MORAINE, Ohio—For years, Donjian Xu and her husband operated a sleepy Chinese restaurant in this industrial suburb of Dayton, cooking up American-style Chinese food like sweet-and-sour chicken and beef with broccoli for customers who would stop in on their lunch break.
Read MoreMIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Meeting in Miami, Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the American Cities Initiative, a suite of new and expanded investments that will empower cities to generate innovation and advance policy that moves the nation forward. In an era of unprecedented challenges – from rapid technological change to Washington D.C.'s deepening disengagement on urban issues to the climate crisis – cities need new tools that will allow mayors to do what they do best: innovate, solve problems, and work together to move the needle on the issues that matter to citizens and America's future.
Read MorePerhaps because they played SimCity-style games in their younger years, many technologists working in government today are excited with the prospect of using "smart city" technology to transform the administrative process from one that is unpredictable, bureaucratic, opaque, slow and clunky into one that responds to the push of a button or the twist of a knob. The purpose of the smart city concept is to transform a busy, complex and unreliable metropolis into something that works precisely the way the people in charge want it to work.
Read MoreWith more than 60 per cent of the world's population expected to be urban residents by 2050, the challenge to build more "smart cities" has become urgent. With the advent of digital technology and big data, changes are afoot, be it in public transportation, citizen services or the way businesses are run. To discuss these changes and evaluate the processes under way, one of France's leading newspapers, Le Monde, in partnership with The Straits Times, is organising a conference titled "Smart Cities: Which visions and models for the 21st century?" at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy today. And, in a four-page special, The Straits Times and Le Monde showcase Asian cities that have, in their individual ways, applied smart city solutions to enhance the quality of life.
Read MoreSingularity University (SU), whose mission is to educate, inspire, and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges, is sponsoring the Smart City Accelerator in Columbus, Ohio. The city was the winner of the US Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge last year.
Read MoreSeattle, Philadelphia, San Jose and San Leandro officials say accessibility to high-speed internet and connectivity is fundamental to moving smart city plans forward.
Read MoreUnder pressure to adapt to new demands and increased service usage, city officials from around the nation said Wednesday their highest hurdles for smart city growth included money, staffing, finding leadership buy-in, partnerships, and creating a cohesive vision that spans the organization.
Read MoreThe Indiana General Assembly’s 2017 Legislative Session recently adjourned with the passing of a two-year $32+ billion budget. The new budget contains key wins for technology and innovation. The General Assembly’s legislative priorities included venture capital, entrepreneurship and advanced infrastructure.
Read MoreFor their school science fair, the two developed HydroAlert, an innovative flood warning sensor. The device shoots an ultrasonic sensor into the surface of Bull Creek, measuring how far it currently sits from the road. The data is then uploaded to the HydroAlert app–which the students also designed–every 15 seconds. LED lights on the device changes colors (green, yellow or red) depending on how close the water is getting to the roadway.
Read MoreThe last year has shown a huge acceleration of interest and action in the Smart Cities market – in the UK, and around the world. What has long been a topic of interest to technology companies, academics, urban designers and local authorities was covered extensively by mainstream media organisation such as the BBC, the Independent newspaper, New Statesman magazine and marketing magazine The Drum.
Read MoreI am proud of my adopted home City of Philadelphia for many reasons, but yesterday that pride grew a little greater when I heard the news that Philadelphia was named one of five U.S. cities to win a Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grant.
Read MoreThere are a number of converging factors that can turn a municipality’s vision for a smart city into reality: the steady rollout of high-speed public Wi-Fi networks; the rapid evolution of Internet of Things devices that enable people, businesses and government agencies to measure and get data in real time; and the new transportation and business models created by the NATU (Netflix, Tesla, Airbnb, Uber). Just as significant a factor is the renewed embrace among both government officials and business leaders of public-private partnerships (P3s). That’s encouraging, because without a P3, a smart city plan will most likely remain stuck on the drawing board.
New models, new partnerships, new technologies: the Volkswagen Group is shaping the transition to the mobility world of tomorrow in the key sales market of China. “Shaping the future together” was the motto of the event on the eve of Auto Shanghai 2017 when the Group showcased a large number of new models including three electric world premieres: the Audi X17 BEV Coupé, the ŠKODA VISION E and the Volkswagen I.D. Crossover concept. The Group is thus underscoring its ambitious goals regarding e-mobility and driving forward its strategic realignment. That is also confirmed by the China premiere of “Sedric”, the first self-driving concept car, as well as a smart city partnership with Tongji University. In 2017 alone, the Volkswagen Group and its two Chinese partners will be launching a total of 30 new models in China, including several SUVs. Advanced voice recognition in the current fleet is to enhance user friendliness still further. To that end, a new joint venture with MobVoi, the Chinese company that specializes in artificial intelligence, has been set up.
Read MoreIn this feature series, the Smart Cities Dive team will take an occasional look at the practical, logical and down-right genius innovations that are transforming urban centers. Our aim is to ignite a thought or fire up a discussion that impacts the way you perform your job. We can't do this alone; pitch topics, talk to us and help us set the agenda.
Read MoreHouston, Dallas, Fort Worth
Read MoreSensors-on-lampposts have become a smart city cliché, the go-to image of urban technology in action. But these projects have a Bigfoot quality about them: often discussed, seldom seen.
Read MoreWhy become a smart city? When we reflect upon the push and pull – industry, cities, citizens – it’s important to remember that the “why” isn’t the same everywhere. If you ask Brent Nair, Chief Information Officer for the City of Memphis, he’ll tell you that his passion is in finding technologies that will serve people today.
Read MorePressures on infrastructure—due to growing urban populations, the ubiquity of new technologies, and collaborative business models—are fostering a new form of entrepreneurship focused on addressing quality of life in cities. Urban entrepreneurs are challenging the logic of formal market structures, forcing us to re-frame our thinking around the interactions between place, individuals, institutions, and the resulting innovative outcomes. Urban entrepreneurs—operating at the neighborhood, city, and global levels—are developing alternative forms of private-public-people partnerships and unique business strategies.
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