The Triangle Plus Connected Communities Conference was held again last week, thanks to the leadership of Raleigh Smart City manager, John Holden, and his team.
City and community leaders, business leaders, and techies all joined together to celebrate the “smart city” momentum.
Although I only spent a few hours at the summit, I left even more excited about the momentum of the Triangle's smart city journey.
I was able to attend an energized afternoon session. The start-up pitches were excellent and served as a refreshing reminder on how local governments can collaborate with innovative companies and technologies to solve problems and address challenges with smart city solutions. You can view participating start-ups at Regional Smart City Movement.
I am very grateful for these companies participating in the challenge, and look forward to seeing them grow, create new jobs, while at the same time helping our towns and cities address urban challenges!
The way these companies leverage technology to address sustainability and air quality, flooding, transportation to enhance the quality of life for residents was inspiring.
Varidx is taking the success of their real time data monitoring platform in Morrisville, to expand this type of solution to other cities and counties in the region, more information on that can be found here. We need to see more of this type of benchmarking and sharing of successful case studies as we execute our Smart City Playbook.
Congratulations to the start-up challenge winner, “Just Air”, which is helping improve air quality with their air quality data management platform.
I could not help but think and be reminded of our time with John Chambers a few months ago, who shared his excitement about how local governments are not alone when it comes to developing effective Smart City/AI strategies.
At the end of the conference, Raleigh Innovation Manager, Heather McDougal, asked, “What is our call to action?”.
Well, let me answer her question.
In my opinion, the Triangle Plus Connected Communities Conference in Raleigh this year can be more than just a gathering of thought leaders, technologists, and urban planners.
It should be a call to action for municipalities across the region to rethink how they collaborate, innovate, and build the cities of tomorrow. As we navigate an era defined by rapid technological advancements and increasing urbanization, no city, county, or government can tackle these challenges alone.
I give Raleigh Smart City manager John Holden credit for wanting to bring other city, county and community leaders into the Smart City conversation.
For many years, when I attended this event, it was named, “the City of Raleigh Smart Cities Conference.” The new name, “Triangle Plus Connected Communities conference”, brings attention to the fact that regional collaboration is essential to growing smart city innovation.
RIOT Demo Night also showcased how our start up community is stepping up to help our local governments solve problems which ultimately grows their companies and creates jobs.
Morrisville may be smaller in size compared to some of our neighboring cities, but our ambitions to become a leader in smart city initiatives have been transformational.
I continue to witness how our town is being recognized as a national smart city leader through automating services to residents. For example, notifications of flooding in our parks, providing real time visibility into facility usage. Very soon, we will be incorporating generative AI so our council, staff and residents can search for documents through more simple searches and queries.
All this progress started with ideas from our residents, smart city advisory committees and a solid commitment from our council to get this done.
Kudos to our town for recently being recognized as a winner of the CIO 100 Awards by the Foundry.
All our efforts have resulted in enhancing the quality of services for our residents.
We are already working with partners across the Triangle to improve mobility, embrace sustainable energy solutions, and leverage technology to enhance public safety and community engagement.
Why Regional Collaboration Matters?
Cities across the Triangle face similar challenges: growing populations, increasing infrastructure demands, and the need for sustainable growth.
These challenges transcend municipal boundaries, meaning that solutions must also stretch beyond city limits. By collaborating regionally, cities can pool resources, share knowledge, and develop interconnected solutions that benefit the entire region.
A few years ago, I was involved in a regional project, led by Tom Snyder and other CIOs, that allowed local governments in Wake County to share data to address stormwater issues.
That project was a real success, and now John Holden is working with our technology leaders and elected officials to solve other challenges in a similar way. More importantly, towns like Morrisville can share their smart city successes with other local governments.
I continue to believe that our goal should be to accelerate smart city innovation and technology across the state so North Carolina can be the smartest state in the nation. While I am excited about the handful of cities and towns like Raleigh, Cary and Morrisville that are demonstrating smart city success, we can now expand these types of programs with other local governments.
There is no reason that Garner, Rolesville, Fuquay Varina and Apex cannot join these efforts but to do so, there must be a more regional approach so best practices can be shared.
