News

Erin Cunningham at State Tech Magazine has a nice article about smart city technology companies and city leader involvement.

Panasonic Takes Smart City Plans to the Next Level

But it takes more than technology to make a smart city a success, says George Karayannis, vice president of CityNOW for the Panasonic Corporation of North America.

“Technology is only an enabler,” he says.

The secret sauce is to align all stakeholders — including government leaders, transportation and utility leads — to define collective goals that can only be achieved through collaboration, Karayannis says.

Panasonic did that at Pena Station NEXT, a 400-acre, mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Denver, Colo. The public-private partnership offers a living lab for stakeholders where they can understand and interact with the technology firsthand. Panasonic has built a 20,000-square-foot model “mini city” in a building that includes a sports and entertainment district, a commercial business district and a mobility district to help stakeholders achieve a shared baseline of knowledge of the costs, benefits and underlying technology of practically any smart city application.

You can read the full article at State Tech Magazine.