News

The connected car industry is growing quickly and is very competitive. So when Smart Cities Council Partners are recognized for their technological contributions with prestigious awards, we want to share the news.

Few people would argue that trees aren’t good for cities. They offer shade for people and buildings and they help the environment and liveability. But there are other benefits you may not have thought of.

Electric utilities serving Illinois are ahead of schedule on a massive smart upgrade. The project isn't complete but it's already providing benefits for customers — and jobs and development in the state's communities.

Palo Alto, California isn't a big city. But it sure acts like one. With numerous smart city projects completed or underway, the Silicon Valley community seems well on its way to becoming the role model it wants to be.

Daimler partners on autonomous taxis... Ooredoo begins Oman oil field network upgrade... Itron takes on major utility's AMI management... Enel scores Australia solar project. Click the links for details.

U.S. police, fire and other first responders will get something they haven't had before: a dedicated public safety communications network to help them respond more effectively to crisis situations. Read on to learn more.

Urban populations are growing and that growth presents cities with several challenges. Among them: what to do with all that additional trash. Read our story to learn about some innovative approaches to solving the problem.

A Dallas innovation organization, AT&T and other tech partners are working together on several smart city projects for the city. And they're doing it in a way that keeps citizens very much involved.

The sustainability and livability benefits of smart cities are attracting the interest of more and more city leaders. But money is often the big roadblock. Read on to learn how you could get around it.

Transdev's driverless car partnership... CH2M's Singapore water project... Panasonic's Orlando City Stadium showcase... Micosoft's major EMEA support center... Click the links for details.

What are cities doing with the massive amounts of data they're collecting as they work to become more connected and smarter? They're getting creative with new applications and they're sharing it with their citizens.

The U.S. DOT recently released a list of 10 cities designated as test beds for driverless cars. Atlanta didn't make the list. But that hasn't stopped the traffic-clogged city from taking matters into its own hands.

Enel is one of the world's largest renewable energy producers. But what does that have to do with its serious stake in Formula E electric car racing? Read our story to find out.

Indianapolis city leaders realized early on they couldn't achieve the smart city they envisioned without help. Read our story to learn where the city is focusing its smart city efforts and why partners are invaluable.

Orlando's popularity as a global tourist destination is undeniable. Now city leaders are planning the next steps to ensure it stays that way – and they haven't forgotten about the people who live and work there.

CH2M's innovation award... Ruckus Wireless provides WiFi in Malaysia... Enel's energy storage acquisition... a new wind energy market for Siemens... UL's online STEM education platform. Click the links for details.

As India moves ahead with its smart cities initiative (and will soon designate 40 more cities for smart city development), Council Lead Partner Sensus launches its first global support center in Hyderabad. Our story explains why.

As part of an effort to help people be more productive and engaged while traveling through the city, Chicago is working on a number of innovations, including smart bus shelters. Read our story to learn more about them.

2016 was a big year for smart cities in so many ways. Constantly evolving technologies, new developments and new lessons learned. Read about them in our look back at the top 10 Smart Cities Council news stories of the year.

The city of Boston has undertaken a number of IoT-based smart city pilot projects, but hasn't always been impressed with the results of their investments. To ensure it doesn't happen again, the city is asking the public and professionals to weigh in and share their thoughts and expertise.

Cost-effectiveness and efficiency are essential for smart cities to run smoothly and provide the level of service citizens expect. Read our story to learn how smart payment technologies can help ensure those undertakings are successful.

Because a smart city's success depend so heavily on complex systems and technologies, one question often asked is: where do we find the skilled tech professionals capable of operating and administering them? Fortunately, more and more universities and other institutions are stepping up to fill the talent gap.

One of the big challenges on the path to becoming a smart city is figuring out how to do a better job of providing services for citizens when city resources are limited. Read the story to learn how Bellevue, Washington and partners will develop a tool to do just that—and share it with other cities.

For coastal communities subject to frequent destructive storms, there may be a line of defense that is helping to lessen their impact. New research indicates that coastal wetlands have been responsible for significant reductions in property damage. But we're not doing enough to protect them.

