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Challenges,
Opportunities
and Risks for a
Smart Future
Internet of Things,
Mobility and Smart City
Authors:
Diana Beata Krüger
Katharina v. Sohlern
Felix M. Wieduwilt
Curated by
Harald Neidhardt
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

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IMPRINT
PUBLISHER
MLOVE ConFestival UG
Am Int. Seegerichtshof 20
22609 Hamburg
CEO & Curator:
Harald Neidhardt
harald@mlove.com
+49 160 94477555
mlove.com
AUTHORS
VISITOR FIRST
Diana Beata Krüger
Katharina v. Sohlern
Felix M. Widuwilt
mail@visitorfirst.com
+49 40 6485 7591
visitorfirst.com
ARTWORK
Henning Neidhardt
les amis design
COPYRIGHT
This study is intellectual
property of VISITOR FIRST,
represented by Diana Beata
Krüger, Katharina v. Sohlern, and
Felix M. Wieduwilt and curated
by MLOVE ConFestival UG,
represented by Harald Neidhardt
PHOTO CREDITS
Commercial license from
istock.com
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SMART TECHNOLOGY & CITY
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY
SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL
RÉSUMÉ
PROSPECT
ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
ABOUT MLOVE
ABOUT VISITOR FIRST

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INTRODUCTION
We live in times that are as exciting as unsure at once. For many
it is the most stunning and promising era in human society and
for others it is a scary derangement of the old world. To find a
path which leads us into a great future we created a comprehen-
sive study to get insights about possible ways and hypotheses.
MLOVE and VISITOR FIRST plan to expand their initial
scoping research on the relations between people and future
technologies of Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart
Cities. It considers important questions such as the conse-
quences of bringing cutting edge technology into everyday life
and the hopes, visions and fears tied to this process. The social
frameworks that produce these technologies will also be analy-
zed.
MLOVE is a global community that brings together CEOs, CMOs,
innovators and startup entrepreneurs from across multiple disci-
plines to share, learn and inspire ideas with an array of scientists,
artists and other pioneers.
In VISITOR FIRST, MLOVE found a partner with several years
of experience in the field of ethnographic research and holistic
research designs within a business context.
INTRODUCTION
“Our future is accelerating at an unprecedented speed.
While society embraces digital innovation & smart
technologies, we have to make sure to reflect upon its
opportunities, challenges, ethics and a vision to advan-
ce humankind in a meaningful way.”
Harald Neidhardt,
CEO & Curator, MLOVE

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“So I think my perception of a smart city will
be a city that can learn from its inhabitants
and can do something with the data. Not just
learn from it but actually help create a diffe-
rent environment.”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For the study, VISITOR FIRST designed a special research
model based on the method of ethnographic research. This
social research method relies on in-depth interviews, participant
observation and associative procedures. The first interviews are
conducted with experts participating at the MLOVE ConFestival
2015 in Hamburg and are documented on video.
In total, 12 experts from the fields of Smart Cities, Mobility,
Governance and IoT were interviewed on camera, four of them
female and eight male. The age span ranged between 26 - 60
years. The video documentation contains 22 hours of in depth
interviews. Data was gathered in the following topics:
1. SMART TECH & SMART CITY
2. SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY
3. SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL
The first key findings of the study are presented to you as part
of the MLOVE FutureCity Campus and will lay the foundation
of a broader research program. The following text presents an
overview of the collected data.

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SMART TECHNOLOGY & SMART CITY

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SMART TECHNOLOGY & SMART CITY
SMART TECHNOLOGY & SMART CITY
The key question in this part of the study was how these two
concepts are defined and put in relation to each other.
SMART TECHNOLOGIES
We found two concepts of Smart Technologies to be prevailing.
The first concept follows a technical approach: Smart
technologies are considered to be an advanced holistic system,
which is supposed to be perfectly functioning. By sensing the
surroundings and gathering data, they are able to react to and
modify changing environments.
The second concept puts a focus on the relation between
humans and technology. Smart Technologies are seen as tools
with the potential to free humans from tasks and provide time
to focus on other aspects of human life, such as creativity and
passions. On an individual level, it is seen as a means to support
a more sustainable lifestyle:
On macro level, it can potentially help to create a more integra-
tive society by e.g. providing tools for global communication or
devices to support challenged people with disabilities. A point
stressed by many participants is that technology should not
replace humans but expand their scope for action.
“Technology that makes our ordinary life easier. We
don’t have to think about how we are using water or
light because it’s already there. It helps us in our daily
life to be a better person.”

