City Lights: Mark Patton. Vice President, Smart Cities, Columbus Partnership

Source: Smart Cities World Published Feb. 7, 2020

SmartCitiesWorld talks to Mark Patton, vice president, Smart Cities, Columbus Partnership, about the Ohio city’s journey so far.

Columbus, Ohio, won the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) first-ever Smart City Challenge and was awarded $50 million in grant funding and the designation as America’s Smart City. Its vision is to be the model for connected cities of the future.

SCW: What is the main purpose of your role?

MP: Smart Columbus is the smart city initiative for the Columbus region that is comprised of public/private partnerships. My role is to lead the private sector side as we integrate our efforts with the City of Columbus.

SCW: What does the term ’smart city’ mean to you?

MP: A smart city uses data and analytics to improve the lives of its residents, make better decisions, reduce costs, operate more efficiently and promote innovation.

SCW: What are some of the key milestones/initiatives in your smart city journey so far?

MP: We’ve had several memorable milestones in our journey. We are particularly proud of exceeding the goals set forth for our electrification programme. From building out a robust charging infrastructure to increasing electric vehicle (EV) registrations and hosting the largest EV test drive program in the US, we have made great strides in promoting EV adoption.

Other key milestones include launching the first autonomous shuttle in Ohio, achieving broad engagement from our 65+ Acceleration Partners, opening a Smart Columbus Experience Centre and co-locating our teams – both public and private employees – in the Experience Centre.

"I’m always thinking of ways to economically sustain smart city initiatives without grant funding. It’s quite a feat."

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