Public and private stakeholders from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana are working together to create the nation's first smart tri-state region.

Helping create a model for regional, smart growth.

Moving the smart city conversation forward, focusing on the four pillars of workable, livable regions: connectivity, mobility, security, and sustainability.

Connectivity
Connecting people, places, things, and information in real-time.

Mobilitiy
Auditing and improving the mobility of people, goods, and utilities; enabling economic mobility including access to education and job training.

Security
Focusing on security, auditing public safety and cyber-security.

Sustainability
Committing to sustainability, including practices from energy and transportation to manufacturing and agriculture.

Upcoming events

Round-table at Uptech in Covington:

CONNECTIVITY, SECURITY, AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS:
February 22, 2017 (11am-1pm)

Free Tickets Here

Round-table at The Hamilton Mill in Hamilton:

MOBILITY, SUSTAINABILITY, CLEAN WATER AND CLEAN AIR:
March 15, 2017 (11am-1pm)

Free Tickets Here

Smart Cincy Summit
APRIL 25, 2017 AT UNION HALL

Tickets & Info

Every year the Digital Cities Survey takes a big-picture view of the state of IT in cities to determine which are moving the needle forward by excelling at using technology. The Center for Digital Government and Government Technology are recognizing 62 cities this year for their use of tech to support priorities and improve operations. 

Read more at: http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/Municipal-Innovation-Trends-from-the-2016-Digital-Cities-Survey.html

Today, to kick off Smart Cities Week, the Administration is expanding the Smart Cities initiative, with over $80 million in new Federal investments and a doubling of the number of participating cities and communities, exceeding 70 in total. These new investments and collaborations will help cities of all sizes, including in the following key areas:

• Climate: The Administration is announcing nearly $15 million in new funding and two new coalitions to help cities and communities tackle energy and climate challenges. For example, one Department of Energy (DOE) campaign has already signed up 1,800 buildings representing 49 million square feet with data analytics tools that could reduce their energy footprint by 8 percent or more, on average.
  
  
• Transportation: The Administration is announcing more than $15 million in new grants and planned funding to evolve the future of urban transportation, including National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for researchers in Chattanooga to test, for the first time, how an entire urban network of connected and autonomous vehicles can automatically cooperate to improve travel efficiency and operate safely during severe weather events.
  
  
• Public safety: The Administration is announcing more than $10 million in new grants and planned funding for public safety, resilience, and disaster response. For example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is funding the development of low-cost flood sensor-based tools in flood-prone areas of Texas, where predictive analytics will give first responders and local officials new capability to issue alerts and warnings, and the ability to respond more rapidly to save lives when a flood strikes.
  
  
• Transforming city services: MetroLab Network is launching a new effort to help cities adopt promising innovations in social programs, like a collaboration between three counties surrounding Seattle and the University of Washington to use predictive analytics to identify precisely when city services succeed in helping homeless individuals transition into permanent housing, offering the promise of a future of personalized intervention.

See more: White House Announcement

Congratulations to University of Cincinnati for moving more aggressively toward Innovation! 

In his last two messages to UC Alumni,  University of Cincinnati Board Chair Rob Richardson,  writes about the growth and importance of innovation at UC, and about the upcoming Next Lives Here Innovation Summit, to be held on Thursday, Oct. 20th. 

The Summit "will be an in-depth look at how innovation occurs, who is modeling the innovation process to greatest effect here in the region, and where our best opportunities lie for elevating innovation within the UC educational experience."

Please visit the Next Lives Here Innovation Summit website to learn more about this essential opportunity.

In December 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched The Smart City Challenge as a follow up to the February 2015 report, Beyond Traffic. The challenge provides up to $40 million in Federal funds and another $10 million from Vulcan Inc., founded by Paul Allen, to one mid-sized U.S. city to help them address the challenges associated the growing demands on transportation infrastructure.

By early February, they received applications from 78 cities that fully embraced the spirit of the Challenge and presented DOT with unique visions, partnerships, and blueprints for making their ideas into reality.

