Minerva Tantoco is currently the Chief Operating Officer of The Common’s Project Foundation and was the first-ever Chief Technology Officer of New York City. She has been paving a path of innovation since the beginning of her career working on artificial intelligence in the ’80s.
As CTO of NYC, Minerva played a pivotal role in bringing technological innovation to the City. She discusses some of her favorite innovations such as the LinkNYC kiosks. Additionally, she talks about how the Internet of Things (IoT) guidelines that she helped establish in NYC are now being endorsed in 35 cities and 11 countries.
These guidelines include urban elements such as smart park benches, smart wastebaskets, etc. Once stand-alone elements become part of a connected system, they introduce layers of complexity like privacy policies and security policies. Minerva is a New Yorker through and through. She discusses how growing up in the city shaped her perspective and inspired her to step into the role of NYC’s CTO.
You can see more of Minerva at Disruptive Technologists’ July 7, 2021, one-hour webinar: Cyber Security In the Post Pandemic: What does it all mean?