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00:00Imagine a brand new city for Ireland 25 years from now home to a quarter of a
00:13million people my science has helped solve some of the biggest issues facing
00:19our country today that is futureville and this is how we make it happen we have a
00:28plan to reimagine Athlone as a city of the future
00:35with brand new neighborhoods transport networks and a vision for what life will
00:41be like here we call it futureville it's entirely possible and now it's more
00:46important than ever in this show I'm in Helsinki to discover the brand new food
00:52supply we could all be eating in 2050 so then can be of course many things a bit
00:57like a potato this smells amazing this is why you're a Michelin chef yes how in
01:04futureville looking after your heart will be all about prevention rather than cure
01:08my doctor in this scenario might not be a doctor it might be an AI healthcare coach
01:13that's what we would envisage for wearable devices and why timber towers could fill
01:18our skyline mass timber is approximately 30% faster to construct that is by all
01:24accounts really rapid 2050 hopefully the housing system will work for us rather
01:29than the other way around but first get ready for robots when we cut the ribbon
01:38on futureville one in four of us in Ireland will be over 65 so we need to
01:44plan what life will be like for our elders like me so futureville 2050 I'm gonna be in
01:49my 80s and one of the things I think about is how do I stay fit and active
01:53what do I need to do now to be healthy and so that we can flourish into our older
01:58age think for me it's making sure that I'm as fit as I can be strong healthy so
02:05that I can look after myself for as long as possible so that I can be
02:10independent in my own home for as long as possible and this was thinking of the
02:14generation to come after me I'm here in the Dublin mountains
02:19to meet a hiking group we walk and talk about preparing for old age do you think
02:27about your care as you get older and your health and and what the future might
02:31bring I do think about it a lot and my husband had a massive stroke f eight
02:37years ago and he was in hospital for a long time he went to a nursing home I did
02:44take him home for a while I found it really difficult caring for him at home
02:47because it needed two people because he had to be hoisted everywhere so I think I
02:51don't want that for myself I have that fear independence is is to me is very
02:58important you know it really is like no one wants to leave their house I don't
03:04want to be a burden on anybody you know like your kids your kids have their own
03:07lives they've got their kids the last thing you want is them looking after you
03:10these walkers aren't afraid to chat through difficult issues early why was it important
03:18to you both to have conversations with your loved ones about your care into the future and
03:22and should we all be having those conversations I'll always think practical I'll listen and I'll
03:28talk about it I've spoken with my kids about it I've spoken with my wife about it and I don't
03:34want to go into a nursing home my son dropped me up tonight and I actually had this conversation in
03:39the back of the car with him and yeah he knows I don't want to be put into a nursing home I I want
03:46to stay in my home he won't he says if I have to change it myself I'll change it well I says I
03:52done it for you when you were a child so thanks very much our home is our home we've spent our life
03:58building it up it's our comfort zone why would you want to disturb that why not try and stay in
04:04that for as long as you want one thing we all have in common is a desire for independence and in
04:13Futurville it could be this guy who makes sure we get to enjoy it okay guys are you ready to meet
04:19your new teacher okay Decker come on I'd meet Deckard a humanoid robot
04:49designed to help promote physical and mental well-being Deckard we're gonna get our PE class
04:55going yeah okay are we ready stand up 10 jumping jacks 10 squats this robo fitness instructor has
05:09been developed by professor Derek O'Keefe and his team at hive laboratories in Galway University
05:15what exactly is a humanoid and how do they differ to say regular robots so when people think of a
05:22robot they often think of a mechanical machine humanoids are specific in that they have human
05:27like motions has you know hands and legs and can move around and what exactly can Deckard do we
05:36designed Deckard and programmed him so that he would be able to tell people about preventative health care
05:42the things that they can do to help them live longer such as better nutrition better exercise
05:46better sleeping so that he's able to interact in a very authoritative way with people about exercise
05:55nutrition sleep to optimize people's risk factors for things like chronic diseases let me show you how
06:01to dance for some of us it might seem strange talking to a robot or dancing with one but for the younger
06:12generation it could become second nature does anyone have any questions for Deckard do you like sports I
06:19love sports I think staying active and playing sports are great ways to have fun our robots gonna take
06:27over the world oh no no we robots are here to help and make the world a better place by promoting health
06:34and fitness Deckard has already been out in the real world where he has been helping with conversations
06:41around mental health so we worked with Pieta and we did the darkness into light walk this year he was
06:49able to talk to people but also he was able to start that conversation you know a lot of people
06:53unfortunately aren't able to talk openly about their emotions but when they see something like
06:58Deckard they just engage with him much easier so Deckard can really help talk to people about their
07:02mental health and start that conversation to make sure people can think about their mental health not
