CEDR will be providing strategic planning and facilitation assistance to the recipients of the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge grants, and help those communities activate their smart community plans.
For more information on the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge, please contact Leigh Hopkins, Sr. Project Manager at ude.hcetagnull@snikpoh.hgiel.
Important dates:
April 9, 2018 (7:30am – 4pm): Workshop and Expo, GTRI Conference Center, 250 14th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
May 1, 2018 (5pm): Proposals due
From the Press Release:
Announcing: The Georgia Smart Communities Challenge
The first statewide program to support local governments across Georgia with seed funding,
technical assistance, and more as they plan and activate smart development.
ATLANTA—The Georgia Institute of Technology and its partners are excited to announce the
launch of the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge (“Georgia Smart”), open to all
communities in Georgia. Local Georgia governments of any size—cities, counties, or
consolidated city-county governments—will lead selected teams. Georgia Smart will provide
seed funding and access to technical assistance, expert advice, and a network of peers. A Georgia
Tech researcher will assist and advise each team and conduct research in support of the
community’s needs and goals.
Georgia Smart is the first program of its kind in the United States, bringing together an
unprecedented coalition of university, industry, and public sector partners to support local
governments in adopting cutting-edge technologies in their communities. The program is also
unique in that it extends beyond large cities to smaller communities whose voices have not been
as prominent in smart community development and who may not have access to technology
resources.
“We’ve spent the past year in workshops and dialogue with local governments across Georgia to
better understand their challenges and priorities. From these communications, we developed a
program that is sensitive to the local context while fast-tracking smart communities. We aim to
create more models for smart development that can be shared and applied across the state and
beyond,” said Debra Lam, managing director, Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation at Georgia
Tech.
Georgia Smart is seeking proposals in the areas of smart mobility and smart resilience. Each of
the four winning teams will receive direct grant funding of up to $50,000, as well as additional
funds for research and technical assistance with a required local match. Georgia Tech and its
partners will then work with the winning teams throughout the year on implementing their
proposals, creating four testbeds of smart community development.