of how a private-sector partner can illuminate future urban development in collaboration with local leaders took place in Sweden's fourth largest city at the start of 2015.

Luca de Meo is a respected automotive industry player. He has twenty-five years’ experience working for Renault, Toyota, Fiat and, since 2009, the Volkswagen Group before taking the helm at SEAT last year.

In August 2016, just as the Renault-Nissan Alliance surpassed 100,000 annual sales of its EVs, Renault sold its 100,000th EV to a customer in Norway. The car, fittingly enough, was a Renault ZOE, the best-selling EV in Europe.

Encompassing eight global automobile brands, the Renault-Nissan Alliance was established in 1999 and last year sold 8.5 million units, one in 10 new cars worldwide.

In the next decade, the auto industry will undergo greater change than it has witnessed over the last century. Electrification, digitization, connectivity and mobility will all define personal transportation in the future.

Since the advent of online banking and digital retailers such as Amazon and eBay, you can now get almost anything you can think of delivered to wherever you are with just a click.

We are all consumers. Consumption is what our economies are built upon. At the most basic level, A produces something and B buys it.