07:07just their physical health raise the parachutes over the next 25 years robots like these are likely to
07:13become a familiar presence in our lives the world health organization warns that by 2030 there will be a
07:19shortage of 11 million health workers so robots could be doing the job for us can you shake the
07:26parachute how important is it that we really embrace technology humanoids like Deckard especially as we
07:33think of our aging population and their health into the future so there simply isn't enough humans to
07:39look after the humans that are living longer and into their their older age so robots can play a really
07:44important part in providing some of that you know routine repetitive work that many of us do in
07:49healthcare coming healthcare robots are at a place now where they weren't even 10 years ago and we're
07:56going to see more of them in our society in some Asian countries they have technology in the home robots in
08:03the home that might make life a wee bit easier anything that would help you in your stay in your own home
08:11yeah I'm I'm open for all that I'm not I'm not an old fogey I don't not I don't like change I I embrace change
08:19say my scenario where my partner was at home hoisting yeah I'm on my own it would have been great to have a
08:26robot there to actually do it for me you know just to do the lifting and then the caring myself but then
08:32would they have the same conversation it's I think there's an awful lot of loneliness amongst the old
08:37people you know lost them on their own on your marks get set go
08:44during the morning for example you could imagine the robot interacting with the other technology in
08:55your house so it's telling the coffee machine to go on it's telling the robot lawnmower it's time to go
08:59and cut the grass it's just doing all those chores and taking that decision burden off you
09:03and then later on in the day you know you're going for a walk and it's coming with you and it's keeping
09:07you entertained or maybe it's recording your environment when you want it to and then it's
09:12storing those memories those core memories for your family so it becomes essentially like you know a pet
09:17that has technology in it and that is with you the whole journey and we're going to see that more and
09:21more people are going to start to develop bonds with robots because it's going to be part of their life
09:33in Futurville it's not just our older community we'll need to look after our environment will
09:39need some TLC as well and even though we're planning Futurville for Athlone at the very heart of
09:45Ireland that means making sure we protect and preserve the ecosystems around our coast they will
09:52be vital to our city's well-being the delicate ecosystems around Ireland's coast capture more carbon
09:58than the rainforests but like the rainforests they're in real danger
10:02marine biologist Lucy hunt has spent her career studying Ireland's coasts
10:09we're so lucky life is everywhere I just found this fella little baby
10:16shore crab scrambling along for Lucy the health of Ireland's oceans isn't just an issue for those who
10:24live by the sea it's about the future health of all of us everybody on this planet is a citizen of
10:31the ocean we are a blue planet and no matter if you live off in the mountains or in a city and the
10:37midlands in Ireland you're connected to the ocean from the water that you're drinking to the air and
10:43the oxygen that you're breathing so the Caesar and Ireland are full of life vital not just to the
10:48water but to every living thing on earth including us so we've got some lovely Fucus vesiculosis it's a
10:57brown seaweed and you can see the air bladders here that keep it up at the surface of the water so it can
11:04capture the Sun's rays to photosynthesize the oxygen that's produced in the ocean is over 50% of the
11:12oxygen that humans actually breathe this is seagrass a plant that is crucial in helping to slow global
11:20warming it captures and stores carbon 35 times faster than tropical rainforests and they're living
11:29in shallow waters around the coast of Ireland they help carbon capture but they also help waste erosion
11:37they're also a nursery for small fish and marine creatures it's really important that that carbon
11:44is captured and drawn down so that it's not in the atmosphere creating more and more warmth and
11:50accelerating climate change seagrass was once plentiful in Ireland but is now under threat here and around
12:00the world the equivalent of a football field of seagrass is being wiped out every 30 minutes globally
12:12sometimes it's due to climate change and the climate overheating the waters and then there's bleaching
12:19events pollution also is another factor destructive fishing practices where the whole areas are wiped out
12:28we often say like ocean health equals human health so this is really really important that we try and
12:36protect them as much as possible because they are protecting us a problem for the planet is a problem
12:44for futureville so I'm meeting will he's part of a team working to restore seagrass meadows around the
12:50world fast so well you're in the seagrass business show me a little bit about what seagrass is and what
12:57it does yeah I mean seagrass it it is grass in the sea there's nothing more complicated than that this
13:06carpets the ocean it's ten times more abundant than coral reefs but nobody really knows about it and it's
13:15this is absolute wonder plant and but it's yeah it's dying at a pretty fast rate around the world
13:21it's estimated that we've lost about 90% of all seagrass habitats and in the in the last century there
13:29was a there was a disease actually that kind of similar to the famine that took out a lot of the
13:34seagrasses around the UK and Ireland this whole area once upon a time was carpeted with seagrasses and
13:42and oysters as well once seagrass fields have been lost it's very difficult to restore them each
