The future of smart cities for business and local government

Luke Kehoe

Strategic Advisor to Telecoms Unit , Dublin City Council

Luke is a telecoms analyst, consultant and entrepreneur. He is a strategic advisor to a number of companies in the telecoms and tech industries and shares his extensive expertise in fixed and mobile networks, electric mobility and strategy with national and local government through consultancy. He is a regular contributor to the Business Post’s telecoms coverage in Ireland and is a prominent voice in the telecoms industry through his writing. Luke has supported several national and international thought leadership publications in areas such as 5G, IoT, open RAN and edge computing with renowned bodies including the Telecom Infra Project and World Economic Forum.

Dr. Rick Robinson FBCS CITP FRSA AoU

Director and Global Principal for Smart, Connected and Secure Cities and Places , Jacobs

Rick is Director and Global Principal for Smart, Connected and Secure Cities and Places for Jacobs. He advises clients on the role of technology in transforming the built environment – improving places, infrastructure, and services in the interest of communities, business, and the environment. Previously, he has led Smart Cities businesses for Arup and IBM, and was Director of Technology for Amey, where he was responsible for an innovation programme driving advances in digital technology into services and infrastructure used by about 1 in 4 people in the UK every day. Rick spent 8 years as a Non-Executive Director of Innovation Birmingham, the West Midlands leading digital tech campus, is the Chair of the Birmingham Digital City Partnership and a member of the Birmingham Knowledge Quarter Advisory Board. In 2019 he developed the strategy for the Essex / Hertfordshire Digital innovation Zone, a collaboration of 12 Local Authorities and businesses, and in 2012 he founded the Birmingham Smart City Alliance, which has supported 100s of digital innovation projects through collaboration with over 50 city institutions. He is currently leading the development of digital strategies for multi-£billion regional and city developments in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

Dr Christina Yan Zhang

CEO and Founder, The Metaverse Institute

Christina is a metaverse pioneer. She started her master research on the topic in 2006 to develop universities’ international strategies. In 2012, with full scholarship, she completed a PhD in using digital twin in the metaverse to augment the AEC industry.  

Christina is an award-winning business leader with 17 years of experience turning forward-thinking ideas into successful businesses. She was China Director for QS, the world university ranking agency 2013-2020. 

She has sat on 20+ committees for UNESCO, World Bank, Commonwealth, EU, and UK Governments. She is Vice Chair of the UN ITU Metaverse Working Group on Sustainability and Co-chair on Citiverse Task Group. She sits on TechUK’s digital twins board, financial service council, and advisory council for International Science Council.  

She advises UN, governments, investors, corporates to use metaverse, AI for Smart cities, producing the world’s first people centred metaverse strategy Vision 2040. She recently chaired the opening panel for WIPO's summit on IP and Metaverse, addressed UNESCO on metaverse education, UN HLPF on cities.  

Dr. Christina Yan Zhang | LinkedIn

Kirsten Zeller

Strategic Lead in Smart City, Westminster City Council

Kirsten Zeller leads Westminster City Council's Smart City strategic agenda working with the local authority's many services and cross sectoral partners to align problem-led innovation and leverage data to drive value for the City's communities. She joined the council in 2017 as a data analyst generating insights on a wide range of issues including intelligent asset management in highways, licensing policy and the West End's night time economy, as well as championing collaboration with universities.

Prior to her work at the council, Kirsten worked in academia and the voluntary sector in mixed methods research, editorial and campaigns on topics related to urban sustainability. She has an MSc in Smart Cities & Urban Analytics from UCL’s Bartlett, an MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies from SOAS and a bachelors in Social Science from University College Utrecht.

Kirsten Zeller | LinkedIn