The Power of Innovation and Collaboration with Michael Healy and Grace de Leon from Smart Christchurch

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Smart Community podcast. In this episode I have a great conversation with Michael Healy and Grace de Leon from Smart Christchurch, in New Zealand. You might remember Michael as he has been on the podcast before, Episode 244 in 2021. Michael and Grace tell us about their backgrounds, and the biggest changes they’ve seen in the Smart Community space over the last 6 years including the shift from technology-first to community-first approaches. We discuss the maturing of the Smart Community conversation towards more collaborative and out-comes focused work, and the natural progression from buzz words and pilots to substance and getting a return on investment for Smart initiatives. 

Michael and Grace tells us about a couple of projects Smart Christchurch has been working on, including a fire detection network and a Smart View Data Sharing platform. We then talk about the Innovation Expo happening in Christchurch on the 10th and 11th of September 2023. I’m excited to be emceeing the event and can’t wait to be involved because they have some really interesting opportunities for engaging community and young people, not just the usual Smart City types. 

We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends and what we’d like to see next in the space, from eSports to Smart Regions. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Connect with Grace and Michael on LinkedIn

Find out more about the Innovation Expo via the website Innovationexpo.nz 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

Podcast Production by Perk Digital