Alliance Announces 11 Winners of C^2 Challenge Using Technology to Improve Life in Colorado Communities
Jurisdictions will partner with technology companies to test innovative solutions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Denver, CO [October 20, 2022] – 11 new technologies will be used to improve quality of life issues across Colorado as a result of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance’s Connected Colorado (C²) Challenge.The C² Challenge, which launched in June, sought innovative smart cities solutions that address four specific problems faced by Colorado communities: housing stability, community resilience, safe streets and civic engagement. Nine jurisdictions participated in a rigorous evaluation process of 87 proposals and meetings with 39 finalists, and selected which solutions they’d like to demonstrate in their community.
“By better understanding and building our capacity to utilize technology in our daily lives and government operations, we set ourselves up to address some of the issues our region faces such as better traffic safety and transportation options, more robust citizen engagement, and more resilient communities,” said Alliance Sr. Program Manager Meghan White. “The Connected Colorado Challenge is a unique opportunity to implement innovative solutions to these very real challenges that people face across Colorado.”
Housing Stability
UrbanFootprint | City of Woodland Park
A platform that provides data-driven insights to inform policymakers where evictions are likely to happen, so they can improve outreach targeting and reduce the risk of eviction.
Community Resilience
Balcony Labs | City of Colorado Springs
A location-aware software application that enables real-time, two-way communication between government, staff and residents during critical events, operations or emergencies.
Vaisala | City of Centennial
An extreme weather monitoring and warning system that provides real-time, localized information to communities to keep them safe.
The Routing Company | Arapahoe Libraries
An on-demand transit app that connects available transportation modes with users to provide a more convenient and equitable transit experience.
Safe Streets
Urban SDK | City of Colorado Springs
A comprehensive and anonymous data platform for making informed decisions that improve planning, building, and operating infrastructure, including transportation safety intelligence.
Iris | City of Greeley
An AI enabled solution that facilitates the detection, measurement and reporting of infrastructure assets and objects of interest for municipalities.
Liveable Cities | City of Greeley
Micro-sensor hardware for streetlights that sends data to a platform where it is visualized and synthesized in an actionable way.
Snowbotix | City of Greeley
Self-driving snow removal robots that can help improve the clearance of sidewalks, bike paths, and other hard-to-service areas.
Velodyne Lidar | City of Greeley
Intelligent infrastructure solution that uses real-time, anonymous LiDAR sensors to identify and protect vulnerable road users and improve the overall performance of transportation systems.
Civic Engagement
State of Place | City of Colorado Springs
A SimCity-scenario tool for engaging community stakeholders in the co-creation of the built environment.
Kaizen Labs | City of Castle Pines
A central hub for community members to actively engage with their local government by communicating questions and concerns to local leaders, donating to community charities and signing up for community updates.
This model for engagement between the public and private sectors in Colorado is unique to the Alliance and their network. The Alliance hosts a challenge each year focused on unique problems sourced from participating communities. This allows the multi-billion smart cities and technologies industry the opportunity to showcase their solutions to potential government partners, and it provides a rare chance for governments to think differently about how to approach community issues with innovative ideas.
“The City of Colorado Springs was excited to participate with jurisdictions across Colorado to explore how innovation and technology could help improve quality of life in our community, ,” said Alliance Board Chair and City of Colorado Springs Deputy Chief of Staff Ryan Trujillo. “We were blown away by the number of creative solutions we received, and we’re excited to have found multiple solutions we want to explore further through demonstration. Colorado Springs is proud to be a part of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance that paves the way for collaborative innovation through forward-thinking models like the C2 Challenge.”
Each of the winners will now work to co-develop a demonstration project that will test how the solution can be applied to a specific issue being faced in the jurisdiction that selected them. Each project will have its own unique deployment timeline and scale to be defined over the next few months, with deployment expected in 2023.
On Thursday, November 11 from 3 pm – 6 pm, the Alliance will host the Connected Colorado Reception, highlighting the partnerships that resulted from the C2 Challenge, with a focus on the winning solutions.
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The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance is the first statewide non-profit organization of its kind, bringing together government, businesses and allied organizations to improve life for all Coloradans. The organization accelerates civic innovation in Colorado through partnership building, research, education and consulting. The Alliance has over 70 public and private sector members, all of which are interested in collaborating to test new solutions to pressing challenges in our communities.
Contact
Chelsea Barrett
Colorado Smart Cities Alliance
chelsea@coloradosmart.city
720.213.8238
