Submitted by Angela Walters on Fri, 18/05/2018 - 09:53
In this month’s guest blog Dr Jacqui Taylor, CEO and co-founder of FlyingBinary, a company recognised as one of the 20 global Internet of Things (IoT) companies building capacity for Society 5.0 in 2018, articulates how a digital built Britain can deliver Society 5.0 for the UK.
As I write this blog, it marks the ninth anniversary of the formation of FlyingBinary, which was initially focused on delivering cloud services to bring regulatory change to the European banking industry. Fast forward to 2017 where our technology was implemented in the Bank of England to prepare the landscape change needed by a Central Bank to operate in an increasingly online banking world.
The year 2017 also provided a landmark for me as I began working towards the challenge of articulating the next opportunity the construction industry has beyond BIM L2. The mandating of BIM L2 in 2016 has clearly created initial capacity in the construction sector, and for UK public procurement to understand the value of data as part of the delivery of an asset. This journey has been similar to the journey that central government has undergone as it has procured IT as part of a Cloud-first policy. FlyingBinary has been awarded all nine G-Cloud frameworks and has delivered our 24 cloud services to meet the digital transformation needs of the UK via this cloud industry leading framework.
G-Cloud 9 in 2017 marked a fundamental change as we re-engineered our cloud services to transition the UK from the existing digital capability approach to a capacity approach for the IoT. A key reason for this change is our international work in the Smart City domain, particularly in Asia, where Industry 4.0, the term used to represent the next phase in the digitisation of the manufacturing industry, is not the focus, and instead Society 5.0, the expression chosen by the Japanese government to capture its vision for a super-smart information society, is the key.
IoT only operates using cloud services, however, in Europe that needs to be on the basis of our new regulatory and legislative approach, which includes the mandating of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25 May 2018 and the Security of Network Information Systems (NIS) Directive, the new European Cyber legislation that came into force on 10 May. Nowhere else in the world had considered that this was a huge opportunity to use the regulation and legislation to underpin Society 5.0.
As technical author of PAS 183, a British standard that articulates the new governance approach to privacy in our smart cities, developed with support of the BIM community and 150 UK smart cities, I articulated a GDPR shared data agenda for all the data and services in the UK smart cities. The companion British Standard PAS 185, which was commissioned by the Centre of Protection of National Infrastructure and who provided the technical authors for its development, articulates the new governance approach to security-mindedness for smart cities. UK cities were the first sector in Europe with specific guidance to adopt the GDPR Privacy by Design principles and a security-minded approach, “baking in” the foundations for Society 5.0 and articulating the ambition for a digital built Britain. Most of our UK infrastructure is already built, so a Society 5.0 approach must specifically address citizen outcomes using an adaptive or retrofit model.
It is vital to understand how to manage the asset base more effectively using IoT and other technologies to improve outcomes for the population of the UK as a whole, and specifically addressing productivity issues and key challenge areas such as energy and health. CDBB represents a real opportunity for the UK to build on its leadership role created by BIM L2, by delivering the thought leadership that makes a global circular economy a reality. I’m delighted to be a part of delivering the transformation that a digital built Britain will bring.
Contact: Jacqui Taylor