With a new online event on the use of 3D printing for medical supplies, US Ignite presents the first in a series of topical discussions designed to help communities respond to rising challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. This series will give participants a chance to hear directly from experts and discover critical resources for dealing with the effects of the pandemic. 3D Printing & COV…

The COVID-19 crisis is affecting us all, and as communities grapple with how to respond, many tech companies and network carriers are stepping up to ease burdens where they can. In the past week we've seen teleconferencing providers offering free service to schools, carriers offering free connectivity or expanded data caps, and many companies halting disconnects during the crisis to Keep Americans…

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The city of Joplin, Missouri, one of US Ignite’s newest Smart Gigabit Communities, is working diligently to create and deploy smart city technologies that support resilience to natural disasters. Through a network of infrastructure, utility, and municipal partnerships - and now through a new partnership with technology provider Itron - leaders in Joplin have launched a Smart Community Chal…

Calling all innovators! The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching a two-part prize challenge through its Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) division. With $1.1 million in award money up for grabs, the challenge asks competitors to develop solutions that will help first responders handle emergency situations. The first contest area focuses on augmented rea…

Why 5G Won't Follow the Typical Deployment Approach (and New Opportunities for Investment in Broadband) This post is authored by US Ignite CEO Joe Kochan and Brian Greene, debt finance partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. It first appeared on Kirkland's Energy & Infrastructure Blog Mobile network infrastructure deployment in the U.S. has always followed a familiar path: three or four la…

Written by Soledad Lalla for US Ignite The Smart Gigabit Communities program encourages civic leaders to use advanced networking and data-driven strategies to solve real-world problems. A star example of this work, Mike Cuales, the founder of LEVR Studios LLC, created a project that uses 360 Virtual Reality in a rural education setting. This VR solution puts students in rural areas in touch wit…

Over the past five years, industry and university labs have developed emerging technologies to support the Internet of Things (IoT), networks that connect everyday objects like cars, pacemakers, and thermostats to the Internet to drive down cost savings and improve safety and quality of life. These technologies have the potential to transform communities – improving transportation, reducing powe…

Smart Cities Connect, Smart Cities Connect Foundation, and US Ignite are once again recognizing some of the most innovative and influential smart cities projects around the world. This year the Smart 50 Awards program honors exceptional work in the categories of community engagement, digital transformation, smart mobility, urban infrastructure, and urban operations. We are also happy to ann…

The year 2020 is fast upon us, and while our crystal ball can’t tell us everything that lies ahead, we do have a strong lineup of US Ignite events in the forecast. Please mark your calendars for: FEBRUARY 6 US Ignite Forum - Smart City ROI San Diego, California The US Ignite Forum on Smart City ROI will cover smart city projects that demonstrate tangible return on investment such as s…

Top apps from this year’s IGNITE | SCALE | SAN DIEGO smart city challenge competition are on the road to commercialization, and we caught up recently with the leaders of FreshStart to hear how their award-winning project is progressing. Read on for details about how FreshStart is making the most of its boost from Ignite Scale San Diego as part of the Smart Gigabit Communities (SGC) program…

The City of Joplin, Missouri -- once a boomtown for mining of lead and zinc -- is on the road to an exciting high-tech future. With a name familiar to many as a stop on Route 66, or the temporary home to Bonnie and Clyde, the community has also been impacted deeply by a significant natural disaster – an EF5 tornado that struck the City in 2011. However, in the spirit of recovery and resilience, …

The city of Eugene has the largest open access fiber network in Oregon with broadband service that pushes gigabit speeds. Now, the community is quantifying the importance of that connectivity, and highlighting metrics that show the direct effect the EUGNet network has on the region’s economic growth. According to a new video released by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), more than 25…

Since winning an Ag Tech IoT challenge in 2018 in Red Wing, Minnesota, Jack Kilian has been innovating on his Poultry Patrol invention with the help of some much-needed barn time for his chicken chasing robot. In this demo video, see how the four-wheeled machine navigates the inside of a poultry barn, and hear from a local Red Wing farmer about why Poultry Patrol has the potential to ease agricult…

After years of effort, DARPA took the stage at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles to host the final match of its Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) - a competition run on a massive RF channel emulator called the Colosseum with 128 two-antenna software-defined radios and 64 field programmable gate arrays. Ten teams competed in the championship event with their Collaborative Intelligent …

How do we know when a city is smart? This is one of the most common questions we get and the answer is simple.  It's when a city understands enough about the people living in it to react in their best interests. But to understand its citizens means cities are watching us like never before; and what a city thinks it knows about us, and who else can use that information, is emerging as one of the m…