archiveJanuary 2017

Smart IT & Communications

LAFAYETTE, LA., CONSIDERS OPEN DATA, SMART CITY POLICIES

Imagine picking up your smartphone to explore crime statistics for your neighborhood, see new restaurant permits issued over the past year or chart the safest bike route through the city. Lafayette city-parish government is in the early stages of a new initiative to give residents easy access to a world of interesting information sitting on government computers that has been largely inaccessible. The idea is generally referred to as “open data”: taking the piles of digital data held by government agencies and opening it up to the public. The effort here received...
International

MEMPHIS FUNDS 5 SMART CITY RESEARCH PROJECTS ON CRIME, LITTER, BLIGHT AND MORE

This summer, The City of Memphis, Tennessee, will get its first smart city research results back from its partners at the University of Memphis. In November, the city awarded five $10,000 grants to professors who proposed ideas that the city may someday develop to support its smart city vision. In its grant description, Gov. Jim Strickland highlighted a desire to focus research on areas surrounding crime, litter, blight and efficient government. A fifth category was left open to new ideas. The five grant winners were: A Planning Support System for Comprehensive...
Smart Cities

CISCO EXPANDS SMART CITY INITIATIVE IN INDIA

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and global business process management and services corporation, Genpact Ltd. (G) today announced the launch of a Global Center of Excellence in Jaipur, India. The new partnership serves as part of Cisco’s larger Lighthouse City project, a global initiative designed to deploy next-generation cloud-based technology in cities, set to directly impact citizens and society. Smart City Technology The city of Jaipur will gain access to Cisco’s global network and channel program capabilities, which Genpact says will help the city benefit from economic and social transformation as...