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SMART CITY
Our findings highlight two aspects of Smart Cities.
One aspect emphasizes the technical functioning: by
adding sensors to objects and elements of the city it is possible to
gather big amounts of data about the behavior of its citizens. By
evaluating and connecting the data, solutions can be found to
optimize life:
This urban landscape is considered to be more efficient in
ordertoprovidebetteraccesstoe.g.information,communication,
participation and in general to a more sustainable lifestyle.
“So I think my perception of a smart city will be a
city that can learn from its inhabitants and can do
something with the data. Not just learn from it but
actually help create a different environment.”
SMART TECHNOLOGY & SMART CITY

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In addition, the majority of the respondents felt that the focus
should be on the citizens and not on the technical side:
A smart citizen is considered to connect their life to the resources
and services of the city and to use them in a smart way. Many
participants think that the implementation of measures that
lead the city to become a smart city has to be introduced and
developed by the citizens in order to be accepted:
Few stated that the process has to be introduced top-down by the
administration.
The majority of the respondents see Smart Technologies as one
of the key factors to create Smart Cities. One position pointed
out, that smart cities are not necessarily dependent on new
technologies. The quality or advancement of technology
must not be confused with its application or effectiveness.
A Smart City is therefore an integrated city with good communi-
cation between citizens, public and the private sector.
“We don‘t need technologies beyond those that we
have now, to create very, very smart cities that are
socially and culturally integrated with existing social
media and professional networking platforms.”
“Smart city really is about the people, not so much
about its transistors.”
“If you want the technology to be accepted by the citi-
zens, it has to be designed by the citizens, otherwise they
would be sceptical about it.”
SMART TECHNOLOGY & SMART CITY

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SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY
This part of the study considers the challenges, opportunities and
risks of a smart future for society. The influences of developments
in the fields of Mobility, Smart Technologies and IoT become
evident in the following subcategories.
ENVIRONMENT
Our respondents observed that an interest in environmental
issues and sustainability becomes increasingly compulsory and
natural for citizens. Technology is seen as a potential means to
decrease negative effects of climate change. At the same time,
there is a strong consciousness of future fundamental shifts due
to the rapidly changing environment caused by an overall use of
technology.
“As technologies accelerate, the way the world is
changing, the risks to the environments, and to our
status quo of lives accelerates, all those things create
fundamentally more instability in terms of how
governments work, how societies work, how
cultures develop.”
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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CULTURE
Smart technology is considered useful during the daily usage.
The overall connectivity at any time is perceived as practical, but
also as negative. We observed a longing for times of freedom
and serendipity that are not driven by the maxim of smart
technologies, which is perceived as rational and efficient.
The majority of the respondents prefers to be disconnected from
time to time e.g. during weekends.
Technologies are also perceived to give a false sense of
connectivity and lead to a loss of social competence and
the quality of real human communication and interactions.
Another concern is to be manipulated and controlled by tech-
nology. Moreover, participants were worried about privacy.
The constant measuring, localization and verifiability of
human behavior are seen as restriction of freedom for the
individual.
“I think we need to draw a line there. The human
mind needs to understand that technology should help
the individual not make it loose connection to reality.
I don’t want us to become a Matrix – plugged into a
virtual system.”
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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GOVERNMENT
Regarding the development of smart cities, one aspect is the
government’s responsibility for handling data and privacy
guidelines. Respondents were concerned that in the case of
misuse, people will create parallel non-digital systems, which
might lead to a retreat into the “analog” sphere. Governments are
challenged to include their citizens in a real democratic decisi-
on-making process to provide transparency. One critical aspect
mentioned was the observed shift of power from states to
private corporations; therefore, governmental regulations have
to be strictly mandatory. This leads to a question, which has not
been answered yet by our respondents: how will technologies
accelerate or influence the social justice issues in a positive
or negative way?
Another critical aspect is the pace of technological development,
which is much faster than the adaptability and agency of
governments. This might lead to conflicts in the area of law and
society. The highest risk is seen in the dependency on electric
power of smart technologies and cities, as well as their likelihood
to get attacked.
“All of these (smart technologies) fundamentally can
have a positive impact – they are things that enhan-
ce the human experience. How they are implemented
and how they are used, determines if they could also
be used in negative ways in terms of creating more
exaggerated social injustice situations.”
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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BODY & HEALTH
Our respondents reported that by getting smaller devices,
technologies will be integrated in material and the human body.
Wearables are seen as the frontier to biotech and give people an
extra layer of intelligence by using them. Concerns were stated
about whether these technologies, if they are not used in the
medical field, are actually useful or necessary. Collected data
about body functions by e.g. wearables is not necessarily seen
as the ultimate enhancement to control the body but rather as
annoying:
Big hopes are tied to the field of bacteria biotech and its use in
medicine.
“I think people don’t really need this technology if you
already have the better life. Maybe it can also make
people angry when they see the data of not being
healthy and it can put more pressure on to you. It can
make your life even more stressful when you look at
the data constantly.”
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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WORK
For the future of work, a big challenge is seen due to the
process of informalization. New technological developments,
such as mobile tech, that make physical presence in an office
obsolete, or the replacement of human workforce by
machines lead to the necessity to rethink and redefine the
concept of work. One respondent even considers the concept
of employment as a 20th century idea. Another concern is
that the competition between humans and machines about
work will lead to unemployment and ultimately a higher rate
of suicides, especially amongst the elderly struggling to adapt.
SMART FUTURE & SOCIETY

