New Funding Tied to Obama’s Smart Cities Initiative

by Tomas O’Keefe, Consultant

On September 14^th, President Obama announced his Smart Cities initiative that would dedicate over $160M in federal research and development funding to technology solutions designed to help communities “reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of a changing climate, and improve delivery of city services.”

Most of this money will fund projects at the federal level, which will then trickle down to state, local, and education municipalities. Technology companies can piggyback on these projects by identifying states and localities primed for newer technology innovations.

The Smart Cities initiative is going to result in new funding in the following ways:

• $35M for the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology to develop the research infrastructure supporting the initiative
• $70M in new spending and $45M in additional investments for DHS, DOT, DOE, DOC, and the EPA — focused on developing new solutions in safety, energy, climate preparedness, transportation, health, and more

This initiative can be viewed as a larger part of the umbrella concept: Internet of Things (IoT). Smart Cities will work to understand the types of applications and technologies that have the most beneficial results in improving lives of citizens. Cities will be brought together to collaborate and share success stories — with the federal government becoming integral to enabling collaboration.

Technology manufacturers have an opportunity to work on projects that can span the entire public sector, providing solutions to federal agencies that will set the standard for future IoT city work. Smart Cities is an initiative that should capture your interest if you’re a cloud, big data, or mobile solution provider. Application development, optimizing network infrastructure and traffic, and integrating different vectors of data together are all priorities this Smart Cities initiative.

Need help identifying top IT decision makers and opportunities tied to the Smart Cities Initiative? Contact immixGroup’s industry-leading Market Intelligence team today to learn about specific programs and contacts that have a pressing need for your IT solution.