On Thursday, July 8th, the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard and City Possible convened experts from around the globe for a virtual conversation to discuss strategies for bringing back tourism in a sustainable way that also produces inclusive prosperity for great destinations. The global pandemic has devastated the tourism and travel industries. In 2019, […]
The term ‘innovation’ is used in many different ways and means many other things to different people. In a way, it is a nebulous concept. When applied to our cities the word can be used for anything from the transformation of a paper process to digital or even drones delivering pizzas. This spectrum of innovation
Innovation is Relative: How to Measure Innovation in Your City Read More »
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has forced cities worldwide to rethink how they work, from allowing remote employee access and cybersecurity to maintaining a local economy under lockdown. Unfortunately, the impending disaster also highlighted weaknesses such as lack of internet connectivity and/or a lack of resources to monitor and enforce social distancing. While many changes have
Innovation Under Isolation: How Cities are Breathing New Life into Communities Read More »
As urban practitioners, we are increasingly interested in cities as solution providers for problems. The aqueduct of Segovia (Spain) is an example of how cities, in the Roman era, solved the problem of access to drinkable water thanks to a smart invention. Today it attracts hoards of tourists while giving a distinct identity to the
Making the Urban Innovation Spiral Happen: Why, How, Where Read More »
In 1997, the Smart Cities World Forum predicted that there would be 50,000 smart cities across the world by 2007. It is currently 2017, and this prediction has sadly not yet come true. In the context of where we are with IoT, there are some fantastic things that have happened, but there’s not the progress
IoT: What Works, What Doesn’t and What We Care About Read More »
European cities are taking several approaches to technology and innovation in order to become smart cities of the future. Analyzing the current case studies, one can start to see what does and doesn’t work when scaling pet projects and small pilots into larger solutions. Here are some insights. Biggest Challenges with Scaling Although smart city
Scaling Pilot Projects Into Bigger Solutions: Challenges and Possible Solutions Read More »
There are many players involved in the successful implementation of smart city solutions, but the specific role of governance should also be a top concern. One of the challenges of smart city initiatives is that there are often small pockets of innovation activity across the city but no overall coherence. Local governance can help guide
Tips for Creating a Coherent Governance Model for Smart Cities Work Read More »
Getting to know people, their plans, ambitions and collaboration strategies, and how they tackle challenges in different cities and countries around the world is what brings value over time. After dissecting roughly 100 Smart Cities case studies over the last couple months, here are five takeaways. 1. Citizen Focus Trumps Everything Else The message comes
Smart City Collaboration: Why Those Who Share, Win Read More »
Carlos Menendez, President of the Enterprise Partnerships Group at Mastercard, sat down with Dr. David S. Ricketts, Harvard Innovation Fellow, for a fireside chat about innovative ways companies can find partners and make an impact globally. Carlos shared two example cases on the way Mastercard has approached innovative partnerships and their resulting impact. Helping Micro-Entrepreneurs
Forming Innovative Partnerships: Fireside Chat with Carlos Menendez from Mastercard Read More »
City leaders will face any number of challenges as they dive into smart city projects, but there are two big challenges that are so universal that cities of any size will inevitably have to deal with them: cybersecurity and data governance. The following discussion summarizes advice, insights and suggestions offered by representatives from Cary, Dallas,
Two Big Smart City Challenges for Cities of All Sizes Read More »