13:49seagrass plant has to be bedded into the ocean floor by hand it's slow and laborious myself and
13:56some friends we realized wow this is the reason it's not being done at scale is because it's really
14:00expensive and really slow because we're doing it by hand people are there's no like underwater tractor
14:06for replanting seagrasses and the same way we have for agriculture will and his team decided they
14:13needed a solution that could operate quickly underwater and with minimal labor they turned
14:19to robotics and they invented Ulysses so we build an autonomous underwater vehicle collecting seeds and
14:28it's planting seeds Ulysses is a robot designed to replant seagrass meadows at speed we can do
14:34it a hundred times faster and one-tenth the price of what a human would do so what are some of the
14:40biggest challenges that you've got there the ocean is a very unforgiving place and saltwater it
14:46corrosive it rusts things that makes it super difficult similarly when you're underwater is much
14:51more difficult when you don't have access to the internet I can't keep checking oh am I in the
14:55right place on top of that as well the energy in the ocean is insane I mean anybody who goes down
15:01on a stormy day to like the west coast of Ireland or anything can see how much energy there is there
15:06so the vehicle is constantly being pushed and pulled and moved despite those challenges will and
15:14his team have successfully built five prototypes all of which are now under trials replanting seagrass
15:21meadows around the world right now we're working across a number of different projects in the US
15:27and Australia we're working on the Great Barrier Reef we're working in Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay
15:32on the world's right just seagrass restoration project there and we're working in Florida and
15:36a few more locations coming online across the next year so looking into the future what are your hopes
15:41for Ulysses where do you hope that it can go I mean we're still barely scratching the surface
15:45the ideal end goal is like you know in every bay around the world you have underwater Ulysses
15:52underwater vehicles and Ulysses boats planting and restoring these ecosystems as naturally as in
15:59Ireland you see the farmers out you know working in that manner for a company that's been around only
16:04for two years yeah you're doing amazing things yeah thank you very much yeah I'm so impressed if
16:10Will Ulysses and his team can succeed in restoring the world's seagrass meadows they'll be helping
16:16to guarantee fresh air for futureville Ireland and the entire planet still to come I reveal how timber
16:24towers could fill the futureville skyline it's global there is a global movement towards use of mass
16:29timber and I head for Helsinki to discover the finished food of the future that could fill our store
16:35cupboards in Athlone 2050 I feel sorry for everybody at home that they can't try it this is Athlone high
16:44street today and this is how we're planning it 25 years from now as futureville a metropolis with
16:54homes for a quarter of a million people which for many of us can't come fast enough
17:05it's a constant worry and stress that kind of hums in the background of your brain it's so unsettling
17:11and if you stop to think about it too deeply or too directly it will stop you in your tracks and
17:16you know you'd sit in the corner and cry Eadine Clark has a successful teaching career her problem
17:23is that at 47 years old she still doesn't own a home tell us a little bit about you I'm not teaching
17:34Dublin by choice I'm teaching in Dublin because of necessity I don't live in Dublin though I commute
17:39daily from Portlaoise so long time in the car I mean the financial cost of driving to Dublin every
17:45day what's that like it's ferocious she's buying on her own and most homes in Ireland are out of
17:52Eadine's price range I would qualify for a mortgage in terms of affordability but I don't have that lump
17:57sum deposit yet and because I'm renting and because I'm commuting the way I am it's becoming difficult to
18:03get that deposit in place and that's the stumbling block for me but I'm under a little time crunch
18:10as well because of my age if I don't have a mortgage in place in the next three or four years my fear is
18:16that I will be 75 years old trying to find the rent stories like Eadine's are common across Ireland
18:23they're the reason why we're designing Futurville and some new ideas will help get it done even
18:29though it looks pretty challenging we need to build 300,000 homes according to the national
18:37development plan but we also know that our environmental commitments mean we have to cut
18:42carbon emissions by 51% so doing both is going to be the hard part we've a lot of work to do but we
18:49have got the science Olivia Rusk is an architect with a solution we have our traditional methods of
18:56construction these are the things that we're familiar with you know the bricks and mortar
19:00concrete steel frame and these are very high embodied carbon materials so what we need to do is try
19:07and find an alternative means of building the houses that we need with a lower embodied carbon
19:11material a simple material that's been around for ever trees this is a sustainable product and it
19:21allows for faster cleaner greener construction and the buildings typically are much quicker to build
19:29than say a concrete or steel frame by approximately 30% so timber is better for the environment as it has
19:38a lower carbon footprint than bricks concrete or steel but it's not as simple as chopping down Irish
19:44forests and using the wood to build homes quickly we grow with well twice as fast as they would in
19:50Scandinavia and but because they grow for longer there were tends to be a lot denser and stronger than
19:57ours that speed of growth means Irish timber isn't suitable for large-scale construction we are actually
