On Monday Cisco announced that Michigan is the first state to join Cisco’s State Digital Acceleration (SDA) program, a 3-year targeted collaboration program to advance the state’s digital agenda. Cisco announced the SDA initiative in Detroit at the 2017 North American International Cyber Summit hosted by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
State and local governments can now apply for the Smart Cities Council’s 2018 Readiness Challenge Grant. Five grant recipients receive a year’s worth of free mentoring; a custom-designed, on-site Readiness Workshop; and membership in the Smart Cities Leadership Circle.
CA Technologies and Chordant released their Smart City Benefits Index, which the companies describe as the first comprehensive study designed to examine the relative potential benefits of Smart City technology in America’s major metropolitan areas. In terms of the rankings, tech hub Boston unsurprisingly topped the list. Other tech giants in the top 10 include Austin, Seattle, and San Diego. However, the big surprise was that typically industrial cities dominated the top 10.
Illinois CIO Hardik Bhatt announced that he is leaving the public sector for a new role at Amazon. While he didn’t discuss specifics of his new role, Bhatt said he would be joining a new public sector-facing team primarily focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), transportation, and smart cities.
Military bases operate like their own towns and cities, and should be considered partners in smart city initiatives, according to Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the Army, who spoke at the Global City Teams Challenge Expo. “The Army runs 156 towns across America and every day more than 2 million people go to work inside those towns and cities that are Army installations,” said Kidd. “We are facing many of the challenges that you are facing.”
Successful smart city initiatives rely on cities collaborating with each other, the Federal government, the private sector, and citizens, according to city mayors and Federal experts who spoke at the Global City Teams Challenge Expo on Aug. 28.
The Federal Transit Administration’s Mobility on Demand Sandbox program will fund 11 projects that allow transit providers to try Internet of Things (IoT) enabled services.
This spring, Seattle started looking for a Smart City Coordinator–the first in the city’s history. After a few months of searching, Seattle found the right candidate, Kate Garman. On July 20 the former Innovation Policy Analyst for Kansas City, Mo.’s Office of Innovation was officially appointed to the role.
San Jose, Calif., wants to be America’s most innovative city by 2020, and it’s hoping that a recent $200,000 investment will help get it there. In an interview with 21st Century State & Local, San Jose CIO Shireen Santosham discussed how the city used the investment to support IoT strategic planning, as well as its technology plans for the future.