On March 14, DOT has announced the seven winning cities:

• Austin, TX (proposal/info)
• Columbus, OH  (proposal/info)
• Denver, CO (proposal/infol)
• Kansas City, MO (proposal/info)
• Pittsburgh, PA (proposal/info)
• Portland, OR (proposal/info)
• San Francisco, CA (proposal/info)

The full announcement of the Smart Challenge City finalists.

What can we learn from them? 

Congratulations to all winners! 

Sir Ken Robinson believes schools today stifle creativity, measure intelligence incorrectly and often times send kids off in the wrong direction because of the government's irrational focus on standardized testing.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/673656

Check out also his talk about "Creating a Culture of Innovation":

Lessons in computer programming will be adopted by the national curriculum for primary schools in England from September.

However, this is not a new concept for schools in Estonia who have been teaching computer programming for some time:

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-25648769

Check out also this articles:

Why Estonia Has Started Teaching Its First-Graders To Code

The generation that will change the world!

http://www.forbes.com/video/2965301616001/

There has been some interesting discussion about the innovation community here in Cincinnati.

Some thoughts on the "Why's" and "What's" started online at http://hub.qcmerge.com/.

The team at Cintrifuse wanted to continue the conversation live and give everyone an opportunity to join in the discussion. 

The event takes place on: 

Monday, August 12, 2013, 3-5 PM

at Centrifuse (299 E Sixth St, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202)

If you would like to join, you can register at:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7720262513

Barcelona project transforms two hundred hectares of industrial land of Poblenou into an innovative district offering modern spaces for the strategic concentration of intensive knowledge-based activities. This initiative is also a project of urban refurbishment and a new model of city providing a response to the challenges posed by the knowledge-based society.

more...

Any community using technology to improve its economy can participate in the rigorous yearlong awards program 

New York City – July 9, 2013 – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) announces the opening of nominations for the 2014 Intelligent Community of the Year award. The 2014 awards marks the 16th year the New York-based think tank will name the Intelligent Community of the Year, a community that is a global leader in creating wealth and jobs by seizing the opportunities of information and communications technology (ICT).

The ICF has posted a nomination form at http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/nominations. There is also a community self-test to determine if a community could be a contender for an award. Nominations will close on Monday, September 23, 2013.

Communities large and small, urban and rural, in developing and industrialized nations are all invited to apply. Nominations are accepted from local governments, institutions, national government agencies and consular offices. There is no cost to submit a nomination. On average, ICF tracks the progress of 400 communities each year through its own research as well as nominations submitted by communities. 

Nominations are now Open for ICF's 2013 Intelligent Community of the Year Awards
The awards program salutes the accomplishments of communities in developing inclusive prosperity on a foundation of information and communications technology. Communities large and small, urban and rural, in developing and industrialized nations are invited to apply for an international award that does not use population as a factor. Deadline for nominations is September 21, 2012. More

Take the Community Self-Test
Not sure if your community is qualified for the Intelligent Community Awards? Take the 15-question Self-Test to evaluate your chances of joining the Intelligent Communities honored by ICF. More

ICF's Louis Zacharilla Keynotes at Sask 3.0 Summit
At the first Sask 3.0 Summit in Regina, Saskatchewan, ICF's Louis Zacharilla presented a keynote address on The Rise of the Intelligent Commumnity. More

ICF's John Jung on Why a Lack of Passion can be Fatal
During a recent trip to Austin, Texas, ICF's John Jung was struck by the tenacious passion of leadership that propelled the city of Austin from a backwater state capital to a Top7 Intelligent Community. More

ICF's Robert Bell on the Power of Small Places
During the last 90 days, ICF's Robert Bell has traveled so several "small" places and writes that it's not the size and scale of a community that makes it great but the attitude. More

You can now submit ideas for the City of Cincinnati:

http://cincinnati.mindmixer.com/

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of the city planning process, and hopefully it will become a source of some creative and innovative ideas on how to improve our city!

Kudos to the Department of Planning and Buildings for setting it up! It's great to see such an initiative!

As it is said on the Website:

This is our town. Let’s make Cincinnati great!

