Integrating IoT and blockchain critical to solving climate change: Alison Gilliland

Integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) with blockchain technology could play a key role in how we adapt to and mitigate climate change, according to Alison Gilliland, the former Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Gilliland spoke to CoinGeek Backstage host Becky Liggero on the sidelines of the Global IoT Summit held in Dublin, an event that brought together leading minds in the world of technology—from blockchain experts to IoT specialists—including nChain chief scientist Dr. Craig Wright and IPv6 Forum’s Latif Ladid.

Hosting the Summit was a big deal for Dublin since the city prides itself on being an IoT pioneer, Gilliland said. The local government has integrated IoT in several ways and is leveraging the technology to make life better for the residents, she told CoinGeek Backstage.

Today, IoT has become one of the pivotal technologies shaping the world. Experts note that there are about 14 billion interconnected IoT devices today and expect this number to double by 2025. Data collected from all these endpoints can be harnessed in several ways to better understand most of the challenges we face today and chart a better future.

“IoT will be integrated into every aspect of our lives. I also think it will play a huge role in how we adapt to and mitigate climate change because we can really harness it to gather data, work with our citizens to provide evidence-based solutions,” Gilliland commented.

At the event, several speakers took the stage to talk about advancements in IoT, blockchain and beyond. In his keynote speech, Dr. Wright delved into how Bitcoin SV integrates perfectly with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to empower IoT. BSV allows billions of IoT devices to communicate between themselves at a minimal cost in a true peer-to-peer system that has no middlemen, he told the attendees.

Gilliland told CoinGeek Backstage that she was quite impressed by the quality of the presentations at the event from speakers “who are icons in this area.”

Watch: Dr. Craig Wright speech at Global IoT Summit 2022 in Dublin