Smart Cities Connect Conference & Expo

From March 26-29 in Kansas City, KC, Smart Cities Connect hosted the largest IoT Event for Global City Leaders in North America. One of the aspects that makes this summit so unique and special is that it partners and co-locates with the US Ignite Application Summit.  More than 1,700 attendees including 500 global city leaders came from 200+ cities and 19 countries.

The keynotes + six subject tracks focused on Energy & Connected Buildings • Infrastructure & Resilience; Networks & Data; Urban Mobility; Citizen Life & Governance and of course the US Ignite Application Summit. 

This year the conversation around Smart Cities was more mature. Cities have moved beyond curiosity and pilot projects and are beginning the transformative work to invest in their digital infrastructure, modernize systems, and integrate data (including smarter applications of open data). Of course security and privacy were key concerns. 

Inspiring was the continual focus on the resident and the human side of smart cities. It's not just tech for tech's sake but instead a real focus on how technology can enable more connected and advanced communities. Cities that prepare for #5G, align their IoT strategies and invite new ways of thinking, new partners and new systems are rising to the top.

Bob Bennet, Kansas City CIO made it all real when he said, "Cities that Fail to Become Smart Could Be the Next Digital Rust Belt." We couldn't agree more. 

Learn more about key highlights and takeaways. And stay tuned for more to come from Smart Cities Connect. There will be summits in Tampa (October 26-29) and Denver (April 1-4, 2019).

EVENTSChelsea McCulloughsmartcities, SCC, Conference