A Smart city, semiconductor industry's mega-opportunity

After the personal computer and mobile phone, the major market driver for electronics and semiconductor industry is going to be the smart city. IOT is clearly the path towards that big opportunity. A smart city, kind of enforces smartness in every device or everything which is part of the city. The physical equivalent for the smartness is the semiconductor devices such as processor memory, sensor and other interface chips. In an email interview Sapna Mongia, Head Technical Marketing and Application- Industrial and Power Discrete Group Business, STMicroelectronics India, provides more of a descriptive answers and ST's product solutions for these below questions on Smart city: Q1. Can you define what is smartcity? What are technologies required to turn a normal city into smartcity? Sapna Mongia: Smart City is a domestic, urban, or industrial environment that uses devices and sensors installed in various locations or objects as part of a coherently and cohesively-managed network. In a Smart City, data coming from the various ‘urban’ nodes can be used for efficient energy management, reduced environmental footprint, and improved maintenance ofpublic infrastructure and buildings. Today, the “smart home” will continue to provide access to an ever-increasing range of entertainment, information and communication services. It is also playing a far great...