How to create a smart city? Take a street lighting system that allows public light points to share data about themselves. Thanks to the collected data – using sensors and on-boarding intelligence – the smart lighting system can tell planners where and when people congregate, where they park, how they drive, and much more.

For example, lights can be set to dim automatically when streets are empty in order to save energy, and a park can get a night time light boost to become a perfect spot for an evening stroll.

But connected lighting doesn’t just provide intelligent lights; it can deliver a wide range of non-light-related services as well, like safety.

When an accident occurs deep inside a long tunnel, it can back up traffic throughout a whole region. Plus, it can be especially dangerous when the release of dangerous chemicals is involved.

That’s where smart cities can save lives! Once equipped with sensors, the tunnel becomes smart: it can now alert emergency crews immediately. Plus, it can also alert authorities if a caustic compound has spilled out of a tanker truck, giving emergency crews the chance to respond quickly, safely and appropriately.

Sensor-enabled connected lighting systems in the city at large can also help law enforcement. For example, sensors can pinpoint where gunshots have been fired, and generate instant emergency alerts, giving police a jump on getting to the scene.

Now, imagine your office has been equipped with a connected lighting system. There’s no dedicated workspace, but you immediately find the nearest free desk when arriving in the morning, thanks to a wayfinding system which works through light.

You can then easily find your way to the conference room where your next meeting is. As this meeting reaches the fifty-minute mark, the lights flash: time to wrap-up!

Same concept when you’re hungry: just find your way to your lunch partners using a location-based service.

And the connected lighting system isn’t only good for employees: it makes life for the building's facility manager easier, too.

Thanks to system’s embedded sensors, they can check which areas are underused and shut them down to save energy.

Historical occupancy data can also be used for space optimization: can this room be better used? Can that office welcome more employees? Can the cleaning crew avoid an underused area and focus on the most used ones?

And obviously, smart office lighting platforms make a huge difference to enhance employee’s wellbeing and productivity by using data to optimize light quality and levels.

Smart lighting is also improving the shopper experience, via indoor positioning – a type of indoor GPS – which is very accurate and enabled by visible light communication.

Store managers can optimize layouts by using indoor positioning, which provides traffic patterns and dwell times. This technology also brings the digital and physical experiences closer together, giving real-time discounts to shoppers in the store, and helping them to find their way to their favourite products.

They can also scan their articles gradually and pay at the end without having to show their purchases one by one, which would lead to the elimination of checkout lines and improve customer experience.

Research published last year by Zebra, a firm that builds tracking technology, showed that 70% of 1,700 retail decision-makers in North America surveyed were ready to adopt IoT tech to enhance customer experience.

The verdict seems clear: The IoT is on its way to becoming part of our retail experience – just as it's starting to make our work environments safer and more productive, and our urban spaces more responsive and livable.