News

Canadians use a lot of water. The country is ranked among the highest in the world for water consumption. So it's more than a little surprising that a small Alberta town has emerged as a role model for its efforts to reduce water use. Read our story to learn how they did it.

Louisville, Kentucky isn't a major metropolis but it has big city traffic problems. It's ranked as one of the top 50 in the country for traffic congestion. So the city's turning to technology solutions for help – and planning to tackle traffic snarls in a way that might appeal to other cities with similar headaches.

A city, a university and a major technology company are working with an innovative combination of technologies to improve traffic flows and reduce accidents and fatalities. And they're asking the public for help.

Smart bike sharing programs are proliferating throughout the world, but managing them presents a unique set of challenges. Partners in a Chinese field trial are hoping a combination of technologies can resolve them.

Schneider Electric and Microsoft collaborate… Panasonic's new China battery factory… Itron's natural gas upgrade project… Oracle expands cloud service partnerships… Daimler enters U.S. home energy storage market.

Advanced technologies help police in many ways, from improving operations to ensuring reliable communications and more. But Dubai Police took it a big step further with the introduction of a robot police officer.

Self-driving vehicles will drastically change urban mobility, and cities need to be prepared. But how? Our story shares insights from transportation professionals on what to expect and how to plan for the transition.

Seat Pleasant, Maryland may be a small community, but it's got big smart city plans – and a major league technology partner to help it turn those plans into reality.

Smart transportation is about tech, but it’s about policy too. And it will take smart policy to get people out of their cars and into shared transportation, experts sharing insights at Smart Cities Week said Tuesday.

Hong Kong is taking steps to make its congested roads – and the city itself – safer and smarter with cellular-based technologies. Read our story for ideas your city may be able to use.

Middle school and high school students are collaborating with NASA research and development teams to build a global smart city platform. And they're performing extremely well. Read on to learn more.

Schneider Electric's USMC smart controls project... an ethics award for CH2M... Panasonic's residential roof solar panel and more. Click the links for details.

California, the state with the country's largest car market, may clear the way for driverless car testing on its public roads. Regulators are asking for public comment now. Read on to learn more.

Most of the buzz and about self-driving cars has focused on how they'll make driving safer and help traffic-congested cities. But what about the laws governing their use? And who's liable if something goes wrong?

IBM's military data centers... energy efficiency for hospital buildings... help for power utilities and their customers... Daimler partners with Uber on self-driving cars. Click the links for details.

Like many large cities, Miami is wrestling with the challenges of growing populations and aging infrastructure. But the coastal city has another big problem: increasingly frequent tidal flooding. If your city is facing similar challenges, Miami's action plan may provide ideas and solutions you can use.

While driverless vehicles are in various stages of development and testing, it's becoming abundantly clear that they will be part of the urban landscape in the future. Read our story to learn about a driverless passenger shuttle bus making the rounds in several U.S. cities

Smart cities offer a sustainable place to live and work. But if your city is like so many others it may not have the bucks to invest in the projects and technologies that make a city smart. Read our story to learn about financing models and sources (and a program that helps cities in developing countries improve their credit rating).

Self-driving cars may not be on your radar yet, but they certainly are for an increasing number of major technology and car companies. Read our story to learn about new—possibly surprising—developments in the industry.

Panasonic's new partnership... Itron's MDM recognized... IBM's hybrid cloud goes to sea... ZTE and Huawei boost 5G-ready mobile equipment production... Siemens wins federal government energy savings contracts... CH2M supports USAID humanitarian efforts. Click the links for details.

IBM and BMW will work together to build more intuitive driver support systems for passenger vehicles. The point? To make the cars of the future more convenient, comfortable, safe — and chatty. Read the story for details.

Oracle's $1.4B computer science education investment... a new water contract for Sensus... Schneider Electric's new IoT solution... Ameresco's solar canopy project... Daimler's big spend on EVs. Click the links for details.

A blockchain microgrid partnership for Siemens... Cubic Transportation wins UK contract... recognition for Transdev... Itron's Australia water distribution automation project and a clean energy company award for Schneider Electric. Click the links for details.

Connecticut was hit hard by massive storms (including Hurricane Sandy) that caused major power outages and extensive property damage a few years ago. That had a lot to with why the state quickly launched a program to fund microgrid construction: to limit outages and lessen the aftermath. Read our story for an update.

Until relatively recently, police work typically involved reacting to events as they happened or shortly after. And anticipating crime was largely a combination of officers' intuition and experience. Predictive policing is a different approach that could very well be changing the future of law enforcement. Read our story to learn how.

Cities are buzzing with excitement about what they can accomplish with their smart city projects and the technologies that enable them. But by overlooking or failing to take action on security vulnerabilities, IT professionals warn the benefits from those technologies could be short-lived.

With a smart street light pilot project successfully wrapped up, Washington, D.C. technology and transportation officials are moving ahead with partner Cisco on an ambitious citywide smart cities upgrade that will cut the district's operating costs and pave the way for a variety of smart city benefits.

A major energy system upgrade for a Boston-area community college will not only transform the school into a green campus and provide more comfortable facilities, it also is expected to save nearly $860,000 in annual energy costs. Read the story for details.

