KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, USA, CASABLANCA, MOROCCO IN IEEE INITIATIVES
Kansas City and Casablanca smart city project leaders to meet representatives of first three IEEE Core Smart Cities at IEEE Smart City Conference
Guadalajara, Mexico, 25-28 October
PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, 21 October 2015 – IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today announced the selection of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, and Casablanca, Morocco as its newest municipalities to engage as IEEE Core Smart Cities. Kansas City and Casablanca were selected from more than 15 applicants as the cities that provided the most compelling evidence they are well positioned to utilize the resources offered through the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative and by demonstrating plans to invest human and financial capital into their project.
Project representatives for Kansas City and Casablanca have been invited to attend an integration workshop in Guadalajara, Mexico during the first IEEE Smart City Conference, 25-28 October, to meet and learn from the experiences of representatives of the three first IEEE Core Smart Cities: Guadalajara, Mexico; Trento, Italy; and Wuxi, China. The two cities will kick-off their activities in the coming months.
As they prepare for their growing populations, in 2016 and beyond, Kansas City and Casablanca will work in concert with their local IEEE chapters to develop expert knowledge, share experience with other core and affiliated cities, and support local innovation and entrepreneurs, working closely with city governance bodies, local industries, local universities, involving students and professors, and available relevant non-governmental organizations. They will also organize conferences and events, and contribute to the development of the IEEE Smart Cities collaborative network.
“Kansas City and Casablanca join a select group of the world’s municipalities that are evolving to meet increasing urban population growth through the intelligent use of multi-disciplinary technologies to support city systems in a sustainable and responsible way that offers citizens a high quality of life,” said Gilles Betis, chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative.
“Joining this elite group of technologically driven cities is both a recognition of our achievements to date and a signal of greater things to come,” said Mayor Sly James, Kansas City, Missouri. “Kansas City is well-positioned for explosive growth, and being an IEEE Core Smart City will boost that impact on our economy, our city government, our schools and all our citizens."
“The social frugal smart city concept we are adopting in Casablanca puts citizens at the center of the transformation process, creating a public-private-people partnership where citizens are actors in and builders of their smart city,” said Professor Aawatif Hayar, Vice President of e-madina Smart City Cluster, GreenTIC Research Centre, University Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco. “This participation-oriented approach will allow us to build interconnected projects and sites to gradually set up a smart city, creating step by step a social, sustainable collaborative innovation ecosystem, which turns societal and economic challenges into business opportunities.”
“The work being conducted by Kansas City and Casablanca, as well as the other three IEEE Smart Cities will help pave the way for municipalities worldwide looking to technology to elevate and manage city support systems that will accommodate the rapid increase in urban living,” added Betis.
For more information on the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative visit https://smartcities.ieee.org.
About IEEE
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Contacts:
Vivian Kelly
For IEEE Smart Cities
(c) +1 703.509.5412, viviankelly@interprosepr.com
Francine Tardo
IEEE
+1 732.465.5865, f.tardo@ieee.org