USA gov’t announces 160-mln-USD investment for “Smart Cities” initiative

And the Obama Administration is doing just that, it seems.

“Every community is different, with different needs and approaches”. Nearly $70 million will be earmarked for new spending and about $45 million will be for proposed investments in new solutions for safety, energy, climate preparedness, transportation and healthcare by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 20 cities will participate in major new multi-city collaborations in which city leaders will work closely with universities and industry to come up with solutions to challenges.

The 15 cities make up the Sustainable Ecosystem of Smart Applications project, or cities that have the opportunity to leverage existing high-speed broadband networks. “Instead, they bring together local government and nonprofits and businesses and teachers and parents around a shared goal”.

As part of the initiative, US Ignite, a public-private partnership of more than 25 cities, companies and non-profits created by the White House in 2012, announced it has received a million grant from the National Science Foundation to build what it calls a “living lab” of test beds in 15 USA communities with gigabit networks to develop smart city applications.

Other cities involved in the US Ignite announcement are Burlington, Vermont; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Cleveland; Flint, Mich.; Madison, Wisc.; the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN); Austin and Richardson, Texas; Utah Wasatch Front cities including Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah; Lafayette, La.; and Urbana-Champaign, Ill.

With this grant, US Ignite said it will help participating communities to develop a “smart city app store” for interoperable and interconnected smart gigabit community applications.

Aside from the federal contributions, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provided $1 million earmarked for the part of the program that links cities with universities.

City Digital will launch pilots deploying a network of sensors in Chicago to gather data on green infrastructure and creating a virtual underground mapping platform to detect and monitor underground infrastructure. DHS will work with NIST to leverage smart cities data, analytics and predictive modeling to increase operational efficiency and safety for responders. One of the first awards is to Kansas State University, where it will fund new research on integrated distributed power sources like rooftop solar panels and storage batteries.

‘An emerging community of civic leaders, data scientists, technologists, and companies are joining forces to build “Smart Cities” – communities that are building an infrastructure to continuously improve the collection, aggregation, and use of data to improve the life of their residents, ‘ read the official statement. Specifically, they’re hoping the Smart Cities Initiative will help with key challenges like traffic congestion, crime fighting, economic growth, climate change, and delivery of city services.

The Dallas Entrepreneur Center is among a group of organizations that have partnered with the White House to boost smart cities. The AT&T Foundry for IoT innovation center in Plano, TX also helps foster collaboration to advance cutting-edge smart city technologies.