Peachtree Corners – a 5G smart city in Georgia, USA – is helping the North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) create smart city efforts across its region.

NTXIA is a consortium of nearly 30 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across north Texas. It is collaborating with Peachtree Corners and its Curiosity Lab innovation centre to extend their efforts in supporting the expansion of smart cities across the country through public-private partnerships.

“The impetus for creating our smart city and the Curiosity Lab ecosystem was supporting economic development for our region through the creation of a unique proving ground for the latest smart city technologies while improving the lives of our residents and staying at the forefront of innovation,” said city of Peachtree Corners CTO Brandon Branham. “With Peachtree Corners having since been recognised for creating a blueprint of how to build out city-owned smart city infrastructure in the USA, we’re delighted to be working with NTXIA and its cities as they continue their smart city journeys. Regions must collaborate to make smart city advancements a reality across the country. Partnering with NTXIA allows us to share our learnings and work together in efforts to help improve the economy, innovation and smart city-related initiatives everywhere.”

NTXIA’s mission is to create the smartest, most resilient and most connected region in the country. The alliance uses technology, data and community to help local governments develop city services and provide technology that improves the local economy and residents’ everyday lives.

“Partnering with the city of Peachtree Corners is a huge step in our cross-regional partnership efforts,” said Jennifer Sanders, NTXIA executive director. “We are continuing to foster these partnerships as a way to support smart city growth and economic development. With Peachtree Corners known as one of the premier smart cities in the USA, reinforced by many world-firsts in autonomous mobility and advanced telecommunications systems, working closely with the city and learning from their experiences is invaluable for our alliance. Both of us share the collaborative spirit and the drive to help all municipalities reach their goals more quickly, together. We are looking forward to collaborating to further our efforts, share knowledge and support municipalities across our region and the country.”

NTXIA is the largest smart region effort in the USA. The collaborative environment allows public, private, civic and academic institutions to come together to identify areas of strength and barriers across sustainability, growth, quality of life and more while having access to subject-matter expertise to create regional strategies. As part of the consortium, Peachtree Corners will provide and receive support and learnings across innovation, sustainability and economic development.

NXTIA and Curiosity Lab will be attending the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona from November 15 to 17 to spread these partnerships internationally.

The NTXIA is a 501(c)3 consortium of cross-sector stakeholders working to build and implement a smart region strategy for north Texas. The mission is to build the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country. NTXIA was launched to use data, technology and community collaboratively to address pressing topics and improve quality of life, drive inclusive economic development and promote resource efficiency.

As the heart of what is being called Silicon Orchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a municipality that’s home to more than 45,000 residents, 45,000 jobs and an innovation hub that houses some of the world’s most disruptive technology companies. Powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as a model for how government and private industry can collaborate.

From the world’s first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles used by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle fast-charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the IoT and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its citizens, and the world.

Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory designed as a proving ground for IoT, mobility and smart city emerging technologies. The centrepiece of the lab is a 4.8km public autonomous vehicle roadway leveraging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies. Additional infrastructure includes intelligent traffic cameras and traffic signals, smart streetlights, an IoT central control room and a 2300-square-metre innovation centre. Owned and operated by Peachtree Corners, Curiosity Lab is a real-world testing environment and is available for use free of charge.