White House releases money for small-satellite broadband, smart cities

Source:  PCWorld on October 13, 2016 | Grant Gross

The government will release $65 million for smart-city technology, $30 million for small satellites

The U.S. government will invest tens of millions of dollars in smart-city technologies and in small-satellite broadband as part of a US$300 million package focused on innovation.

The package of new investments, announced Thursday, will include $65 million in government funding and $100 million in private funding for smart cities technologies. Two new government grant programs will focus on easing traffic congestion and on creating new on-demand mobility services, including smartphone-enabled car sharing, demand-responsive buses, and bike-sharing.

"From automated vehicles to connected infrastructure to data analytics, technology is transforming how we move around our country, and some of the most exciting innovation is happening at the local level," U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. 

The White House, cohosting an innovation frontiers conference in Pittsburgh Thursday, also announced $50 million in funding to help drive the development of small satellites, with new broadband services one possible use.

In upcoming weeks, federal agencies will announce investments and additional steps they will take to drive adoption of so-called smallsats for commercial, scientific, and national security uses, the White House said. More details will be coming soon, a White House spokeswoman said.

"Advancing smallsat technology and adoption could, for example, allow companies to provide ubiquitous high-speed Internet connectivity and offer continuously updated imagery of the Earth," the White House said in a press release.

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