KC smart city ‘an invitation’ to innovators, entrepreneurs
June 4, 2015 | Bobby Burch
Kansas City City Manager Troy Schulte signs a contract with Sprint and Cisco.
The City of Kansas City, Mo., has signed an agreement with Sprint and Cisco to create the largest smart city in North America in the City of Fountains.
Sprint will be building a network of connectivity worth up to $7 million dollars while Cisco will be providing smart city infrastructure worth upwards of $5 million. The Kansas City Council approved in April roughly $3.7 million to spend on the project, bringing the total cost of the Smart City effort to more than $15.7 million.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James said that the project is an open invitation to innovators from around the world to test various technologies on Kansas City’s smart city framework. James previously challenged entrepreneurs in Kansas City to develop smart city technology that will save the city and its taxpayers money, including efficiencies for Kansas City’s troubled sewer system.
“This is an invitation to the entire world to come to Kansas City to see what we’re doing, participate in it, bring ideas and test them out,” James said. “We expect to have more people from around the country and world for cultural tourism to take advantage of all the things that we have to offer, and to bring their knowledge, ideas and thoughts on innovation to Kansas City to play with what we’ve got so we can build on what they bring to us and continue to build our infrastructure. This sets us apart from other cities.”
Kansas City hopes the project will be complete in conjunction with its streetcar line and ahead of the 2016 Men’s Big 12 Basketball Tournament in March. Kansas City is now soliciting nominations to serve on the Smart City Advisory Board.
Kansas City announced the smart city project in the summer of 2014. The city already has developed a prototype of digital kiosks that will be placed along the streetcar line in downtown Kansas City. The city expects more than 20 digital kiosks to be placed around downtown that will provide information on city services and real time information from smart city sensors.
Kansas City has installed smart lighting in its downtown with which it expects to save millions of dollars. The city will spend $1.5 million on smart traffic lighting throughout downtown provided by Lenexa-based Rhythm Engineering.
“It’s extremely important to become the first city on the North American continent to be engaged in the smart city approach,” James said. “This is another indication and example of how Kansas City stands out from the rest of the pack. … This is one more feather in our cap that makes us special.”
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Help from above: Why protecting satellites from cyber attacks could hold key to adapting to climate change
Humans must responsibly rise to the occasion as Earth’s climate changes, Charles Beames said, detailing the role well-protected satellites and space systems can play in putting life-preserving solutions into orbit. “Space systems are one of the keys to the future, our future, of dealing with the changing climate and our adaptation,” said Beames, aerospace expert and…
In the field: Industry-specific, hands-free voice tech helps ‘hero up’ data collecting workers
After years of research, Bruce Rasa and his team identified a consistent pain point for field workers: capturing data on-the-go and looping it back to their headquarters. They need a co-pilot, he said, noting the role played by KC-based Dexer (formerly AgVoice), agriculture’s first handsfree data capture service to help cross-industry specialists create records —…
New city flag designed for KC’s now (and tomorrow): Here’s where you’ll see it flying first
Kansas City is ushering in an era of growth and development, Jared Horman said, and the unveiling of a new municipal flag is just the way to recognize this new chapter. “The timing feels particularly exciting with the Chiefs headed to the Super Bowl, the opening of the new terminal at the airport and the…
Pushing without force: Founder credits accelerator’s collaborative ‘in the trenches’ guidance for overseas scaling success
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by the NMotion startup accelerator, but was independently produced by Startland News. The powerhouse mix of global and localized support David Biga received from the NMotion Growth Accelerator was well worth the program’s required exchange of equity, the proptech startup founder detailed. Particle Space — one of Startland News’…