Smart cities lookout smart city = smart building

This is the fourth post in a series on Smart Cities, Dana Cary and Julie Claar are with our Firm as interns in the summermonths and will deliver their findings on our blog.

  Dana Cary, HOLTROP S.L.P. Transaction & Business Law  

Smart Cities = Smart Buildings

The wide-spread adoption of QR codes in advertising is one step among many businesses are taking to reduce paper waste.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with QR codes, they are the small black, two-dimensional matrix bar codes you see on billboards, brochures, magazines, business cards, store fronts, and other forms of advertising displays.   QR codes contain direct links to vast arrays of information about specific businesses, and are easily scanned with a smartphone. In short, these codes connect customers to businesses in a matter of seconds. They are an incredibly effective method of advertising and the best part? They come with zero waste.  

I became interested in QR codes when I came across a blog post that talked about the N building situated in Tokyo. Unlike most buildings that display a billboard with QR codes, this building´s entire outer façade is a QR code.   As customers drive by they scan the building and are immediately linked to the building´s website, which contains a vast array of information about the corporations inside and the products they sell.  Talk about a smart building!