Mina Sartipi is director of CUIP and also a UC Foundation professor in the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Chattanooga is one of two U.S. cities invited to join the 2020 G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance, a group of 36 cities from 22 countries. Work organized through the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is the main reason the city was selected, according to the alliance.
San Jose, California, is the other U.S. city invited to join.
Created in June 2019, the alliance brings together cities that are pioneers exploring solutions on issues of energy, transportation, health care, education and others with the ultimate goals of, among others, improving quality of life, environmental sustainability and financial transparency in each city. Members of the alliance trade successful ideas that address these dilemmas, designing a “roadmap” of policies that everyone can use.
Chattanooga’s Smart City initiative examines and tests everything from traffic flow and electricity delivery to air quality and safety issues. The research is centered at CUIP and its partners.
“At UTC, we are excited about being part of the Chattanooga team that was given the opportunity by the World Economic Forum to pioneer smart-city technologies,” said Reinhold Mann, the University’s deputy vice chancellor for research.
The city began its Smart City work in 2010 with the creation of EPB’s fiber-optic internet system, making Chattanooga the first U.S. city to offer high-speed internet access to every resident. After CUIP was created in 2018, its research projects include improving traffic flow to lower the amount of automobile pollution in the city, reduce the number of vehicle accidents and make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Working with grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Transportation, CUIP has partnered with Vanderbilt University and the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) to examine ways to bring public transportation to underserved neighborhoods and address other public transportation issues. CUIP also established a Smart Community Collaborative that focuses on initiatives in health, transportation and energy.
“This is an opportunity for Chattanooga to share its thoughts on Smart City Governance, but it also provides us the benefit of global thought leaders on the subject. We’ll be learning and collaborating with some of the best Smart City programs in the world,” said the city’s Smart City Director Kevin Comstock.
“Chattanooga continues to be a city on the move. Participation in this group lets us know we are moving in the right direction. In Smart City programming there is not a well-defined path or roadmap,” he said.
Market research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts that global smart cities may spur $2.46 trillion in business opportunities by 2025 as long as cities have the capabilities and policies to implement those ideas.
