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A three-year, multi-million dollar project will equip British Columbia with a monitoring and prediction system to respond to off-shore accidents, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Council Global Partner IBM is IBM is investing $12 million in...
Article - 04/30/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Public safety and security, Analytics, Computing resources
Most cities looking to add data-gathering technologies to their operations face the challenge of making the new equipment work with, or alongside, what they’ve got. Comprises are sometimes necessary.That’s why urban planners and data experts are...
Article - 04/30/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Data management
Water Technology magazine talked with Smart Cities Council Chairman Jesse Berst about how the Council works, how the Council's Smart Cities Readiness Guide was developed and the types of water technologies that go into making a smart city. Click...
Article - 04/28/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
A short survey by the Public Technology Institute (PYI) asked public safety and IT officials from local governments large and small to rank 16 public safety technology topics according to their internal priorities."Just keeping up" with technology...
Article - 04/25/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Computing resources, Connectivity, Security and privacy
This week's short takes from Council Partners and Advisors…New submersible S&C Electric product promotes resiliency: Communities at risk from rising sea levels due to climate change and/or severe weather and flooding will want to take note of a...
Article - 04/25/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Payments, Transportation, Finance and procurement
An online mapping tool that zooms in on U.S. coastal areas at risk from rising sea levels added New England to its coverage this week. New York, New Jersey and Florida are already included. The Pacific states are expected to be added later this...
Article - 04/25/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Public safety and security, Computing resources, Connectivity
We all love coffee shops that lets us connect our laptop or tablet to their free WiFi hotspot. But in the future, it may get even better. Wireless technology may enable us to charge our laptop and battery-dependent devices as we slurp our latte. The...
Article - 04/25/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Connectivity
Smart city technologies often fall into the realm of things like integrated communications networks, cloud computing frameworks and advanced instrumentation. But, as New York City demonstrates, there’s room for your old-fashioned robot, too.The New...
Article - 04/25/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Instrumentation and control
Below are details on a short course -- Beyond Smart Cities -- that MIT Professional Education will offer June 16-18 on its Cambridge, Massachusetts campus. MIT Professional Education Now Offers Beyond Smart Cities CourseEnrollment is Open to U.S and...
Article - 04/23/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Smart City Concepts, Smart City Tools
A New York Times article earlier this week suggesting Europe remains a step ahead of the U.S. in creating smart cities garnered a lot of attention on Twitter and elsewhere. Even though Europe was hard hit by the recent financial crisis, the Times...
Article - 04/23/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Finance and procurement, Policy and leadership, Financing and procurement tools
Diabetes is a growing health issue across the United States. And Mississippi knows this better than anyone.The Magnolia State ranks second behind West Virginia in percentage of residents affected by the chronic disease. In 2012, almost 9% of...
Article - 04/23/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Health and human services
When electric utilities started implementing smart meters, the public backlash was swift and vehement in many parts of the world. And to this day health and privacy concerns continue to fuel the debate over smart meters.So what other smart...
Article - 04/23/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Computing resources, Connectivity, Security and privacy
In an article appearing on the Mass Transit magazine website, Smart Cities Council Chairman Jesse Berst explains how five cities are deploying advanced analytics and smart technologies and in doing so are demonstrating how to make mass transit more...
Article - 04/22/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
When smart cities encourage residents to adopt new technologies – say energy efficiency upgrades – there may be resistance. Residents may not have the upfront money to pay for them. They may be reluctant to adopt something unfamiliar to them. They...
Article - 04/18/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Finance and procurement, Financing and procurement tools
Scroll down for the latest short takes from Council members.Bechtel wins award for innovative project in Australia: Council Global Partner Bechtel has won a CETI Award for the company’s innovative use of RFID technology on the liquefied natural gas...
Article - 04/18/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Payments, Analytics, Computing resources
City officials wondering how important it is to optimize their networks for mobile users may be interested in a recent report from Cisco. Our SCC Global Partner predicts that the global appetite for data over mobile devices will soar exponentially ...