As a proud council member of Morrisville, I have seen firsthand how regional partnerships can transform our communities.
Morrisville’s proximity to Research Triangle Park, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and major tech hubs places us at the heart of the region’s innovative ecosystem. We understand that being a smart city isn't just about adopting the latest technologies, it's about smart planning, inclusive growth, and enhancing quality of life for residents.
One example of this is our partnership with Wake County and regional transit authorities to improve connectivity between Morrisville and neighboring communities. Through this collaboration, we are helping to build a more efficient, sustainable transportation system that will benefit not just Morrisville, but the entire Triangle. In addition, we also have joined organizations like “Solarize the Triangle”, who are making it easier for homeowners and businesses to combine their purchasing power for solar panels. This kind of regional cooperation is essential if we are to truly harness the power of smart city technologies for a vibrant, resilient economy.
The Smart Cities Conference: A Platform for Governments
The Smart Cities Conference provided a unique opportunity for local governments like Morrisville to engage with new technologies, learn from successful case studies, and build relationships with other municipalities.
More local governments should attend to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their cities are leveraging the latest in smart technology to improve the quality of life for their residents.
For Wake County municipalities this conference was especially timely.
As we continue to grow, it’s vital that we learn from other cities and share our own experiences with regional partners. By working together, we can address common challenges, whether it’s reducing traffic congestion, improving public safety, providing for more affordable housing or making our energy systems more sustainable—while ensuring that every community benefits from the innovations we adopt.
Morrisville’s smart city success is not enough as our town needs to share successes and best practices so we can accelerate those same successes in Wake County and the Triangle.
It is even more important that we do this as Secretary Weaver and his team continue to implement Broadband across the state through the Infrastructure Act.
It is critically important that cities and towns are not left behind in their smart city journeys as we accelerate broadband expansion across the state. There has never been a better time than now to transform Wake County into the smartest county in state and in the nation.
I wrote about this topic a few years ago and since that time, I see more opportunities for local governments to embrace and implement smart city innovation and execute our smart city playbook!
Morrisville’s Role in Regional Collaboration
Morrisville’s success as a growing tech-forward town shows the importance of smaller cities playing an active role in regional development. We may not have the population size of Raleigh or Durham, but our strategic location and willingness to collaborate make us an integral part of the region’s future. The partnerships we’ve built—whether in transportation, technology, or public services—demonstrate that every city, regardless of size, has something valuable to contribute.
As part of the broader Triangle region, Morrisville's participation in initiatives like the Triangle Regional Transit Program and our collaborative approach to infrastructure planning showcases how a unified regional strategy can create smarter, more resilient communities. By attending the Smart Cities Conference, we aim to build on these successes and continue positioning Morrisville as a model for smart, connected growth.
Conclusion: The Path Forward
The future of cities across the Triangle will be shaped by our ability to collaborate and innovate. The Smart Cities Conference in Raleigh is a vital platform for bringing together municipalities, technologists, and policymakers to share ideas and chart a path forward. Regional collaboration isn’t just an abstract ideal, it’s the key to making our cities smarter, more sustainable, and more livable.
In fact, I would also like to see more leadership at the state level help us with these efforts. My advice to our next governor (most likely Josh Stein) is to expand the role of the Secretary of Technology to expand digital transformation efforts beyond state agencies to include all local governments in the state.
Moving forward, I would like to see more local leaders and government officials attend next year's Connected Communities Conference. Whether you represent a large city or a smaller town like Morrisville, we all have a role to play in building the smart cities of tomorrow.
Together, we can ensure that our region remains a leader in innovation and sets an example for the rest of the country. We still have time on the clock, but we need to keep making progress down the smart city field as quickly as we can.
Forget the Avengers.
Our region has innovators, a visionary and forward thinking set of leaders, who will continue to embrace collaboration and innovation to be pillars of economic strength and resilience of our state.
All of you are a part of this team.
Keep up the great work, and let’s keep moving forward.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Steve Rao
Quelle/Source: WRAL News, 04.11.2024
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