Dubai residents define a smart home

Radhina Coutinho, 27, associate director at TRACCS

“I think a smart home will be able to interact with the environment and adjust itself intuitively in terms of energy usage, light controls, heating controls, alarm systems, etc. In addition, I think it will be set up to be operated easily using various means of wired and wireless technology.”

Luke Cadman, 28, associated director at YouGov

“I’ve read about smart homes before, where things such as lighting and temperature are managed by a computer and fridges automatically reorder food, but I don’t think the infrastructure in the UAE is anyway near ready for this to work.”

Samia Badih, 28, English copy writer at ATOM Advertising Agency

“I think I have a basic understanding of what a smart home is. I believe a smart home is one that incorporates the latest and most useful technology for a number of purposes within a household, such as safety, security, sustainability and energy efficiency. A smart home also makes the best use of space and natural light.”

Wanda Potgieter, 29, engineer at Mintek

“To me, a smart home is defined as exactly that… smart! Smart, by incorporating and making use of all the cool and nifty technologies available in the world today. And to be seen as really smart, it would also have to be green in terms of energy efficiency and reduced wastage, carbon footprint, etc. My smart home would automatically sense when I’m home, regulate lighting and cooling efficiently, link everything digital I own and allow me to control it all from my iPhone.”

Clive Pierrepont, 55, Director of Communications, Taaleem

“A smart home would have a mood detector fit into your smartphone because they know what you’ve been doing throughout the day, such as where you’ve been and who you’ve been meeting. So when you come home, the smart home will be able to detect your mood and adjust accordingly. It will know if you’re tired and will run a nice bath, or if you want to de-stress, it will lay out your gym clothes.”

Victor King, CEO, Absolute Communications FZE