Smart infrastructure is already a reality said panelists on “Smart Infrastructure: Building the Future,” a CES discussion moderated by RePure co-founder and president Michael Don Ham. “It’s not the future, it’s now and it is opening up a lot of business models for decarbonization and electrification,” declared Logical Buildings co-founder and chief executive Jeff Hendler. ADT head of multifamily Scé Pike agreed, noting that the possibility of a recession is not to be feared in this context. “Times of recession are the opportunity for true creative destruction when you can build the future,” she suggested.

Telit vice president of product management for IoT modules Marco Argenton stated that, “developing products in the IoT space enables solutions” for the smart infrastructure that is the backbone for smart cities.

At Carnegie Mellon, Metro21 Smart Cities Institute executive director Karen Lightman agreed. “We already have the technology,” she said, revealing that she’s worked on 60+ pilot projects using smart infrastructure.

“People, procurement and policies — which aren’t as progressive — are where it gets complicated.” She added that transparency and edge computing as well as the trust of the community will be needed.

Focusing on privacy, Pike pointed out that most of the $3 trillion real estate industry is owned by very large institutions. “We have to engage with the renters and delete their data if they want you to,” she said, adding that “given the choice, most renters don’t care.”

Argenton described the European perspective on privacy. “We are becoming the custodians of a lot of private personal business information,” he said. “But we have to keep in mind that privacy is important — but security is even more important.”

In response to Ham’s question about technologies the panelists are paying attention to, Hendler identified devices such as smart meters and smart thermostats. “By giving access to the end user, it gives them responsibility to measure and manage their use,” he explained.

Lightman pointed out that accessibility of these devices depends on the locale’s electric company. “Part of the issue is to change laws to incentivize people to use less energy,” she said. Panelists agreed that “having partners and interoperability are important” to be able to build scalability.