The recent and tragic building collapse in Surfside, Miami, is just one of a number of high-profile building-related catastrophes we have seen in recent years. From the 23-story Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK, in 2017 to the partial collapse of a 15-story building in Houston, Texas, in 2020, to a spate of similar tragedies across Africa, which have all demonstrated the need to better monitor risk in our buildings. In South Korea, the Seoul Municipal Government (SMG) has turned to advanced blockchain and IoT technologies to address the problem by identifying buildings with a risk of decay or collapse to avoid potential future disasters. The blockchain-based Safety Check-up Platform for Risky Structures will use IoT sensors attached to buildings to monitor and send warning signals when potential risks are detected. Sensors attached to walls, for example, will measure the slope and cracks in buildings, while blockchain networks will save and analyze the data to […]