20:06behind most of the modern modern world so we're at about 24% of all our homes are built as timber frame
20:15and that's about half the rate that you would see in other countries but at Trinity College Dublin's
20:23Amber Research Centre Michael and his team have developed a revolutionary process to make Irish
20:29timber super strong so this is just a piece of ash it's which is one of our native species we then
20:35process that with chemicals environmentally friendly chemicals and we extract the lignin lignin is a
20:41natural polymer that gives the wood its strength Michael's process removes the lignin then replaces
20:47it with an even stronger polymer and that allows us to inject a bit of polymer into it and then compress
20:54it to produce a very high strength material it looks like this and it's 10 to 15 times stronger right
21:02so it's approaching the strength of steel Michael's research could offer a way to replace steel and
21:09concrete with super strong Irish timber so we can build futureville quickly and sustainably
21:15meanwhile researchers in University of Galway are working on another technique to use timber to speed up
21:22construction this particular material here is cross laminated timber so how does a prefabricated section
21:32of timber wall compare in strength to concrete one of the main lateral loads a wall will resist is wind
21:40loading and that's what this test is intended to to show resistance against here so at the moment the
21:46loading has commenced we're pushing the wall and we're measuring the displacement at a range of different
21:50points four millimetres nearly this is one ton ten thousand newtons and that applies about 1.5 tons
21:59which is relatively relatively high it's equivalent to a very large Jeep that's as strong as an
22:04equivalent section of wall made from concrete it's known as mass timber well mass timber they say
22:12typically is approximately 30% faster to construct than say a concrete building or a steel frame building
22:20and the reason for that being is that mass timber elements are all prefabricated off-site and then
22:26assembled on site there's a 10-story building in London that was built in 52 weeks that is by all
22:36accounts really rapid construction this is being done in the UK in France in Germany in Austria in North
22:44America it's been done New Zealand it's it's it's global there is a global movement towards use of mass timber this sounds like a no-brainer
22:53mass timber to make houses for the masses fast so are we using this material we're not why not well one word
23:01regulations fire rules here in Ireland mean we can't use timber to build any higher than 11 metres that's about three stories so what happens in the rest of Europe are they limited to three stories?
23:13in the EU they can build up to 80 metres high that's about 24 stories that's eight times higher than we can build here in Ireland
23:22so we have a long way to go we do but the only way is up
23:26experts are agreed that we desperately need to change our approach to how we plan and regulate construction in Ireland
23:34Ronan thanks for being with us great to chat to you today
23:40Professor Ronan Lyons is an economist and expert in the Irish housing market
23:45Ronan how many homes will have to be in Ireland by 2050?
23:50so being realistic we have about two million homes in the country at the moment
23:54we'll need to add somewhere between one and a half and two million
23:57nearly doubling our housing stock by the middle of the century
24:01what kind of changes need to be made now to ensure that we are in a much better place by the time 2050 comes around?
24:08the first step is actually acknowledging that that's the scale of the need
24:12and this is not just about people coming to the country or no longer leaving the country
24:17it's also about people living longer, getting married later, having fewer children or no children
24:21they don't necessarily need four or five bedroom family homes
24:25they need different kinds of homes but they're not getting built
24:27the problem is we don't have enough supply of apartments
24:30we're about 85% houses, 15% apartments
24:33we probably need to be going to something more like 50-50 reflecting the rest of Europe
24:38in terms of houses versus apartments
24:40what 2050 looks like to me is much more variety in the kinds of homes we have
24:46that allow people to match the home they have at the moment with how they live
24:51in 2050 hopefully the housing system will work for us rather than the other way around
24:55Aireen, when you look ahead for the next 25 years, so 2050, where would you like to be?
25:04I would really, really love to hope that it's achievable for everybody
25:10that if you have the desire to have your own home that you can do that
25:14right now that's not achievable for everybody
25:18certainly at this moment in time
25:20I don't even know if it's achievable for me but I would love to think that everybody could
25:24Athlone could be the place those homes at last become available
25:29in Futurville our homes will be built using timber frames
25:34to create apartment blocks 20 storeys high
25:39more than five times what's permitted today
25:42inside will be comfortable apartments that suit the changing makeup of our population
25:48and what's more it'll be green and clean from start to finish
25:53so in Futurville we want our construction to be sustainable, affordable, fast
25:59absolutely, we have to remember this is about people like Aireen
26:02people that work really hard and should be able to afford a home but they can't
26:06100% so we need to embrace timber technology
26:10I fully agree
26:11today Athlone is a town of around 20,000 people
26:16our plan for Futurville would see it turned into a city of a quarter of a million
26:22where problems can be solved with science and an open mind
26:26like where the city gets its food
26:28should we farm it or fabricate it?