India's state of Maharashtra has taken the country's digital and manufacturing initiatives to heart in a big way. And to help the realize its ambitious vision, Cisco will deliver a new manufacturing hub, a smart city, education and training programs and more.

It seems like there's never enough money for everything city leaders would like to do to improve or add needed services. But by choosing the right upgrade projects, you might be able to save serious money by deploying two at the same time. That's what Enel is doing. Read the story to find out how.

Two trends are changing healthcare – and cities and their medical facilities should be prepared for them if they're to maintain a competitive edge. Read the story to learn about an emerging approach that puts patients first and advances in wireless health technologies that provide better care at reduced costs.

For Nashville Metro Water Services, manual meter reading in rural areas could be problematic. Poison ivy, meters covered in overgrown plants and other obstacles made meter reading a time-eating chore. Read the story to learn how a smart water network saved the utility money — and solved those problems.

Does your city have the financing and technological know-how it needs to plan and deploy smart transportation and mobility projects? If not, read our story for details about examples of programs the U.S. Department of Transportation has in place that may meet your needs.

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.

A venture builder private equity company, a university and technology companies are working together to build a platform for smart city development — and they will use it to build a new $500 million district in a northern Virginia community.

When Kansas City moved forward in May with a smart city pilot project, city leaders went with a small section of the city's core area because they wanted to be sure it worked before committing to a more ambitious smart city upgrade. Read the story for details on phase two, which will add new services and expand the area covered.

Cities like Barcelona and Copenhagen are typically at the top of "world's best" smart cities lists. But they are existing cities with centuries of history, and their ongoing smart city transformations have had their share of challenges. Public-private partnerships in Florida and Colorado are taking a different tack: they're starting from scratch, and on a much smaller scale.

The typical path for school age students is completing high school, then moving on to college and/or a career. But many underserved students in impoverished rural areas drop out and never get that opportunity. Read the story to learn about an AT&T grant program that's giving rural students in North Carolina a better shot at success.

With many cities facing chronically tight budgets and the need to expand services to meet the changing demands of growing populations, switching to digital services can often be the right choice. Our story explains some of the critical elements to consider when moving services online and how to provide maximum benefits for citizens and do it cost-effectively.

A former student's gratitude for the training that helped him land a job with Siemens has led to paid internships with the company for promising students in an Oregon community college energy management program. It's a classic win-win: good jobs for the students and a talent pool of much-needed building control technicians for the company.

California's drought isn't over and another bout of hot, dry weather is a possibility there. Other states are on drought watch and some are already suffering. It's not just the U.S. Vietnam is enduring its worst drought in 90 years. In this special issue, we share strategies and technologies developed to ensure efficient, sustainable water supplies—and examples of why they are so sorely needed.

When the residents of Georgia suburb Johns Creek want to know what their police department is up to, all they need to do is look it up rather than file a request for a report. In addition to opening lines of communication between the department and the people they serve, an experimental new program gives police the information and insights they need to operate more efficiently.

Council Associate Partner Huawei will provide a variety of enhancements and solutions to bring a Dubai South business park into the smart city era. The company will provide its ICT expertise and technology to help Dubai achieve its ambitions to become one of the world's smartest cities.

Need a new metro train station but can’t stomach a major construction project in the middle of downtown? Read our story to learn why a smaller station might be the best option. Your CFO—and your citizens—will thank you for it.

Many organizations are working on standards to ensure that smart cities are interoperable, cost-effective and successful. Read our story to learn how one group is working to bring those standards together in a coherent framework cities can rely on as they plan their projects.

Cisco is collaborating on a new innovation center in Manchester to provide support and guidance to start-up companies and their technologies in the areas of smart cities, IoT, digital healthcare and more. Manchester's a big, bustling city with equally big ambitions, but our story may give you some ideas on how collaboration can work for your city.

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?

A recently completed connected smart street lighting trial went so well in Tianjin, China, the city's government wants to greatly expand the deployment. And add a digital incubation center as a test bed for innovative technologies with Council Lead Partner GE's energy startup Current.

The transit agency serving the greater Boston area is working on a long-range energy management plan to cut energy costs and reduce transportation-related carbon emissions at the same time. There are a lot of approaches and opportunities, but which ones offer the biggest bang for the buck? Read on for ideas your city could use.

We take 911 emergency service reliability for granted. But there have been many instances when calls weren't answered or a caller's location couldn't be found, with sometimes dire consequences. Read the story to learn why one local government is working on a next generation 911 system with Council Associate Partner Black & Veatch. Then ask yourself if your city's system is as good as it could be.

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?

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.

Anyone involved in smart cities initiatives is familiar with smart street lights and probably knows they can do far more than illuminate streets at night. But there are a few things smart street lighting networks can do (or will be able to do soon) that may come as a surprise — a welcome surprise for cities that want to expand or improve the services they provide.

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?

The dangers of cyber attacks are well-known: big banks, hospitals, retail stores, utilities and other service providers have all been hacked — cities too. To help security professionals stay ahead of the hackers IBM is training Watson, its "multi-talented" cognitive computing technology, as a super cyber security detective.

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.