NIST Leader Provides Insights on Connected Technologies for Smart Infrastructures at Imagine Nation Executive Leadership Conference 2024

On October 28, 2024, NIST Leader Dr. David Wollman, Deputy Division Chief of NIST’s Smart Connected Systems Division, participated in an invited panel session at the Imagine Nation Executive Leadership Conference (ELC) 2024 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The annual conference is organized by the American Council for Technology-Industrial Advisory Committee (ACT-IAC) and brings together leaders and executives in the government technology community and industry to discuss issues facing government and to present innovative strategies and practical solutions.  The panel session focused on connected technologies for smart infrastructure, and it covered a broad range of topics from automated vehicles and smart factories to security and resilience for critical infrastructures. In addition to Dr. Wollman, panelists included Steven McAndrews (Deputy Chief Information Officer, National Nuclear Security Administration, at the Department of Energy), Brannan Villee (Division Director, Infrastructure Resilience and Security Solutions Division, and Strategic Program Manager, Critical Infrastructure and Resilience Research, at the Science and Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security), and moderator Shamik Basu (Vice President of Strategic Connectivity and IoT, Verizon), and the session was organized by Carmen Zapata, Carolyn Jussaume, and other ACT-IAC volunteers.

After opening remarks by moderator Shamik Basu to frame the discussion in terms of smart cities, sustainability, and the interplay between transportation, buildings, energy, and infrastructure, each panelist gave introductory remarks including describing their agency’s role and contributions.  Dr. Wollman provided his thoughts and insights on how standards and interoperability support the innovation ecosystem, the importance of explicitly considering the role of humans interacting with smart connected systems, and the need for metrics including NIST’s key performance indicators framework for smart cities and communities. In addition, based on his observation that one cannot rely on long-term continuous government support, Wollman gave advice to always develop a “Plan B” home for important activities in the private sector, such as a non-profit or other industry organization, which can continue to support and shepherd initiatives if government support and/or funding is interrupted.

As the session progressed based on moderator questions, Wollman described NIST’s automated vehicle research program and its components, and the importance of collaboration between manufacturers, municipalities, states, and the federal government on topics of data frameworks, standards, interoperability, AV communications, Artificial Intelligence-based cooperative perception, and regulation. With respect to smart factories, Wollman described NIST leadership of an industrial wireless systems performance assessment standard IEEE P3388 to support greater industry use of wireless communications in these complex electromagnetic environments. During the audience question and answer portion of the session, Wollman also discussed trustworthiness of cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things and the need to consider the potential of unmanaged composition or unmaintained/abandoned-in-place technologies for which there may not exist a responsible entity to monitor security and other risks and to maintain and apply updated controls.