The city of Montgomery, Alabama recently held a two-day Smart Cities Readiness Challenge Workshop.
The city has defined three areas of focus:
- Digital City Services: leveraging technology to enhance quality of life;
- Economic Development: advancing smart infrastructure to impact development; and,
- Education and Workforce Development: expansion of extracurricular STEM programs.
The workshop included breakout sessions to develop strategic plans for the three challenge areas.
The goal of the workshop was to identify steps for putting into action the vision of the Smart City Community Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on advancing smart city initiatives. The Alliance is made up of the city of Montgomery, Montgomery County, Montgomery Public Schools, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, Alabama Power, and Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base.
“The Smart Cities Readiness Workshop provided an opportunity for us to map out the next phases of our smart city work,” said Leslie Sanders, Alabama Power’s vice president of the Southern Division. “Our mission is to use technology to help enhance the community for its citizens, visitors and businesses, while also looking to future businesses that may call Montgomery home.”
The city of Montgomery earned two Smart 50 Awards from Smart Cities Connect in January and the Digital Cities Survey Award by the Center for Digital Government in November 2018.