Honeywell’s smart city accelerator programme is helping expand growth in five US cities to support safer, more efficient, resilient and equitable communities.

Working with non-profit Accelerator for America, the programme aims to help cities strategically plan their futures and build capacity to fund transformational initiatives. The five cities are Cleveland, Louisville in Kentucky, Kansas in Missouri, San Diego, and Waterloo in Iowa.

Through the accelerator, each city will receive technical support from Honeywell to develop a smart city strategic plan. Each plan will align key stakeholders, define priorities, and identify high-impact and inclusive initiatives that advance residents’ quality of life in areas such as climate resiliency, public safety, operational efficiency and improved service delivery. Each city will also receive support in applying for federal grants to support the implementation of identified projects.

Accelerator for America is a non-profit organisation led by an advisory council of mayors, labour and business leaders, and urban and economic development experts that finds and develops methods to improve economic insecurity and shares them with cities to create national change from the ground up.

“We are proud to work with Accelerator for America so cities of all sizes can advance their smart city journeys and drive meaningful outcomes such as advancing sustainability efforts, creating equity, digitalising systems and helping to improve safety,” said Matthew Britt, general manager for smart cities at Honeywell. “A smart city eliminates silos, identifies integration opportunities and uses data to institute change.”

Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, CEO of Accelerator for America, added: “Identifying and creating local initiatives to grow community wealth and increase economic security is how we advance our mission to create national change from the ground up, and that’s exactly what the Honeywell smart city accelerator programme does. Honeywell’s expertise in smart city technology will benefit the people in each of the cities we work with and, together, we will create models for other cities to follow.”

The five cities were chosen via an application process that looked at the cities’ visions and data strategies and reviewed each city’s strategic plan, sustainability plan, climate plan, and operating and capital budgets. Working with city stakeholders, Honeywell will create a four-track plan for each city:

• Track 1 – Smart city vision: Identifies priorities and desired outcomes from a focused set of key stakeholders. It will include resiliency focused goals such as reducing operational costs, enhancing resident engagement, strengthening community resiliency, improving public safety and bridging the equity gap.
• Track 2 – Operational framework: Serves as a roadmap for managing and supporting smart city projects. It will help cities integrate new capabilities into current systems and processes, define associated KPIs, and serve as an essential element for grant applications.
• Track 3 – Project definition: Defines high-impact projects and potential business models that can be implemented to achieve the goals defined in track one, including programme statements, recommendations, high-level requirements and expected benefits.
• Track 4 – Smart city project plan: Identifies tasks and processes to help guide cities through project implementation as well as define overall smart cities governance structures.

“We are thrilled to be selected by Accelerator for America and Honeywell to participate in their smart city accelerator programme,” said Justin Bibb, mayor of Cleveland. “Accelerator for America is a national centre of excellence and trusted resource in developing and sharing resources in economic development, transit, infrastructure and workforce enhancement across the nation.”

Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, added: “We are excited to partner with Accelerator for America and Honeywell to identify the best opportunities to continue improving Louisville’s smart city infrastructure and make our city a more vibrant and resilient place for many of our residents.”

And Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas, said: “My administration is committed to improving Kansas’ infrastructure, public safety and sustainability, and we’re looking forward to working with Accelerator for America and Honeywell to make transformational change.”

Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego, said: “San Diego is committed to utilising available resources to improve our city’s infrastructure. Through this programme, we’ll be able to leverage additional resources and expertise to accelerate the transformation of our city’s infrastructure and service delivery to improve the lives of many San Diegans.”

Quentin Hart, mayor of Waterloo, added: “We are continually implementing new data collection systems, control systems and apps across city departments. So, when a leading advanced technology company like Honeywell offers to come alongside to help align these technologies and move us closer to becoming a true smart city, we take it. This kind of strategic partnership builds capacity, creates momentum, and maximises outcomes for our residents. This will help launch Waterloo to the next level of the internet of things.”

Honeywell’s City Suite software is an artificial intelligence enabled IoT platform that integrates data from critical city infrastructure systems such as traffic, streetlights, environment, emergency services, public safety and security, and utilities into a single, unified view. The open architecture helps cities connect systems and capabilities to bridge departmental silos and allow budgets to stretch further and create safer, more resilient communities. The suite is deployed in 75 cities worldwide, helping improve more than 100 million lives, and can be scaled by communities to gauge energy consumption across city-owned facilities and utilities.