26:31most of the proteins we eat come from animals
26:33so beef, pork, chicken
26:36and producing them involves intensive land use
26:39and can come with a large carbon footprint
26:42so we have to find viable alternative sources of protein
26:45we need a new approach to feed Futurville
26:48challenge accepted
26:50that's why I have come here to Helsinki
26:53the capital of Finland
26:55the long winters demand an inventive approach to ensuring a constant food supply
27:00and that is exactly what's happening
27:03I'm here at the site of a brand new multi-million euro facility
27:07that could contain the future of a global food supply
27:12scientists here have invented a brand new process
27:14to create a brand new food
27:17called Solane
27:19and it's 80% protein
27:21potentially we could harvest it in deserts and feed people
27:24and this really is next level
27:27this is where Solane is made
27:29those giant vats contain very special microbes
27:32that feed on the carbon dioxide and hydrogen found in the air
27:36and then produce proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins
27:40which are dried to produce a yellow powder
27:42this is not an animal product
27:44it's a how do we describe this protein?
27:47so it's a microorganism a bit like baker's yeast or brewer's yeast
27:52like we would use in a sourdough or something like that
27:54so is this a replacement food or is it a food in its own right?
27:58so Solane can be of course many things
28:00a bit like potato
28:02now we have kind of found this new potato
28:05and then we have just kind of discovered how to cultivate
28:08and discovered that it is safe for human consumption
28:11so we could replace traditional agriculture potentially?
28:14yeah I mean the target is not to replace all the traditional agriculture
28:18but just to make it a little bit more
28:20at least even a little bit more efficient
28:22so it's how to create more food
28:24more protein dense food
28:25in a way that's better for the planet
28:27yes exactly so this has been the driver
28:30Mika Manninen has worked in a Michelin star restaurant
28:33and is now cooking with Solane to find out exactly what it can do
28:37nice to meet you
28:38nice to meet you as well
28:39I believe you have an apron for me
28:40here you go
28:41brilliant thank you very much
28:42so this is the protein that originally was in nature
28:46that is now here for our food
28:48exactly
28:49it's a beautiful colour
28:51how exciting is this with a completely new food product?
28:54I'm basically the pioneer of this thing
28:57basically the only limitation is the imagination of the chef
29:00I love it
29:01who is using it
29:02in Mika's recipe for pasta
29:04he uses Solane instead of eggs
29:06after that it's just like making any other fresh pasta
29:10we can almost see through
29:12and that's how we know that we are getting thin enough
29:17because Solane is protein
29:19Mika can also use it to make cream cheese
29:22like in his filling for these tortellini
29:24this is kind of a tortellini
29:26which is called Pagna Lotti in Italy
29:29I think we have to be really careful what we say about the pasta
29:33so we don't get any mad Italians
29:35I'm also sorry to the Italians for my style
29:37yeah
29:38we cut through the pasta
29:40this smells amazing
29:41yes
29:42that is white tomato sauce
29:44this is why you're a Michelin chef
29:46so we add some green aromatic herb oil
29:50and that's going to be beautiful green white
29:54and then yellow
29:55it couldn't be more perfect
29:57yeah
29:58bon appetit
29:59how do we say that in Finnish?
30:00thank you
30:02thank you
30:03let's try it out
30:07mmm
30:08slightly mushroom
30:09slightly nutty
30:10I feel sorry for everybody at home that they can't try it
30:14Solane tastes like real food
30:16not something grown in a lab
30:18and it's great to see a chef like Mika
30:20won over by this brand new protein
30:24usually when I meet new vegan ingredients
30:27they are lacking something
30:29but then I took the challenge to be a world first Solane chef
30:34so I couldn't be more happy
30:38there's no question that Solane is amazing
30:40it tastes good
30:41it's got lots of potential applications
30:43so in terms of Futureville 2050
30:46can I see us having packets of Solane in our kitchen cupboards
30:50and adding them into things
30:51well we already use protein powder for example
30:54so yes I can
30:55I can see a world where something like this will become a staple for us
30:58still to come
31:00the sensor that could act as an alarm bell for your heart
31:04this particular device has reduced mortality over 55%
31:09and why Futureville is not an impossible pipe dream
31:12Futureville 2050 could be with us already in 2030
31:17in Futureville
31:20in Futureville more people will live in less space than in the athlone of today
31:24they'll share public transport
31:27driverless cars
31:30even electric water buses
31:32but keeping all these systems running at clockwork
31:35will require data
31:37Futureville will need to be a smart city
31:41a smart city is really a city that's connected with lots of different types of technology devices and sensors
31:48and these are all collecting data
31:50and with that data we're using it to make better decisions
31:52and plan for the future of the city but also help make the city safer and more responsive
31:57if you think about so many different challenges that our city faces from you know storms
32:01or emerging situations
32:03it's about having the right data at the right time
32:06whether it's the river level
32:07or whether it's where the rain is hitting hardest
32:10or whether if there's an accident that we can see where the congestion is building up
32:14here in Carlow the town's public services aren't chatting to each other just yet
32:19but they do have this
32:21Ireland's newest fire engine
32:24it can communicate with traffic for miles around
32:27so Darrell the vehicle to vehicle communications
32:30how does that work?
