One of the most critical aspects of any Smart City endeavor is public education and awareness. As technology transforms how cities operate, forums for this sharing of information become increasingly important. While working with the City of Atlanta as Senior Program Manager of SmartATL, I led the development and execution of an all-day, public event on September 15, 2017 called Experience SmartATL.
The event included 38 experiences/exhibits showcasing work in the following categories: economic development, environment, mobility/transportation, public engagement, public safety, and cross-cutting. The work showcased included 10+ City of Atlanta projects along with smart city projects from larger companies such as ESRI, IBM, Mastercard, and Microsoft, smaller companies such as 360ns, Skignz, and Soofa, academic partners such as Georgia Tech, government partners such as MARTA and Georgia Commute Options, and nonprofit partners such as Code for Atlanta.
Final numbers indicated more than 500+ people joined the event as attendees or experience/exhibit leads. Success factors included potential collaboration opportunities identified between companies, attendees learning about projects that affect their daily life (e.g., how their water billing works, how to avoid recycling contamination, and how the police department is leveraging advanced technology), City staff taking pride in their impactful work, and overall event cost effectiveness (executed at no cost for attendees and limited cost to the City). * All products property of the City of Atlanta.
The event included 38 experiences/exhibits showcasing work in the following categories: economic development, environment, mobility/transportation, public engagement, public safety, and cross-cutting. The work showcased included 10+ City of Atlanta projects along with smart city projects from larger companies such as ESRI, IBM, Mastercard, and Microsoft, smaller companies such as 360ns, Skignz, and Soofa, academic partners such as Georgia Tech, government partners such as MARTA and Georgia Commute Options, and nonprofit partners such as Code for Atlanta.
Final numbers indicated more than 500+ people joined the event as attendees or experience/exhibit leads. Success factors included potential collaboration opportunities identified between companies, attendees learning about projects that affect their daily life (e.g., how their water billing works, how to avoid recycling contamination, and how the police department is leveraging advanced technology), City staff taking pride in their impactful work, and overall event cost effectiveness (executed at no cost for attendees and limited cost to the City). * All products property of the City of Atlanta.