Welcome to a brand new podcast series from the Innovation team at Cisco: MACRO.

In computing, macro means automatic expansion of an instruction; in photography, it refers to shooting big close-ups; and when used as an adjective it means ‘large-scale’ or ‘overall’.

In each episode of MACRO, we'll explore some of the many ways that technology is changing the world – and changing it for the better. We’ll provide the big picture, as well as those all-important close-ups.

Listen in as we dive into everything from smart cities to data-driven disaster response, ‘5G islands’ and connected railways, speaking to the people behind the projects to find out how Cisco’s unique collaborative approach to innovation is helping to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems.

For our first instalment, we travel to Manchester where for the past two years a consortium of more than 20 partners has been working to create the world’s smartest city.

Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and for more information on the pioneering work featured in the series, head to www.cisco.co.uk