When you walk through the new Colorado Open Lab, one is struck by the combination of creativity, whimsy and cutting-edge technology. The 9,500 square foot engineering laboratory was designed to accelerate the development of new smart cities technology solutions through regional and cross-sector collaboration.
Located inside Arrow Electronics global headquarters in Centennial Colorado, the Colorado Open Lab houses state-of-the-art engineering facilities and physical space for ideation, creation, testing and validation of solutions to solve some of today’s biggest challenges, including transportation, public safety, housing, public health and sustainability.
The Open Lab concept is the first of its kind in North America. The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance partnered with Arrow to pursue, and obtain $500,000 in grant funding from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The collaboration has the potential to be a great economic development asset to the City of Centennial and the broader Denver South Region.
Centennial Mayor Stephanie Piko commented on why the Lab is important to the area, “The Denver South Region has always been a very collaborative group of municipalities who have worked together to solve local problems. And now, with the advent of Arrow’s Colorado Open Lab, we have the opportunity to actually test technology that is going to help us see solutions to problems we are all working together to solve. This is the next iteration of what we are trying to do as far as collaboration and problem solving for our communities.”
Denver South is very proud of its role in supporting the Colorado Open Labs. As a founding partner of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, the realization of this project has brought much excitement to the area.
Vice president of Innovation, Jake Rishavy states, “Arrow’s history as a global electronics supply chain company means that it has a unique, world-wide network of relationships with thousands of technology partners and component suppliers. With the introduction of the Colorado Open Lab, Arrow will be bringing those global partners and suppliers here to Colorado and to Denver South to work alongside public agencies. The resulting partnerships will collectively attract new businesses to the area while developing 21st century infrastructure that will be crucial to improving the region’s economy and quality of life.”