32:32on the way to the call if I press 99 mode
32:35this button here
32:36999 road activated
32:38she's letting me know that the 99 mode is activated
32:40I'm now transmitting a location
32:42the location is picked up by the sat-navs of vehicles nearby
32:46warning drivers that a fire engine is coming
32:49giving them plenty of time to get out of the way
32:52that'll pop up as an alert on their sat-nav
32:55and that they get warning basically to pull to the side
33:01gotta love a siren
33:03emergency vehicle reported ahead
33:07van has stopped to give me access to pass by
33:10if they're using the Bluetooth we'll say for off their phone for music and stuff
33:19it'll override that and alert them up
33:21where to vehicle approach
33:23and it clears them partially off the road
33:25allowing us to pass by safely
33:27in Futurville
33:28fire engines will be part of a network
33:30that makes our city smart
33:32they'll collect and share data
33:34along with all the other vehicles in the city
33:37that information can be used to run something known as a digital twin
33:44what is a digital twin?
33:45it's a kind of a cool piece of technology
33:47that you know is a virtual representation of a city
33:50so it's the buildings in 3D
33:54it's the roads
33:55it's the infrastructure
33:56but then it's layering that data
33:58you know think of all the sensors that we have in our cities
34:00around traffic flows
34:02around pollution
34:03around rainfall
34:04you start putting all that in
34:05in real time
34:06and all of a sudden
34:07you have this really dynamic model
34:09of our city
34:10or our towns
34:11you know what's happening now
34:12and then you can use it to predict the future
34:15here at Future Mobility Campus Ireland
34:18researchers are building digital twins
34:20to figure out how to keep traffic moving
34:23but old towns like Athlone
34:25don't make it easy
34:26Ireland has a road network
34:30that's hundreds and hundreds of years old
34:32it's not like all these cities in the US
34:33with their nice grid iron pattern
34:35so essentially
34:36they're some of the challenges that we face
34:37and of course
34:38weather is a big piece of that as well
34:40to help our medieval towns adapt to modern traffic flows
34:44researchers here have designed Sumo
34:47Simulation of Urban Mobility
34:49it's essentially a digital twin or a simulator of city environments
34:56we're able to drop that map into Sumo
35:00and then start running simulations
35:02and looking at how people
35:04not just vehicles
35:05but also pedestrians actually flow through our towns and cities
35:08so how could Sumo be used to wrestle Futureville into becoming a smarter city?
35:14what we've done here is we've actually picked out kind of one of the more complicated
35:18junctions that we see in Athlone
35:21and then we've applied that into Sumo
35:23and what we're doing here then is we're actually now
35:25sending all of this different traffic to actually look how it behaves
35:29these light blue lines are actually representing radars that are looking down the road
35:36so typically a radar before used to just detect object there
35:40now it's actually detecting
35:42oh this is a truck, this is a car
35:44I can tell how many of them are
35:45I can also tell the velocity that they're approaching
35:48once Sumo has become a traffic flow master
35:51the next step is to control it
35:53so emergency teams can get where they need to go fast
35:57we can basically describe one of these vehicles as an ambulance
36:00we can get the simulator to react differently to that vehicle
36:03we're looking at taking the learnings from this
36:06and then put that into the real world
36:08that would mean an entire city could instantly switch into emergency mode
36:18to give critical services the access and resources they need
36:24there's potential going forward here
36:26traffic lights will actually go red and close the oncoming sides
36:29there will green light straight through to the route
36:31the system knows where we're going
36:33so people get early warnings along the route
36:35the route cleared and we're driving straight through
36:38that would absolutely completely revolutionise your line of work wouldn't it?
