On Aug. 26, 2019, iChongqing interviewed experts and entrepreneurs from a British delegation. The UK is a country of honor at Smart China Expo 2019, and iChongqing heard insights on smart cities and suggestions for Chongqing`s future development.

Peter Budd, director of Arup and Ultra-MTS

Peter Budd, director of Arup and Ultra-MTS, in charge of the aviation hub design, suggested that British learned a lesson from the industrial revolution in the 1980s. The UK faced challenges of air pollution and sustainability. The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) from his company Ultra-MTS is a transit solution for urban connectivity, which is cost-effective, efficient, and implemented in London Heathrow Airport. PRT is an autonomous, environmentally sustainable electric vehicle. When discussing autonomous driving, Dr. Budd suggested that it can only reduce 5-10% efficiency rate of the road traffic. The installation of unmanned vehicles is not only depending on the technological base but also needs to fit in the lawsuit and culture system to determine if there is an accident, who is responsible. However, Dr. Budd indicated that China might take the lead to unmanned vehicle development faster than other countries because the (Chinese) government aims to motivate technology development.

The topic of the smart city also relates to big data collection and the digitalization of library collection. Calvin Barber, Senior VP & CTO of RELX Group introduced that they just signed a contract with Gaoxin district, Chongqing, and a local Chongqing company for cooperation in the field of traffic big data, relevant to insurance.

Jamie Andrews, director of the Department of Culture and Education at the British Library

Jamie Andrews, director of the Department of Culture and Education at the British Library, expressed his admiration for how Tencent applied the technology with the Palace Museum, and the British Library has signed the Memorandum of Cooperation in order to activate the collection better. In other words, the British Library aims to digitalize more of its collection to share with the world. Cooperation between the British Library and Google and Microsoft to use magnified reality to revivificate Da Vince`s notebook will provide unique and educational experiences for a global audience.

Digitalization and application of technology can help revivification of the library`s collection, and collaboration between the British Library and Chongqing Library will be a beneficial production.