Happy Global Smart Cities Week!
Thanks to the Smart Cities Council for hosting the virtual Global Smart Cities Week conference. Even though the community energized by Smart Community projects cannot meet face-to-face this year, it is great to have an opportunity to share with one another lessons learned — and progress made — since this community last came-together a year ago.
Challenges facing cities and towns of all sizes are pronounced. With acute challenges come opportunities to leverage advanced technologies and forge effective partnerships to improve the quality of life in our communities. Despite all the challenges that 2020 has wrecked, the work of Smart Community partnerships and project teams must continue. I feel as though the work is more important than ever.
I have attended several excellent sessions that are part of the Global Smart Cities Week event. Many of the sessions are now available on-demand.
I also had the privilege of co-leading a session sponsored by NCTA — The Internet and Television Association. On November 2, the Smart Cities Council will release NCTA’s session entitled “Effective Public Private Partnerships: The Key to Smart Community Success.” The session features several special guests, including Mayor Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, FL, Mr. Jack Belcher, CIO of Arlington VA, Mr. Michael Hicks, CIO of College Park Georgia,
New Smart Communities Whitepaper
The central focus of the panel is a new whitepaper authored by Connected Communities LLC. The whitepaper examines and explores a geographically diverse set of smart community projects and puts forth a series of key findings and recommendations.
Drawing from interviews with leaders from cable companies and their smart community project partners, Connected Communities LLC offers three recommendations for cable companies and three recommendations for the expanding ecosystem of organizations pursuing Smart Community projects:
Recommendations for Organizations Pursuing Smart Community Projects:
Do not lose sight of the fact that effective Smart Community projects require robust, reliable and secure connectivity.
Consider carefully whether long range, low power wireless solutions (LoRAWan) can enable and support today the end-to-end smart applications promised by the forthcoming deployment of 5G networks.
Since Smart Community projects are collaborative and can evolve over time, it is wise to recognize that the strongest projects benefit from project participants that possess a vested interest in the project’s success.
Recommendations for Cable Companies:
When designing a project with partner, keep in mind that a demonstrable and rapid return-on- investment (ROI) is a critical success factor for Smart Community projects.
Recognize that Smart Community projects, particularly those including a municipal partner, are most effective if they directly address pain points and require minimal upfront hardware investment.
Continue to invest in expanding your networks in recognition of the fact that small towns and cities, like their larger counterparts, benefit greatly from investments in high capacity, high speed networks.
The Smart Communities whitepaper is available on NCTA’s website. To watch NCTA’s session at Global Smart Cities Week, please visit the Global Smart Cities Week website. Required registration is free of charge.
About this Medium Site
On this Medium site, I explore an array of topics related to the transformative power of smart and connected communities. A central question for this observer of the so-called smart city movement: how will municipalities develop, deploy and support smart and connected community projects at scale?
I welcome feedback and comments from readers.