Cincinnati’s Innov8 for Health Startup Accelerator has selected its inaugural group of Startup companies for this summer’s intensive 12-week accelerator program, giving these innovative health care businesses the opportunity to work with established mentors from various sectors of the health care industry and business community, develop a working prototype for their product, and meet with well-known venture capital firms and angel investors to seek funding for future growth.

Innov8 for Health joins a small group of other national health care accelerators, including Rock Health, Blueprint Health and Health Box. Seeking to leverage Cincinnati’s already advanced health IT capabilities, Innov8 for Health aims to nurture startup companies with health IT solutions that will help provide better heath and better care at lower costs. The Startup Accelerator is designed to provide these entrepreneurs a rapid start so they can quickly bring their products to market. With strong support from the local community Innov8 for Health’s goals are to improve health, attract and retain top talent, and to create jobs.

The winning Accelerator Teams will receive intensive, on-site business mentoring from several dozen executives who are volunteering with the program, as well as access to a unique group of “customer” and “patient” advisors from well-established health care institutions, payor organizations and other health technology companies. The new companies will be provided space at the Live Well Collaborative that is part of the University of Cincinnati’s Innovation on Vine project and will each receive $20,000 in startup funding from Ohio New Entrepreneur’s (ONE) Fund.

The teams selected for the 2012 Startup Accelerator class are:

1. CCM Link – Provides Connected Care Management web applications to improve health. CCM developed the CHARTS application (Connected Health Activities Reminder & Tracking System) as a patient self-management and a care team support tool. CHARTs enhances communication between patients, care givers, and providers reducing the care coordination burden for caregivers and improving patient adherence to prescribed health activities. Learn more at http://www.ccmlink.com.

2. Chronic Care Solutions – Focuses on improving the health and reducing the health care costs for patients with Type 1 Diabetes. It uses digital media and social gaming dynamics to increase patients’ understanding about effective diabetes management to support positive lifestyle behavior change and treatment adherence. It works with patients from initial diagnosis through long-term management of Type 1 Diabetes.

3. I Feel Great – Apps – Uses simple mobile and web tools to educate patients on health care costs and health safety. Users can match local health care providers to personal preferences, track treatments and medications, and view how healthcare choices impact their pocketbooks.

4. Intec Solutions Inc. –created the System Access Requested Solution health IT program to automate the otherwise time consuming task for hospitals to manage employees’ access to Private Health Information. This reduces the administrative burden of maintaining the high level of security required to comply with federal HIPAA regulation and to produce reports for external auditors.

5. MedaCheck, LLC – is developing a suite of software and hard ware solutions that help to tackle the costly problem of medication adherence. The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) estimates patients not taking medications as prescribed leads to poorer health, more frequent hospitalizations, a higher risk of death and as much as $290 billion annually in increased medical costs. MedaCheck, LLC is dedicated to designing elegant solutions that empower patients to take the right medication, in the right amount, at the right time. .

6. Betterpointment - is a patient smartphone mobile app designed to kick-start and improves the quality of patient communication with his or her physician. Betterpointment is simple and fast and uses machine learning and patient input to generate an appointment agenda and a concise opening remark. Betterpointment helps physicians, who need highly relevant patient input during the opening minutes of the exam, by eliciting focused patient communication to deliver a lower cost and higher quality mutual model of healthcare delivery.

7. Empowering Innovations LLC - is dedicated to helping empower people to reach their potential by providing real, fast, easy & long-term solutions to address issues that hold them back. The company’s first product, MyFear Zapper, is an interactive web-based game that helps children aged 3+ build long-term confidence by learning how to face and conquer fears. The product assists therapists, physicians and parents by using validated psychological techniques and gaming dynamics to teach children how to overcome fears and gain confidence. Empowering Innovations LLC is led by Andrea Brady, an entrepreneur with expertise in marketing. Brady came to Cincinnati to work at Procter and Gamble and has owned her own marketing consulting company for 20 years. Her partner, Tracy Ruberg, is a strategic development and sales professional with experience at companies including Dell, HP and Ernst & Young.

8. The eighth offer is in the process of being cleared

More info: Innov8 for Health Startup Accelerator