Global Cities Team Challenge: San Leandro Takes Leadership Role

On August 28-29 at the Global Cities Teams Challenge Expo in Washington D.C., the City of San Leandro was featured among other “smart city” leaders. The 2017 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) Expo brought together over 100 cities and communities from around the world in partnership with more than 300 companies, universities, non-profits, and federal government agencies to share and exhibit their smart city projects and the resulting impacts for their communities.

From right to left: Mayor Pauline Cutter, San Leandro CA; Mayor Gary McCarthy, Schnectady NY; Mayor Catherine Pugh, Baltimore MD; Mayor Roy D. Buol, Dubuque IA; Mayor Acquanetta Warren, Fontana CA; Moderator – Judy Reinke, Career Minister, ITA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce

Mayor Pauline Cutter took part in a Mayor’s Keynote Panel to open the two-day Expo. The focus for all mayors was introduction of their cities’ “smart” initiatives.  This was the perfect platform for Mayor Cutter to discuss San Leandro’s many innovation and technology advancements launched through the public-private partnership that built the City’s fiber optic network, Lit San Leandro.

In addition to the Mayor’s Keynote Panel, San Leandro Staff from Innovation and I.T. have leadership roles in two groundbreaking initiatives: the Utilities and Wi-Fi Superclusters.

The Utilities Supercluster: Energy

CIO Deborah Acosta participated in the “Utilities SuperCluster” Leadership Team, which included Energy, Water and Wastewater as separate elements of the Supercluster, chaired by Ed Davalos of Motorola.  Working with Derick Lee, Founder of San Leandro’s Pilot City, Acosta and Lee co-chair the Energy section, working with public and private organizations across the U.S. to initiate development of a blueprint for smart energy projects.

The Energy Blueprint: San Leandro’s early investment in fiber optics has enabled development of smart energy projects, driven by data, that can serve as role models for other cities.  The Energy Blueprint Factory was developed as a scalable system that connects people, places, cities, universities, non-profits and businesses to share the knowledge, experience and resources needed to accelerate the adoption of clean, renewable energy projects across the globe.  Access to the Utilities Supercluster Best Practices Framework presented at the Expo, including the Energy Blueprint Factory, can be found here.

The Public Wi-Fi Supercluster

Focused on developing a national blueprint for Wi-Fi systems, I.T. Manager Tony Batalla co-chairs the “Public Wi-Fi Supercluster”, with David Witkowski of Joint Ventures Silicon Valley as Chair.  The Public Wi-Fi leadership team also includes San Leandro Councilmember Benny Lee as project manager for the County of San Mateo.

The Public Wi-Fi Blueprint: Public Wi-Fi can be a tool for economic development, digital inclusion and serve as core infrastructure for smart city applications.  Wi-Fi also has the potential to be designed and constructed for far less cost compared to hard-wired fiber cabling. The Public Wi-Fi blueprint is intended to provide practical, hands-on guidance and best practices for anyone interested in deploying public Wi-Fi within their cities.  The published Wi-Fi blueprint can be found here.

Mayor Cutter, Derick Lee, Acosta and Batalla, along with leadership teams from all five Superclusters met with representatives of the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies on Wednesday morning following the conference to discuss the evolving work of GCTC over the coming year.  Based on the learning of our leadership teams in 2016, it is likely that more Superclusters will be formed, particularly in the areas of Education and Government Procurement.

San Leandro is very much seen by the federal government as leaders in the development and implementation of Smart City systems.  Representation by our elected officials at this and other Smart City conferences in 2017, particularly by Mayor Pauline Cutter, has proved beneficial in advancing San Leandro’s visibility and leadership across the region and the nation. The connections made to Smart City leaders across the globe, and particularly in Washington D.C., through the GCTC is opening up new resources to further San Leandro’s Smart City goals.

What is the Global Cities Team Challenge?

The Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) program is a collaborative platform for the development of smart cities and communities, led by National Institute of Standards and Technology, a bureau of U.S. Department of Commerce, in partnership with other U.S. federal agencies including National Science Foundation, International Trade Administration, and National Telecommunications and Information Administration. It enables local governments, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, technologists, and corporations from all over the world to form project teams, or “action clusters,” and “SuperClusters,” to work on groundbreaking Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) applications within the city and community environment.

We were pleased and surprised when the Public Safety Supercluster referred to the Startup in Residence Program, of which San Leandro is a founding member!

San Leandro I.T. Manager Tony Batalla, who co-chaired the Wi-Fi Supercluster, presents the Wi-Fi Supercluster Blueprint

CIO Deborah Acosta and Derick Lee of Pilot City co-present the work of the Energy section of the Utilities Supercluster.

Councilmember Benny Lee participated in the Wi-Fi Supercluster as project manager for the County of San Mateo

The Supercluster Leadership teams gather before meeting at the Dept. of Commerce in Washington DC

This banner, visualizing the San Leandro Smart City Ecosystem, was designed and displayed for the 1st time at the GCTC Expo!