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SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL

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SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL
This part of the study focuses on the challenges, opportunities
and risks of a smart future on an individual level.
We found a strong interest in human centric approaches and
technologies that are developed with a focus on human behavior.
In order to design a better future, a set of values has to be added
to technological developments, especially in the field of artificial
intelligence.
Several of the respondents see a high potential of technologies
contributing to important improvements, like the development
of a more tolerant and integrated society or solutions to
environmental problems:
“Shared values are agreed values by the whole
thinking world. The most important value is life itself
which must be protected; the person is important.”
“Some days, with the amounts of hate in the world,
it’s hard to belief that these things will be used in a
positive manner. On the other hand I think life has
been improving for most of the population of the
world and there is hope. (...) I’m optimistic that we as
a species will become more integrated, communicate
better, appreciate each others cultures and as result
will find ways to move forward in a positive manner.”
SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL

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However, there are also concerns about whether humanity
will be able to keep up with future environmental, social and
political challenges:
Other points of critique are the lack of a neutral discourse about
those topics in current society and the problem of a perceived
digital analphabetism.
Also, it is called into question whether the government or
administration will be able to keep up with the pace of technical
development and innovation and implement the necessary chan-
ges in the legislation and organization of society.
“We fucked up super fast the world but we haven’t
been in such a place in history to unfuck it superfast
either.”
“We are just part of a universe what we barely under-
stand. It’s surely changing and we have no idea how
it’s changing. We have a lot to catch up. We have so
many problems on earth to deal with in society I don’t
know if we will have this kind of revolution (living on
other planets) to be able to pattern the universe.”
“Maybe we are making the world a little bit better
with all the smart gadgets and all and urban living
but I think we do that because we have to change so-
mething but we will never be a species that is caring
for other things. We just care for us.”
“We don’t know what future is, futurists don’t agree
and the economists don’t agree, so the only thing
there is to do is to experiment a lot (...) and have some
sense of ethics about how you’re designing things.”
SMART FUTURE & THE INDIVIDUAL
“The biggest challenge, however, is for individuals and
society to design their future responsibly.”

