Shown above is an artist’s concept of a smart city of LH, South Korea’s state-owned corporation. The country’s Bloom Technology and US AI company Kontur agreed to cooperate to use the former’s blockchain technology in building smart cities. Photo courtesy of LH

Kontur and Bloom Technology join hands

US artificial intelligence company Kontur has decided to cooperate with Korea’s Bloom Technology in its all forthcoming smart city projects, according to Bloom on April 22.

A smart city refers to is a technologically advanced urban area where data collection and services management are important to improve operations across the city.

A host of countries have put forth efforts to build smart cities. For example, Korea is running various pilot projects in several places, including Seoul, Incheon, Sejong and Busan.

Such places as Singapore, Dubai, and Barcelona also have put forth efforts to build smart cities by embracing advanced technologies like the internet of things, big data, and advanced urban mobility.

Under the contract between Kontur and Bloom, the former has agreed to adopt the latter’s Locus Chain as its blockchain partner for all AI data solutions currently in service.

Kontur has developed a mapping and geospatial data solution applied to smart cities. It also provides AI data analysis and prediction solutions in response to natural disasters.

The company is offering its technology to Pacific Disaster Center, which analyzes and predicts catastrophes for governments and not-for-profit organizations across the world.

Bloom has come up with its blockchain network, dubbed Locus Chain, which the firm says is capable of operating on even mobile devices with low computational power.

Kontur CEO Arben Kane hoped that the two-way collaboration would create an unprecedented blockchain ecosystem. He is known as an investor and advisor to several blockchain projects, including IOTA.

“The technology that needs to be applied to the field of the smart city must be a decentralized public blockchain that guarantees the highest scalability and performance, which is very rare to find,” Kane noted in a statement.

“After reviewing several blockchain protocols around the world, I strongly believe Locus Chain is the only solution that is stable and suitable for this project,” he said.

Digital Finance Research Institute chief Moon Young-bae, a top blockchain expert in Korea, expected more and more platforms would depend on decentralized blockchain technology.

“Thus far, most blockchains failed to meet the requirements of enabling fast transactions. Hence, they were not suitable for smart cities where transactions should be settled instantly,” Moon said.

“But efforts are underway to develop fast blockchains, and Locus Chain is one of the leaders. A growing number of corporations and governments would employ fast blockchains,” he said.
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