Understanding citizen expectations and needs is essential for a successful smart city roadmap. But what's the best way to do it? UK researchers plan to identify the types of citizens likely to benefit from and engage the most with smart city technologies and policies. Read our story to learn how and why.

Self-driving cars have generated a lot of buzz. However, that buzz has mostly focused on autonomous vehicle technology, and not on how cities are planning to accommodate them. The good news is there's still time to prepare, but the window of opportunity is getting smaller.

Planning a smart city isn't easy, in large part because a successful smart city roadmap needs to extend well into the future, not just the next few years. Read the story to learn about the tools two Virginia local governments are using to ensure that future is a sustainable, livable one.

Microgrids aren't quite center stage yet, but they will be critical to ensuring the strong, reliable electric networks smart cities and their all-important communications systems will depend on in the not-so-distant future. Read our dispatch from Smart Cities Week to learn more about the role microgrids will likely have in our energy future.

A city can’t be smart without a resilient, strong communications network to tie it together. But how does a city go about deciding the right path to success? Read the story to get advice on the topic from some of the experts speaking at Smart Cities Week.

After a long statewide budget impasse, several Pennsylvania school districts faced possible school closures. But one district, plagued with HVAC system failures and maintenance problems, decided to invest in a $3.4 million system upgrade despite the financial uncertainty. Read the story to learn why.

No one likes to see piles of trash on and around trash containers, and those unexpected overflows generate citizen complaints and unscheduled trips to empty them. Edinburgh, Scotland is trying out a sensor-based solution and city officials are liking what they see so far.

Finland, already known for its healthcare technology innovations, has ambitious plans to further improve the health of its citizens as well as its healthcare system. With help from IBM's cognitive computing technologies, the country envisions becoming one of the world's top data-led hospital systems.

As cities move away from fossil fuels and toward a smart energy network of renewable energy sources and distributed generation, the technologies needed to support those networks are evolving rapidly. Click to learn about a hybrid microgrid demonstration project that could increase the demand for microgrids as solutions for integrating renewables and backup power sources during outages.

Vehicle-to-grid technology, the concept of using electric vehicles to help manage the electric grid, could be a step closer to reality if Council Associate Partner Enel and its partners have anything to say about it. They have developed and installed a commercial system at a Danish utility and consider it a major step in addressing the technology's challenges.

Earlier this year Oracle announced it would invest $200 million in U.S. computer science education as part of a larger global initiative. But company leaders wanted to take their education initiatives further. The company is now building a public high school on its corporate campus to teach students problem-solving skills and more. Read the story to learn what's behind the strategy.

A natural gas contract for Black & Veatch... Enevo's EIB expansion loan... Sungard's Public Sector's new emergency responder solution... a new project for Itron... Enel commissions new solar plant in Chile. Click the links for details.

One of the biggest challenges cities face when considering smart city transformations is cost. Installing and integrating the technologies that make smart cities work is expensive and many cities are simply unable to afford them. Read the story for funding ideas that may help your city reach its goals.

IoT-based smarter building management systems can do a lot to increase energy efficiency (and reduce the power bill), enhance security and take advantage of data analytics to improve overall performance. But they can be expensive. Fortunately advances in the field are providing more options, like the one described in our story. Click for details.

A group of U.S. House members is collaborating on legislation to help cities make their smart city transformations work. The bill they're drafting focuses on the areas where cities usually need the most help: securing financing and the guidance and expertise they need to ensure successful projects.

A new partnership between technology and car companies expects to have a platform for self-driving cars in production by 2021. It's yet another indicator of what our connected transportation future will look like—and a reminder that cities will need to be ready for it.

Tweaking existing technologies to create new ones happens all the time. But borrowing 150-year-old technology to provide solutions for today's air quality problems is, well—a little different. Read the story to learn how (and why) Siemens is testing old street car technology to power today's new electric trucks.