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RÉSUMÉ
The impact of future technological developments on society is
perceived as highly ambiguous by our respondents. The overall
predicted digitalization in “Smart Cities” is supposed to bring a
more efficient practice to the communal life on every level. Smart
technologies are thereby mostly seen as tools to cater the
needs of the citizens. In order to be accepted by the citizens,
the city has to be designed human centered.
Huge uncertainties are being expressed about the impact of
future technological developments on society. On the one
hand, there is a potential of finding solutions to global
problems such as climate change, diseases or poverty. But the
respondents are also aware of potential risks amplified by
technologies which could lead to dependency, misuse and more
social injustice. There are huge concerns about the place of the
human in a society which is more and more shaped and
influenced by machines and A.I.. In order to keep control of
such developments, it is necessary to design technologies with
human values and create systems of control and regulation
on a national and global level.
On the individual level, technologies are perceived as useful and
a possible support to lead a healthier and more sustainable
lifestyle. Smart technologies, such as smartphones and laptops,
are highly valued especially in the field of communications. At
the same time, their influence on (consumer) choices and on the
quality of human interaction is called into question. Ultimately,
the feeling of being connected all the time is perceived as a
lack of freedom.
RÉSUMÉ

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PROSPECT
This expose is a foundation to showcase the complexity and
profundity of an unsure smart future. Further studies will go
deeper in the field of Smart Future to research in areas like
media, mobility, health, biotech, finance, and AI. More
detailed studies combined with the foundation of this paper
will bring a comprehensive prospect on upcoming technological
developments in different fields. For more information please
contact us and we are pleased to help you.
PROSPECT

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ABOUT APPLIED ETHNOGRAPIC RESEARCH
The method of ethnography was pioneered in the social and
cultural branches of anthropology. It is designed to explore and
describe human cultures from the point of view of the subject
of the study. Thereby, it helps to gain a deep insight into the
systems of meaning and patterns of behavior of the socie-
ty in focus. The combination of (participant) observation and
in-depth interviews allows discovering tacit knowledge and
(hidden) needs. This is a great advantage over quantitative
methods, which often times lack the sensitivity to measure these
factors.
The typical ethnography is a holistic study and so it also includes
important aspects such as the social and political context, historic
facts and other quantitative data. Unlike traditional market rese-
arches, which focus on specific and highly practical questions,
anthropological researchers visit consumers in their homes or
offices to observe and listen in a nondirected way. The goal is
to see and understand people’s behavior on their terms. This
empirical and inductive approach often times leads to different
outcomes than expected at the beginning of the study.
All this makes ethnography the perfect method to discover the
unknown and reveal unexpected insights – and an interesting
tool for companies and organizations working with a customer-
centric approach. It can help to identify customer needs that
have yet to be met and test market demand for products that
do not exist. It provides a holistic view of a problem space and
exposes opportunities for competitive differentiation. It enables
companies to understand the human in terms of cultural trends,
lifestyle factors, attitudes and how social context influences pro-
duct selection and usage. Therefore, it allows to create an experi-
ence, that is fully satisfying the needs of the customer.
ABOUT

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ABOUT MLOVE
MLOVE is a global community that shares a passion to drive the
future of Mobility, Internet of Things and Smart Cities.
Since 2010, MLOVE is creating inspiring event experiences like
at a 400-year-old castle North of Hamburg, Germany, or at
amazing locations in Silicon Valley or Barcelona. MLOVE
SalonsareorganizedlocallyinvariouscitieslikeSingapore,Tokyo,
Vienna, Dublin, London and Austin.
MLOVE events bring together CEOs, CMOs, innovators and
startup entrepreneurs from across multiple disciplines to share,
learn and cross-pollinate ideas with an array of scientists, artists
and other thought leaders.
The events are designed to maximize the opportunity of sharing
life-changing services and applications that can impact us all
for the better. An important part of the events are creative
collisions, provocative insights and some part of an collaborative
un-conference.
www.mlove.com
ABOUT

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ABOUT VISITOR FIRST
VISITOR FIRST is a consultancy for visitor experiences. We
consult enterprises, startups and the public sector on how to
optimize products, brands and experiences. As experts for
qualitative research we define hopes, worries, expectations, and
dreams to localize and evaluate the visitors problems and needs
in daily life, which leads back to a better product and service. We
always ask why people do how they do. Henceforth, we can easily
spot the real matter: the human being.
www.visitorfirst.com
ABOUT

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