PATHBREAKING GLOBAL BRANDING FROM SMART TO AI

Social networks are a great way to connect and communicate with people around the world. A sample is this presentation, out of the work that I was then doing at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, jointly with a team from Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (COIT). 

The presentation was pathbreaking 

Because it allowed to engage in conversations with very interesting people abroad, from developers to Ministers. For instance, people I did not expect wrote me; this included the minister of innovation in Taiwan, developers and journalists in Malaysia, researchers in Japan, researchers in Fudan university and Shenzhen (China), and middle size cities and the press in Spain, or the Fundación para la Innovación Bankinter and their program on cities hold in Sintra, with a very interesting group of global and Iberian participans, producing the report Disruptive Cities.

This presentation was also pathbreaking

It allowed me, my team and COIT to make an impact through specific local, national and international roadshows. Spain was known as a case of interest, through the cases shown. This research work had the power to change a rhetoric of crisis, and turn it into the strengths, speaking of Spanish firms and local governments aiming at becoming either global players or playing a role in the XXI century. Ones did it for the good of shattered citizens by the 2008 crisis, other did it for shattered workers and firm survival.

My international roadshows covered Poland, Lisbon, Shanghai, Barcelona, cities in China, Japan, the Netherlands and the Middle East. Most importantly, the work was done talking about innovative firms and local cities in Spain, in a comparative perspective with other 11 cities of the world from three different continents. 

This was made possible with the collaboration of Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación and Accenture Spain, enthusiasts of the project. It also helped the fact that I had been able to collaborate in the first work on smart cities produced in Spain, a great prospective work, edited by Fundación Telefónica.

And yes, I do highly recommend social media to reach global audiences for branding purposes 

How efective it might be? We may check how many leads receive a sister post I made for LinkedIn here. In fact, branding for global audiences is a subject I have covered in some of my most innovative courses at universities and business schools with young students and junior researchers. 

A book published in 2015 was source to other more recent works 

It opened me the door to joint the The Smart Cities and Smart Governments Research-Practice Consortium (SCSG) at Albany University, New York. The SCSG is a robust global smart cities research community that focuses on innovations in technology, management, and policy that change the fabric of the world’s cities. There, under the lead of Prof. Theresa Pardo and other great scholars such as Mila Gascó, an also path breaking book has been produced: "Smart Cities and Smart Governance: Towards the 22nd Century Sustainable City." Professors Elsa Estevez, Theresa A. Pardo and Hans Jochen Scholl have been the editors. And I highly recommend this work. The The Smart Cities and Smart Governments Research-Practice Consortium:

• Formally connects those engaged in cutting-edge research on smart cities
• Supports the development of a connected smart cities research community
• Creates a foundation for interdisciplinary and multi-national research teams
• Provides a network to support knowledge sharing

Work on China and the Mediterranean basin

This work on smart cities has been completed with field research on cities in China mainland, and with  recent publication in a A+ journal. 

1. The work done on China is yet pending of written and video-photo edition. 
2. However, it has had follow up collaborations with colleagues at Universidad Complutense School of Politics, were we have researched and published on measures adopted by Mediterranean and Portuguese coastal cities to face climate change -- together with Profs. Xira Ruiz-Campillo and y Cristina García Fernández and working for Profs. Walter Leal Filho and Evangelos Manolas.
3. Under the aegis of ICCA, we worked on a special congress in November 2022, where I chair COVID and postcovid: energía, medioambiente, sostenibilidad y tecnología. Contributions from scientists, young researchers, institutions and firms are actively encouraged, so as to build bridges among research and positive impacts on society.

And you may think how this all come about to write this post...

This all came over a conversation with my colleague, a journalist with a strong skill communication and engaging in grounded and compelling projects: with a breath of understanding about how the world today moves and works. I also shall say that people, women associations and firms I worked for where very important to develop the skills I have as global communicator. Thank you, Ana for you trust, Javier for your training, and Pascale for your mentoring.

An evolution of the presentation: Gil Zheng Smart Shanghai, en Olga Gil, PhD