There's a race to 5G and the U.S. is not winning — China and South Korea are, according to a report conducted by research firm Analysys Mason and released today by CTIA, the wireless industry association.
Read MoreLots of smart people are talking about smart cities. There is an increasing urgency to take action, given that more than 50% of us already live in urban environments -- a statistic expected to be 66% by 2050. Recently Austin, my hometown, played host to global thought leaders at the Cities Summit during the SXSW conference. It was both informative and inspiring to listen to a cross section of civic leaders, creative urbanists and concerned citizen advocates.
Read MoreThere are 355 smart city projects in 221 cities, according to a new report from Navigant Research; almost one in five now cut across multiple industry sectors, as smart city integration gathers pace. The total value of the smart cities market will more than double in the next decade, from $40.1 billion in 2017 to 94.2 billion by the end of 2026.
Read MoreOver $14.85 billion have been spent on smart city initiatives in 2015. By 2020, the figure is expected to double and reach $34.45 billion.
Read MoreSmart city projects in China are expected to generate $320 billion for the nation's economy by 2025, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Read MoreALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) announces an important milestone in its Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) effort. In collaboration with an industry consortium of 28 networking companies and associations, NSF is supporting the development and deployment of the first two PAWR research platforms, based in Salt Lake City and New York City. These platforms will power research motivated by real-world challenges on experimental, next generation wireless test beds at the scale of cities and communities. The goal is to advance the state of the art for wireless technology beyond today's 4G, LTE and emerging 5G capabilities.
Read MoreIn recent years, the city of Ann Arbor, Mich., has struggled to deal with increased floodwaters reaching the city. To funnel pooling waters after intense storms safely away, the city worked with the University of Michigan to develop Open Storm, a package of open-source sensors, hardware and algorithms to measure and control storm water.
Read MoreUsing failure as a learning moment and building partnerships are among the lessons from the three-day conference in Kansas City, MO.
Read MoreDuring the Smart Cities Conference in Kansas City, Mo., earlier this week, thought leaders broke down the issues facing technology deployments and the importance of bringing constituents along for the ride.
Read MorePaying a water bill or filing a business license fee in Chicago is getting easier. The city has organized payments under one platform and launched the application on 50 new kiosks to be arranged around the city — in locations as varied as police stations to libraries — with the aim of making certain transactions with Chicago quicker and more seamless. The kiosks are expected to roll out this summer.
Read MoreIn Jasper, Ind., Mayor Terry Seitz leads a three-year initiative to bring a fiber network to all residents and businesses to his town of 15,000. He won support for the plan by explaining the opportunities the network would create as well as warning the city could be left behind in innovation and prosperity if it didn’t invest.
Read MoreIt is not an easy time to be an internationalist, to seek global solutions to global problems amid what feels like one of history’s periodic inclinations toward divisiveness.
Read MoreWhen China decides to do something, the country can be incredibly agile and quick in implementation. One example is the construction of a "Forest City" that pushes the boundaries of sustainable urban planning and development, a concept the EPA should certainly take a look at.
Read MoreAustin’s northern neighbor of Georgetown has been making surprising waves in the nationalpress and in several movies and documentaries, including Al Gore’s latest. This town of 67,000, “one of the redder towns in one of the redder counties in Texas,” in the words of its mayor, has become one of “the first US towns, and the largest in Texas, to depend entirely on renewable energy,” in a process that began in 2012. We spoke with Mayor Dale Ross recently to hear about his vision and to discuss how green and tech innovation in Georgetown and Austin might influence each other.
Read MoreThe popular fascination with self-driving passenger cars has opened a new era of how we envision moving people. Meanwhile, a parallel lane has also opened: automating how we move things. While we have yet to marvel at convoys of driverless and digitally connected eighteen-wheelers, or even set cargo-hoisting drones aflight, they seem nearly visible on the horizon.
Read MoreAs communities across the United States wait to learn how high-speed mobile networks will figure in a long-promised infrastructure plan, some cities are already attracting private investment in next-generation 5G networks. They are doing so by finding new ways to collaborate with network and equipment providers, creating a set of “best practices” that other local governments can follow.
Read MoreToo often, innovative ideas in the public sector never see the light of day due to regulations and oversight designed for a different era. While procurement regulations are intended to ensure accountability and minimize risk, the process leaves little room for experimentation or creative engagement with entrepreneurs. Philadelphia's FastFWD initiative tackled these challenges directly by opening up new mechanisms for entrepreneurs to co-create solutions with the city.
Read MoreBitcoin buzz has reached stratospheric levels that are tough to rival. Nonetheless, it does lead one to think about which of today’s emerging trends will bear fruit in the coming years and become the next Bitcoin. Edge computing, though not likely to hit Bitcoin levels of buzz, is one trend worth watching.
Read MoreIoT News of the Week: February 9, 2018
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