Our world now moves so fast that we seldom stop to see just how fa r we have come in just a few years. The latest iP h one 6s,for example, has a dual-core proc e ssor and fit s nicely into your pocket. B y comparison, you would expect to find a technological specification like this on your s tandard laptop in an office anywhere in the world. I t’s no wonder shat new applications for the I nternet of T hings are moving ah e ad fast when almost every new de v ice we buy has a plu g on the en d of it or a wireless connection to the internet. Soon, our current smartphone lifestyle wil l expand to create our own smart home lifestyle too. All researches agree that close to 25 billion devices, things and sensors will be connected by 2020 which incidentally is also the moment that M illennials( 千禧一代 ) are expected to make up 75 percent of our overall workforce, and the fully connected home . become a reality for large n umbers of people worldwide. However , this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as smart buildings and even cities increasingly become the norm as leaders and business owners begin to wake up to the massive savings that technology can deliver through connected sensors and new forms of automation coupled with intel ligent energy and facilities managemen t . Online security cameras, intelligent lighting and a wealth of sensors that control both temperature and air quality are offering an unprecedented level of control, efficiency, and improvements to what were once classed necessary costs when running a business or managing a large building. We can expect that the ever-growing list of devices, systems and environments remain connected, always online and talking to each other. T he big benefit will not only be in the housing of this enormous and rapidly growing amount of data, but will also be in the ability to run real time data analytics to extract actionable and ongoing knowledge. The biggest and most exciting challenge of this technology is how to creatively leverage this ever-growing amount of data to deliver cost savings, improvements and tangible benefits to both businesses and citizens of these smart cities . The good news is that most of this technology is already invented. L et's face it, it wasn't too long ago that the idea of working from anywhere and at anytime was some form of a distant utopi an ( 乌托邦式的 ) dream, and yet now we can perform almost any office-based task from any location in the world as long as we have access to the internet. I t's time to wake up to the fact that making smart buildings, cities and homes will dramatically improve our quality of life in the years ahead.