New Smart City Partnership Promises Regional Solutions
North Texas Innovation Alliance and Marketplace.City Walk the Talk of Cross-Sector Collaboration
By Chelsea Collier, Digi.City
In any smart city conversation, you will hear the phrase “smart cities are about people first, not technology.” Anyone who has worked in this area knows well that aligning people and partners to address human challenges can be incredibly difficult. But once people are aligned in their mission, vision and values, technology can be applied to rapidly accelerate problem solving.
The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA), led by civic super star Jennifer Sanders, has taken this concept to the next level. The organization has amassed “30 municipalities, agencies, companies and academic institutions across North Texas”, an area known for a maverick spirit as well as technical innovation and economic development.
Today NTXIA took the next big step and announced a new initiative to support momentum for its member municipalities. NTXIA partner Marketplace.City is a digital marketplace and service that helps state and local governments source, validate, and procure technology. Today’s Call for Solutions focuses on evaluating the models with which cities can unlock new revenue sources to support their priority projects.
In an era marked by economic hardship for municipalities, the timing couldn't be better, Sanders states, “A top priority for our membership is to focus on revenue generating solutions and financial models that aid in economic recovery and propel transformative projects forward.” James Childers, Assistant City Manager for the City of Irving, agrees, “Adequately funding smart city solutions while also ensuring enough of our limited resources are allocated towards meeting traditional service delivery obligations can be a challenge for local governments.”
“This is a topic that has been bubbling at the surface for a while now as states and municipalities deal with changing budget sources,” says Andrew Watkins, Marketplace.city President and COO. “It is really exciting to see North Texas take a leadership role. I know many other regions and cities are looking forward to reviewing and pursuing these solutions as well.”
Members are responding well to the added support. The CIty of Dallas’ Chief Information Officer, William Zielinski, commented, “2020 brought a renewed urgency to embracing new processes and structures, and continuing this momentum will realize economic growth and access to services that help both Dallas residents and our region prosper.”
Since the U.S.’s organized foray into smart cities in 2016, Jennifer Sanders and Andrew Watkins have both been avid advocates for a cross-sector, collaborative way of working together. While others flounder in the face of ambiguous business models, these smart city champions dive in to identify funding mechanisms to support partnership-driven efforts. They are moving strategically and steadily, setting the bar and paving the way.
Those within and adjacent to the smart cities movement should take note of how and why NTXIA and Marketplace.City are aligning their efforts. Hopefully this is the first of many new initiatives of this kind.
About the North Texas Innovation Alliance
The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) is a 501(c)3 consortium of key cross-sector stakeholders working to build and implement a smart region strategy for North Texas. The mission of the NTXIA is to build the most connected, smart, and resilient region in the country. NTXIA was launched to collaboratively utilize data, technology, and community to address the most pressing topics to create solutions that will improve quality of life, drive inclusive economic development, and promote resource efficiency.
The founding members of the North Texas Innovation Alliance include: Addison, Allen, Arlington, Coppell, Corinth, Dallas, Dallas County, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas Innovation Alliance, Dallas Regional Chamber, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Frisco, Garland, Irving, North Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), McKinney, McKinney Economic Development Corporation, North Texas Commission, Plano, Richardson, and the Texas Research Alliance, with pivotal support from supporters Cisco, Chrysalis Partners, Connected Cities Integrators, Marketplace.city, and NexGen Lighting Solutions. The NTXIA is a member of Mastercard’s City Possible network, a community dedicated to advancing inclusive and sustainable development through collaboration.
About Marketplace.city
Marketplace.city helps state and local government source, evaluate, and procure technology products and services. Free for governments to use, Marketplace.city provides market data, case studies, pricing, and procurement vehicles across all technology verticals into your procurement process. Governments contract at lower cost, using fewer resources in less time, lowering the risk to their technology initiatives in a compliant manner.