President Louise is happy to have booked a trip south in September and is trusting that life should be back to normal enough by then to allow for this without too many issues. She is also happy that her daughter now has a home with a pool and some family gatherings can take place there.
Gary Parker is happy to be back at the cottage for the first time since last November.
Lew Ford is pleased and relieved that he has now finished Part 2 of the ZOOM training he is doing with local seniors.
Paul Rostrup was delighted that with the Stay-At-Home Order lifted he and wife Paula were able to travel to Toronto on the weekend to see their granddaughter and were amazed at how much she had changed since they last saw in person. Paul also let it be known that, originally from Montreal, he is still a Habs fan but fell short of gloating.
Rohit Kumar is happy to be a part of an organization that respects and encourages members to voice their own opinions.
Erin Way was happy to have celebrated her first wedding anniversary on the weekend and that they were able to do so with two close friends.
President-Elect Adrian reminded all committee chairs to join him on Tuesday, July 8 at 4pm to collectively work on identifying measurable goals that will support our new strategic plan!
If you haven't done so already, please ensure you let Adrian know on which committees you wish to serve for the next Rotary year. Participation and engagement is key in ensuring a strong and healthy membership. He also reminded members that our Turnover meeting is scheduled for July5 and that our meeting on July 12 will be a kick off to our 100th Anniversary Celebrations.
President Louise let members know that on June 21 our guest presenters will be Dianne Wiles and Tony Dennison from Leadership Waterloo Region and we will be exploring ways in which the two organizations may form a partnership and work collaboratively on some initiatives.
With patio weather now here and the promise of the easing of the pandemic restrictions, a summer barbeque dine-a-round has been scheduled for July 24 – stay tune for more details.
Only 14 cards left to choose from and the Jackpot is over $37,000. Deadline is Wednesday June 9th at 11:59 for this weeks draw.
Our guest speaker today was Joel Semeniuk presenting on the topic of The Future of Cities. Joel was introduced by Rohit Kumar.
Joel Semeniuk is the Vice President of Corporate Growth and Innovation at Communitech focused on helping large organizations use ecosystems of innovation to thrive. Author of four books, Joel has spent the last 25 years creating and growing tech-based ventures as well as launching innovation accelerators in Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, the UK and the Vatican in Rome. Joel was also the founder of Imaginet Ventures, one of Canada’s first enterprise-backed Venture Studios in 2009 and helped to launch several successful tech-ventures in transportation, healthcare, collaboration, and tech-platforms.
Communitech is a member-based innovation hub whose work supports companies of all sizes from early startups to large global brands. To date they have helped 667 startups, 225 scale-ups and have worked with187 enterprises. They network with 29 similar innovation hubs across the country.
Part of the work of Communitech is the realization that technology is advancing at a rapid pace and it is hard to predict what could/will happen next. At a recent technology seminar Dave Johnston, the former Governor General of Canada said “Our challenge as Canadians, then is to create a culture in which everyone assumes the obligation to innovate for good” with a clkear emphasis on the last three words.
Communitech is working on a number of The Future of . . . projects such as The Future of Cities, The Future of Health, and The Future of Retail. Where they are looking to utilize new and emerging technologies to ensure that innovation for good does, indeed happen.
Focusing on The Future of Cities were we asked to do some imagining.
Imagine living in city that . . .
Is sustainable – in every way - energy, industry, food production, and where all individuals live sustainably.
Has much cleaner streets and air – through prevention not reaction.
Is efficient to get around for everyone – regardless of age, class or mobility issues.
Has much lower crime and higher public safety – not through greater policing or enforcement but because of greater equality and opportunities for all.
Joel then provide a few examples of some cities that are working towards these goals.
Singapore
Focus on Citizen Livelihood
- Digital Government / Open data from 50 government agencies, one stop digital government platform
Focus on Smart Healthcare
- Rehabilitation centres, use of wearables that enable remote rehabilitation
New York
Focus on Public Services Efficiencies
- Smart Transportation – Dynamically monitors city traffic, improved traffic congestion in real time
- Smart Sewage – Digital monitors under manhole covers, improves operation and disaster response
London
Focus on Digital Cities and Smart Environment
- Virtual City (Digital Twin) – Simulates 45,000 buildings, identifies green infrastructure investments with crime maps and schedule optimization
- Smart Environment – Real time air quality. Smart Electric Meters. Digital recycle bins
Communitech Future Cities Project – How it Works
Asking the question “How might we come together to improve life in our region with transformational technologies, such as 5G”. They bring together the Private, Municipal, and Academic sectors to. . .
Find Partners
- Started with Rogers and City of waterloo, both have a focus on impact 5G and Cities. Build gravity around this broad area
Find Problems
- Series of Communitech facilitated workshops, Zero in on a problem statement
- How might we leverage 5G and advanced technologies to improve transportation safety and efficiency for residents of cities while reducing operating costs and environmental impact
Find Solutions
- Engage ecosystem / partners for solutions What are the approaches that could help How do we evaluate what works and what doesn’t
- Test and learn., a lot of trial and error
Share and Celebrate
- Amplify learning
- Build on next challenge
- Celebrate with the ecosystem
