The COVID-19 pandemic, despite the damage it has brought upon the world, has inspired a wave of digital transformation and reinforced technology’s role in the future of cities. Cities are getting smarter thanks to enormous growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI-powered processing of the huge datasets generated by running and monitoring urban centers. A world where smart cities are dominant is not too far-fetched with the acceleration of AI and IoT.

 

In a brief pre-event interview with Mr. Prasanna Venkatesh Jayaprakash, the Innovation Head at HCL Technologies in Saudi Arabia, Wow AI had the opportunity to hear about how AI and IoT are fueling the smart city realization as well as how the Middle East is adopting the new technologies.

 

Read on for the highlights of our conversation.

 

Watch the whole interview here. 

 

 

As a passionate technologist for the last two decades, Prasanna Venkatesh Jayaprakash worked on building innovations in the field of AI, Mobility, Cloud, and IoT areas. He was the founding member of the insurance innovation lab at HCL and help run the Sas mobile initiative for the Ministry of Communication and IT of Oman. Having obtained a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and doing a Ph.D. in AI at the moment, Prasanna currently heads the HCL-ATSS Wave4IOT lab in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

 

In the upcoming Worldwide AI Webinar, he will talk about AI and IoT in Smart Cities.

 

 

According to Prasanna, HCL Technologies has built an IoT lab in Saudi Arabia, which predominantly focuses on all the latest technology in terms of IoT and the digital transformation technologies to help companies transform their digital offering. 

 

One of the reasons behind that decision is because the company has seen a lot of change in technology and AI has proven to have a big impact. Prasanna Venkatesh, as part of that whole ecosystem, is particularly passionate about working towards helping to transform the world.

 

In the development process of smart cities, AI and IoT have played an important role, especially in their architecture and technology. Going forward, it’s exciting to see what kind of technologies will influence smart cities’ infrastructure and how AI and IoT will continue transforming smart cities all around the world in the next decade. 

 

Based on one of the recent reports he read, Prasanna shared that Saudi Arabia has been reported to have the fastest development, surpassing that of China in the next decade. Smart city initiatives, being powered by AI and IoT, are also taking the region by storm. 

 

As a result, it’s only natural that HCL Technologies is investing in AI and IoT-enabled smart cities and focusing on digital transformation in Saudi Arabia.

 

In the future, HCL is going to invest in research and development, believing that “those who are investing in R&D in the next 5 to 10 years are going to rule the world in the technology space.” 

 

Catch Prasanna Venkatesh Jayaprakash’s presentation on AI and IoT in smart cities on September 29-30 at our Worldwide AI Webinar 2022.

 

Don’t forget to check out the whole interview here.