36:41absolutely
36:42it'll get us there faster
36:43if we get there faster
36:44there's a better chance of saving lives faster then as well
36:46and ultimately that's what we're here for
36:48saving lives and trying to help the community
36:50the future of safety in ireland will depend on people and technology working together
36:57in futureville it could mean the difference between life and death
37:13right now in 2025 heart disease is one of our biggest killers in ireland
37:17but modern medical practices are working so hard that by 2050 in futureville
37:21prevention will be the cure
37:2829 year old Dara Roach is a dad
37:31gym owner, personal trainer, former Kerry footballer
37:35and the last person you'd expect to have a heart attack
37:38the 31st of January was a regular enough day
37:45saw plenty of clients then maybe by half eight that night
37:49I was home
37:50I was just sitting down on the couch watching TV
37:53I got very bad chest pain that went down all my left arm
37:58as the time went on it was like an elephant was nearly standing on my chest
38:11thank god Tegan had the sense to ring the ambulance
38:14because I probably wouldn't have rang the ambulance
38:16and maybe battled it out another while
38:18and god only knows what would have happened then
38:20the pain just got increasingly worse
38:22rang South Doc and they immediately I suppose called the ambulance
38:26they were really quick to be fair
38:28they were there within six minutes
38:31Dara was rushed to University Hospital Kerry
38:34those tests didn't show up anything
38:37sending me to Black Rock in Dublin for a cardiac MRI
38:41showed up the scarring and that's what showed that I had suffered
38:44a cardiac arrest
38:46how do you open it IELTS?
38:49there's no family history of any sort of heart disease
38:53and I suppose I would have always associated it with
38:56maybe older people or people that were heavier
38:59or out of shape or smokers or something like that
39:02I would have never associated with someone that's fit and healthy
39:07and yeah it was a big shock
39:10for Dara it's been a wake up call
39:12for the rest of us it's a reminder heart disease
39:15doesn't always fit the stereotype
39:17that's why the future of prevention isn't just in hospitals
39:21it's in the data we track every day
39:24not long ago wearables might have been a bit of a gimmick
39:27but now we have them on our wrists on our rings
39:29in our phones in our pockets even
39:31but the real shift is what we do with that data
39:34and that's what we're here to explore in UCD
39:39I guess wearable technologies have obviously become more and more popular
39:42so they used to be a sort of a niche product
39:45whereas nowadays around 50% of the Irish population at least
39:48and more in other countries owns a wearable
39:50and that means that there's a huge opportunity for public health research
39:54essentially taking people who already own a wearable device
39:58and using that data that they're already gathering
40:01to get better insights into population health and wellbeing
40:04it sounds like a great idea but only as long as the data is accurate
40:09which is why I'm here with my UCD colleagues
40:12today we're testing my VO2 max
40:15basically how efficiently my body uses oxygen
40:18we want to compare data from this lab grade equipment
40:21with the data from my wearable
40:23how do we actually tell whether you're at your VO2 max
40:27we use a couple of different measures for that
40:29the first is the gas analyser here, this mask
40:32another is a measure of exertion
40:35where basically you tell us how tired you are
40:37the third criterion is that your heart rate gets within 10 beats
40:42of your age predicted maximum
40:46good to go
40:48if the data from my wearable matches the data from all this lab equipment
40:52it would mean consumer wearables can be made part of the public health system
40:56how are you feeling now Lolly?
40:58oh good
41:04if you're happy we'll increase the elevation
41:07is that okay?
41:08to 2.5%
41:10and we'll be here for 2 minutes
41:12to get an accurate reading
41:14I need to push myself to my limits
41:16at any stage if you want to stop the test
41:18just give us a thumbs down
41:20but you're doing very well
41:21great work
41:22it's not easy
41:24yeah okay
41:30stop
41:31okay well done
41:32woo
41:33there you go
41:34it's a lot harder with the mask on
41:36so what we'd be expecting to see from somebody of my age on a graph like this?
41:41erm
41:42we
41:43you can be brutally honest
41:44no we'd be expecting to see something very similar
41:47so I think you did very well today
41:49this is the value there
41:51so we're at 24.7
41:54and so that's the VO2 max value
41:57the results from the lab equipment and my wearable are almost identical
42:02more research is needed
42:04but it's a sign consumer wearables could be integrated into the health service
42:08do you think for future well Ireland 2050 we're all going to have wearables?
