Kansas City seeks leaders for Smart City board
May 28, 2015 | Bobby Burch
The City of Kansas City, Mo., is now seeking nominations to lead the city’s smart city efforts.
City leaders hope to attract citizens with experience in smart city technologies to help advise the City of Fountain’s coming Cisco Smart City project, in addition to its other smart city efforts.
The newly authorized “Smart City Advisory Board” will help the city establish best-practice policies for smart city applications, which combine a communications and data network to make the city more efficient. To nominate a citizen for the smart city board, click here.
Cisco and Kansas City announced in May of 2014 that the two would partner to create North America’s largest smart city project. The public-private initiative will turn Kansas City’s downtown into a “living lab” of connectivity that will gain insights on the city’s traffic, public safety, coming streetcar line and more. The project in total will cost about $15 million, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.
Business incubator and coworking space Think Big Partners plans to act as a “development portal” manager for the project, allowing area entrepreneurs to access Smart City data. Kansas City Mayor Sly James previously challenged startups and entrepreneurs in the area to develop solutions to improve the city, including its water system.
Featured Business

2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Missouri job growth among the best in the U.S.
Missouri job growth among the best in the U.S. In 2016, the Show Me State gained 57,100 jobs — a figure that topped all 8 of Missouri’s neighboring states. In addition to job growth, Missouri’s unemployment rate decreased .4 percent during the past month, according to a recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor…
‘Nerds’ want to retool Kansas City nonprofits’ websites
‘Tis the season to help your fellow man — and their website. That seems to be the driving force behind a volunteer-led program to improve the digital presence of several Kansas City nonprofits. The Nerdery and its foundation will host the Overnight Website Challenge, which over the years has tapped hundreds of volunteers to complete…
Sustainable apartments in KC’s River Market will be among the world’s largest ‘passive houses’
The future of sustainable real estate development may be taking shape in Kansas City. The $60 million, 276-unit Second and Delaware project aims to not only be one of most environmentally conscious residential buildings but also a global example in sustainable housing, said Jonathan Arnold, CEO of Arnold Development Group. The Arnold Development Group along…
Seven local tech startups bring their innovations to KCMO
After 12 weeks of civic innovation, Kansas City’s Innovation Partnership Program culminated Tuesday with a demo day showcasing its seven participating startups. Launched in 2015, IPP pairs area startups with a department in the City of Kansas City, Mo. to not only identify new efficiencies but also offer the firm a chance to earn business…
