Sensorization: Smart Cities

 SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 

    Benson Chan

    Senior Partner  

    Strategy of Things

Biography: Benson Chan is a co-founder and COO at Strategy of Things, a Silicon Valley-based innovation firm that brings science, breakthrough strategies, and disruptive digital technologies to help cities become smarter, safer, and more responsive, and resilient. He co-developed San Mateo County’s (USA) smart region strategy, created and launched its innovation lab (SMC Labs). In response to COVID-19, Benson has been working to use smart city technology and other innovative technologies to create safe cities. He is currently leading the design and implementation of smart city innovations on a Smart Corridor project in San Mateo County.

    Benson has 25+ years of working with innovative technologies in engineering, operations, and business roles at organizations like NASA, Hughes Space and Communications, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Cisco. His last eight years have been focused on IoT and “smart” technologies. He is also on the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global Cities Team Challenge (GCTC) Wireless, Smart Buildings and Smart Regions superclusters, and the CompTIA IoT industry advisory council. Benson is an industry-recognized expert and thought leader in IoT, smart cities, and innovation management. In September 2020, Benson was recognized as a Top 10 influencer in IIoT/Smart Cities.
Benson holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, an MS in Engineering from Purdue University, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Renil Paramel    

Senior Partner    

Strategy of Things    

Biography: Renil Paramel is a co-founder and CEO at Strategy of Things, a Silicon Valley-based innovation firm that brings science, breakthrough strategies and disruptive digital technologies to help cities become smarter, safer, and more responsive and resilient. Renil is a smart city practitioner and innovation catalyst. He co-developed San Mateo County’s (USA) smart region strategy; created, launched and operated its innovation lab (SMC Labs), built, recruited and managed SMC Labs’ innovation ecosystem. Renil has developed a connected streetlight strategy, offering and services models, and a seven-year roadmap for a regional utility whose service territory spans 200 cities. Renil is also leading a project, funded by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, to identify technology infrastructure gaps that will inform the US federal government where to direct future IoT research resources and investments.

    Renil has over 25 years of experience, including 20 years of professional consulting experience serving clients in Business and IT divisions of various Fortune companies.
Prior to Strategy of Things, Renil was a Vice President with Gartner and worked for both Accenture’s and Deloitte’s IT strategy practices.

    Renil is an active participant in the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global Cities Team Challenge (GCTC) Wireless, Smart Buildings and Smart Regions superclusters, the IEEE Smart Cities (P2784) working group, and the TIA Smart Buildings Working Group. Renil has served as an industry mentor to the US Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In addition, Renil has co-authored and published the GCTC Municipal IoT Network Blueprint and contributed to the “Smart Cities for Dummies” book, and has trained start-up companies for Plug And Play incubator’s smart cities innovation program.

    Renil holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Computers) from the Ram Rao Adik Institute of Technology at the University of Mumbai, and an MBA (Marketing & Systems) from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

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