At challenge's conclusion, Smart Columbus to continue its work
Source: Smart Cities Dive | Chris Teale
Dive Brief:
With its federal grant funding period now over, the Smart Columbus organization in Columbus, Ohio, announced Tuesday it will continue its work as a "collaborative innovation lab" to use technology to address societal problems in the region.
Now, the city of Columbus will sustain several of the group's initiatives that had been pioneered after winning the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) inaugural Smart City Challenge. The projects slated to continue are multimodal trip-planning app Pivot; parking payment app ParkColumbus; smart mobility hubs; the connected vehicle environment; and the Smart Columbus operating system.
Officials said Smart Columbus will now focus on ways technology can help benefit the region, including through mobility, sustainability and digitalization. Research from Ohio State University found the implementation of USDOT's grant funding generated an estimated gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $173.39 million and generated or induced 2,366 jobs in the city and its surrounding area.