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Las Vegas is reviewing the potential implementation of blockchain, a database technology in which information is decentralized and kept in common.
Michael Lee Sherwood, director of innovation and technology in the city, said that Las Vegas is "exploring with partners to leverage the best applications that will increase productivity and service delivery to our community."
"Look for more to come to Las Vegas and blockchain in 2019," he said this week.
Las Vegas is one of the increasingly numerous "flirting countries with blockchain", which was also the title of a panel of an 'now at CES, where emerging technology experts urged attendees to focus less on how it works and more on what it will mean.
It's "a brilliant and brilliant thing," said Jason Kelley, general manager of blockchain services for IBM, describing it simply as identification of all the nodes of a data supply chain to increase efficiency, verification and transparency.
"The smart cities of the future, the smart governments of the future, will have to move forward and have the blockchain as part of their leadership," said Natalia Olson-Urtecho, co-founder and head of strategy and innovation at the company consulting service The Disruptive Factory.
Blockchain has been presented as an element of smart city innovation, in which the municipalities implement the technology in their infrastructures to improve the daily experiences of the residents, both for mobility, both for environmental or other aspects.
On Wednesday and Thursday, during three separate panels, smart city experts discussed the advantages and obstacles of the movement and concluded that the digitization of urban space was a must in the 21st century.
Las Vegas has entered the fray with its innovation district, which covers a large area of the center and offered as a test environment for public-private partnerships. A six-month pilot program announced this week by AT & T and technology company Ubicquia will create a smart lighting network to reduce energy consumption within the district.
The experts said that access to infrastructure appeals to the private sector and that the adoption of smart cities would require the participation of private stakeholders to make it financially sustainable. Furthermore, municipalities must not ignore traditional infrastructural upgrades, experts said, because they generally act as a structure of technological links.
Those who act first will save most of the money and "differentiate" the market, said Jay Collins, vice president of corporate and investment banking at Citigroup.
Sherwood said Las Vegas is trying to be a leader in new civic technologies, because it "fits the spirit of the community".
