“Making Colorado the Smartest State in the U.S.”
Regional economic development agency Denver South Economic Development Partnership (DSEDP) announced today the launch of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. This ground-breaking collaboration is a state-wide, multi-jurisdictional partnership designed to accelerate the development of Smart City initiatives across the state of Colorado.
The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance was announced at the Colorado Smart Cities Forum hosted by AMG National Trust Bank in Greenwood Village on March 16, 2017. This sold-out launch event convened 200+ public- and private-sector officials representing more than 50 jurisdictions across the state to come together in partnership to collaborate with a specific focus on Civic Innovation. The Forum was at capacity as attendees heard from:
- Transportation leaders from the Denver metro area on challenges, opportunities and solutions.
- An inspiring keynote on “Civic Innovation” from renowned speaker Gabe Klein – former transportation Commissioner for the cities of Chicago and Washington DC and author of “Start-Up Cities”.
- A compelling call to action on how to create effective “IoT Innovation Eco-systems” from recognized international leader in Smart Cities development, Chris Rezendes, founder of IoT Impact Labs.
Following the announcement of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, Jake Rishavy, Vice President of Innovation at Denver South EDP stated – “Over the past year, we listened to stakeholders across the Denver South region and learned from experts within the state, nationally and globally. What we heard was that the promise of Smart Cities is to enable us to live, work and play effortlessly in a future increasingly shaped by urban growth, challenges and opportunities. To fully realize this promise, it is essential that cities and counties across Colorado come together to leverage economies of scale, share successes and failures, and increase the value of these efforts to citizens and businesses.”
Traci Hiltonberry, Director of Innovation at Denver South EDP said – “We are tremendously excited about this initiative aimed at enabling innovation, improving quality of life and increasing economic vitality across the state. We believe that this Alliance will stimulate impactful initiatives and enable key public-private partnerships.”
As such, the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance will:
- Host regular “Civic Labs” events around the state to share challenges, expertise and solutions.
- Create a clearinghouse of best practices for Smart City technology implementation.
- Enable public-private partnerships that can be mutual beneficial.
- Contribute to a vibrant ecosystem and marketplace to serve the cities of Denver South and throughout the state of Colorado.
About Denver South
Denver South Economic Development Partnership, a 35-year-old non-profit public-private partnership agency, is committed to providing visionary leadership, civic involvement and positive business advocacy in a non-partisan and collaborative manner. The organization’s mission is to continuously improve the region’s economy and world class quality of life. It currently serves two counties and four cities as a Smart City technology scout to tackle private and public sector challenges.