Article - 04/18/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Telecommunications, Connectivity
Council members are on an international roll in this week's spotlight. Scroll down to read about Enel's new pact in China, Itron's water technology roll out in Saudia Arabia, Alstom's transformer swap in India and ABB's work on a smart grid pilot in...
Article - 04/16/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Water and wastewater, Instrumentation and control
Neighborhood revitalization work in Memphis underscores the idea that community involvement is key to creating better cities. In its article, What smart cities can learn from Memphis, High Ground News examines how that city set aside its standard...
Article - 04/16/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Citizen engagement
Cities and other public sector agencies are grappling with what to do about the Heartbleed bug. Heartbleed generated considerable hoopla and headlines in the past week. The bug compromises the online encryption software OpenSLL, which is installed...
Article - 04/16/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Computing resources, Connectivity, Security and privacy
Short takes from Council members…India's first smart city gets Microsoft help: The Times of India reports that Microsoft will help develop Surat as India's first smart city under the guise of its CityNext initiative. The report says Microsoft, a...
Article - 04/11/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Computing resources, Connectivity
Advanced communication networks are vital to smart cities. These networks -- public and private, wired and wireless -- are what connect people, objects and sensors. They enable the flow of data required for innovative solutions in energy,...
Article - 04/11/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Connectivity
First-of-its-kind tool developed by Smart Cities Council in partnership with Arizona State University(Washington, DC) April 10, 2014 – The Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition to improve the livability, workability and sustainability of the...
Article - 04/10/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Data collection is a fundamental piece of the smart cities equation. Smart traffic sensors provide data that help cities improve transportation flow. Sensors on trash bins alert crews that it's time for a pick-up. Smart water meters communicate data...
Article - 04/09/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Citizen engagement, Data management, Security and privacy
When U.S. utilities watch trail blazers for signs about what's next, they often look to stalwarts like Duke, CenterPoint and the three California IOUs. Great examples, to be sure, but they might want to cast their eyes overseas from time to time....
Article - 04/09/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Analytics
What’s the average rescue response time for the city of Jacksonville fire department? According to JaxScore 1.0, the Florida city's new web tool, it's precisely 8:08 minutes. Jacksonville's web addition provides performance scorecards for...
Article - 04/09/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership, Citizen engagement strategies and tools
New ways to make payments electronically continue to pop up around the world. London transit riders, for example, can now tap a debit card on an electronic reader to pay the fare on the subway system. Swedish fast food aficionados can buy a...
Article - 04/09/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Payments, Connectivity
Last week we told you about the 16 cities chosen for IBM's Smart Cities Challenge. Now here's a new smart cities initiative from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – a Council Advisor – that also involves partnering with cities....
Article - 04/04/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Policy and leadership
By Alan SnookPresident, GRID/2020In recent years we've seen severe storms impact electric grids around the world. We’ve seen large population centers endure power outages which extend for uncomfortably long periods. And in the face of it all we've...
Article - 04/04/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Instrumentation and control
Yes, smart parking apps are still in their infancy, but there’s evidence they can indeed reduce traffic congestion, driver frustration, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.That’s the takeaway from a newly published report from Beecham Research...
Article - 04/04/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Connectivity
Scroll down for this week's short takes from Council members...National Grid provides smarter, more reliable energy in Worcester: Council Global Partner National Grid launched the technology phase of its Smart Energy Solutions Program in March and...
Article - 04/02/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Transportation, Water and wastewater, Analytics, Instrumentation and control
Fort Worth will bump up its bet on smart public safety technology by purchasing 400 additional “on-officer” cameras for its police department, reports the Star-Telegram.The Texas city already has 200 of the Taser Axon flex cameras in use to record...
Article - 04/02/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security
The World Health Organization reports that air pollution exposure killed approximately 7 million people in 2012. That figure more than doubles the previous estimates and was arrived at, in part, because of improved air quality sensor technology. The...
Article - 04/02/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Health and human services, Analytics, Instrumentation and control