42:15right now we know that our healthcare systems are overburdened and we're looking for solutions to that problem
42:21wearables are likely to be a part of that solution and not the whole solution
42:25but envisage a scenario where low risk patients could be remotely monitored at home instead of taking up a place a hospital bed
42:32and it's important to mention that my doctor in this scenario might not be a doctor it might be an AI healthcare coach
42:38that's what we would envisage for wearable devices
42:41devices on our wrists could be an essential part of keeping us healthy in futureville
42:46but in Galway Dr. Faisal Sharif is going one step further with technology that can detect heart failure before it happens
42:54heart failure is an to an epidemic level
42:57in our own hospital at one time if we have 40 patients
43:01nearly 85 to 90 percent would be heart failure admissions at any time on a wardrobe
43:07Dr. Sharif is leading trials of a new medical device
43:10a sensor implanted in the heart that could predict a heart attack
43:15by placing a sensor in the pulmonary artery here
43:18we can continuously monitor the pressure in the pulmonary artery
43:22and this is the one indicator that saves lives
43:26because we can immediately change patients' medications to bring the pressure down again
43:30patients will never have the symptoms and they stay well at home
43:34this is the Cordella sensor
43:38it's surgically placed into the patient's pulmonary artery
43:42and can be easily monitored from home by the doctor
43:45patients can have one of these handheld devices
43:50they put it on their chest
43:52their heart signals and pressures are transferred to a computer
43:56which is seen by a healthcare professional or a nurse
44:00it means doctors can spot changes days before symptoms appear
44:05often preventing a hospital admission altogether
44:07this particular device has been shown to be very effective
44:12and has reduced hospitalization nearly 50 percent
44:16and has reduced mortality over 55 percent
44:19since his heart attack Dara has returned to work
44:23his family and his other passion football
44:26I nearly get a heart attack every time he goes on the football pitch to be honest
44:30that's what's changed
44:33but I suppose definitely what's come from it is just to not take life for granted
44:39we're definitely better appreciating our time together now for sure
44:42Dara now relies on wearable tech to monitor his condition
44:46Tegan bought me one for Christmas and I was just obsessed with it since
44:50I suppose I love the data that it shows
44:52you can obviously check your heart rate
44:54especially when you're working out and you're putting your body under stress
44:57I think it's very important
45:00I'd be excited to see what the future holds on smart tech
45:04to see where your body is at and maybe preventable measures as well
45:08I definitely hope that it's something that's in the work
45:10and hopefully something we'll see down the line
45:14that kind of remote technology could mean more patients being treated from home
45:18in what experts are calling virtual wards
45:22I hear this term the virtual ward or the virtual hospital
45:26what does that actually mean for us?
45:28Well let me give you an example to make that real
45:31so right now I'm wearing a patch on my chest
45:35It's stuck onto your skin?
45:37It's stuck onto my skin, tiny patch
45:39that is transmitting to my phone here, my real-time vital signs
45:43so you can see my respiration rate is
45:46so I'm doing 14 breaths a minute
45:49my pulse rate is 57
45:51and it's also showing my skin temperature
45:53but this information is also being transmitted to the hospital
45:56where I would be a patient
45:58and the doctors and nurses in real-time
46:00can see how I'm doing
46:02but they also can be alerted
46:04so for example if my respiration rate suddenly went
46:07it's now 11, if it went to 20
46:09they could get an alert to say actually
46:11we've seen a problem with Martin and we need to intervene
46:15and then they can actually with the touch of a button
46:17they could open up a live video call with me
46:20to say Martin we've just noticed this issue
46:22and let's have a discussion and here's what we're going to do
46:25We're not talking about Futureville 2050
46:27we're talking about right now
46:28Futureville 2050 could be with us already in 2030
46:32but this should be deployed across Ireland very rapidly
46:35and the rest of the world
46:37in Futureville an emergency trip to the hospital or GP
46:42could be a thing of the past
46:44wearable technology or tech implanted into our bodies
46:48will monitor our health
46:50and share data with our medical teams
46:52so they can spot problems before things turn critical
46:58the future of healthcare is looking bright?
47:01100% with preventative medicine
47:03living independently into old age
47:05a city built for purpose
47:07a nature right on our doorstep
47:08it's all looking very promising
47:10and I'm really looking forward to our Futureville retirement
47:12This series has shown us just how much potential Ireland has
47:23not just to imagine a brighter future but to create it
47:27we've shown how Futureville could offer a quarter of a million new homes
47:32built sustainably and affordably
47:34those buildings that are being done elsewhere in the UK
47:37all around the world
47:38you know can be done
47:40we've seen it
47:41we know that it's possible
47:42in Futureville we can repair the damage that we've done to our environment
47:47put plastic behind us
47:49and build a city that preserves our planet for the next generation
47:54I feel immensely hopeful
47:59because I see the desire people have for change
48:05we see a change already
48:07that generation has so many more questions and higher standards
48:11I think the next 10 to 15 years looks very promising
48:15it will be a huge opportunity for Ireland to really come to the fore
48:20and be a shining light as a green country through and through
48:25we've got the talent and the ideas to really forge ahead
48:29in Futureville we prevent illness rather than cure it
48:34and our older people will live out their days in their own homes
48:39in our city we'll grow our own food and power our own future independently
48:46the story of Futureville really is the story of Ireland itself
48:50bold, innovative and ready to take on tomorrow
48:54if we keep pushing forward and we keep believing
48:56there are absolutely no limits to what we can achieve
48:59we can achieve
49:29Transcription by CastingWords
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