Predicting how technologies will evolve (or if they will) is a difficult chore. But with millions of connected devices and sensors collecting massive amounts of new forms of data and new ways to use it, most analysts see substantial and continued growth in the number of cities moving toward Internet of Things technology as they work to make their operations more efficient and cost-effective.

Self-driving cars are said to be a few years away from appearing on city streets. But electric cars are here now and their numbers are growing. Is your city prepared—or preparing—to accommodate more EVs and, eventually, autonomous cars? If not, the trends in the story below explain why it should be.

Usually, teachers would take a dim view of students playing video games in class. But with Council Lead Partner Microsoft's educational version of a popular video game, educators can teach their students about real-world subjects (such as city planning) and more traditional coursework in a collaborative learning environment.

Many cities are fortunate to have plenty of open, green public space for their citizens to enjoy. But what if your city doesn't have the land or the budget to do it? Read the story to learn about how the city of Fresno and local school districts are tackling the problem.

Connected cars are expected to be fairly common on our highways and city streets within a few years. They're seen as the way to make cars safer and the driving experience easier, improve traffic flow, reduce pollution and more. But that raises a big question: What do cities need to do to accommodate them?

Just as drought has affected regions of the world that rarely if ever had a shortage of water, other areas are suffering from unexpected catastrophic floods. Council Lead Partner CH2M is working with government agencies in the UK to pinpoint risks and identify the best possible strategies to protect against floods well into the future. (There are economic benefits, too.)

The federal government has contracted with Siemens to install and operate a combined heat and power (CHP) plant at a U.S. Army command headquarters in Germany, part of a government effort to save energy and lower its power bill. At a time when clean energy sources are so much in demand, CHP may be an option for your city's smart energy strategy.

What started as a proof of concept for Enevo's smart waste management technology became a win-win for the city of Rotterdam. Read the story to learn how combining sensors for trash receptacles with route planning software reduces waste handling costs and encourages recycling. Could your city do the same?

Energy company Enel and Nissan, manufacturer of the Leaf EV, are taking their vehicle-to-grid show on the road — specifically to the UK. The technology adds a new twist to the role of electric cars by turning them into rolling energy storage systems. Read the story to learn more, and how it could help cities with energy management.

The United Arab Emirates wants to be one of the world's smartest countries, and its first move toward that goal is to make Dubai, the country's largest city, as connected as it can be by undertaking more than 100 separate smart city initiatives. While such a large project may not be right for your city, Dubai's transformation plan may give you some ideas for your own.

Kansas City has taken its next steps toward becoming a sustainable city able to provide a better, more livable city for its citizens. One of those steps is a smart street lighting pilot project because city leaders see it as a win-win — a safer, more convenient environment for their citizens and an effective, efficient tool to help them manage the city.

The small Ohio town of Minster might not seem a likely choice for energy technology innovation, but its solar power plus energy storage system is the largest of its kind for a municipal utility in the U.S. Not only will the storage system bring more energy reliability and new revenue streams to the city, it also will allow it to defer $350,000 in grid upgrade costs. Sound like a good idea?

Many cities throughout the world continue to operate water distribution networks that are 70-100 years old. And while lost revenue from water leaks is staggering, it's not the only problem. Failing systems also can contribute to contaminated, poor quality drinking water. Read on to learn why your city should take a hard look at its water network -- and the available solutions.

The Edmonton Valley Line, a new light rail project in Edmonton, Alberta, is expected to help meet the growing needs of Canada's second fastest-growing city. It's also the first project for Bechtel's new Public-Private Partnership line of business. Read the story to learn more, and pay particular attention to the important role continuing public involvement has played.

Citizen engagement -- city residents participating in the decisions that affect their lives and future -- is an essential part of smart city planning. But if you're a little fuzzy on its importance, read what the deputy mayor of a mid-sized city said about the benefits of doing it well and the possible consequences of doing it poorly or not at all. We also share some tools to help you get to know your citizens better.

The quest for safer, better, more intelligent cars has already attracted car makers, technology companies and others to the connected car market. Now IT and networking company Cisco and car maker Hyundai have teamed to speed up development of next generation connected car technologies.