The Rise of the Cy-Phy Company

Most global industries have been impacted in the last few decades by huge value migrations. It would be hard to put a precise date on when it all started (creative destruction is, after all, a continuous process and the very engine of growth for the capitalistic model). It would be even more difficult to put clear references and well-defined assumptions on the main change agents and drivers of these—digital innovation (a “misnomer” per se) being likely one of the most often cited factors of transformation (transformation being also a “misnomer”). However, it is safe to postulate that the pace of change has been consistently accelerating, with deeper and wider disruptions happening more often and in unexpected ways. The very notion of “tail risk” is now under scrutiny—with so many “black swans” flying around, it is difficult to see the linearity element in all this, not to mention the normality of a distribution that is based on large numbers and predictable casualty. In this context of extreme and accelerated, multi-faceted disruptions, “smart cities” have been ailed and positioned as a good force for change. Hosting more than half of the global population and set to rise further, they have been promising “smarter” ways of doing things—basically, leveraging digital technology to offer better use cases on such utilities such as energy consumption, mobility, and safety. The initial hype linked to large development and urban regeneration programs designed around these use cases has so far fallen short of expectations—with real estate values and the very attractiveness of the city in question failing to capture the value arising from the “smart city” component of these. In answer to this, a number of new technological advances are already being set in place—from 5G (mobile connectivity, with real-time and enhanced, localized hedge computing) to IoT (always charged, smaller, and even implantable) to multi-cloud-based solutions where AI/ML apps are becoming a core part of the software as a service proposition. As a result, the “smart” city is becoming “cyber,” with greater centrality put on the individual and on the specific services he may need, for business or leisure. Digital interaction is augmented by more personalized and real-time feedbacks, with services dynamically adjusting themselves (hence cybernetic).