Play 3 – Playbook for Morrisville

PLAY NUMBER THREE: Making the Town of Morrisville the Smartest City in North Carolina!.

What is a Smart City?

Smart Cities focus on the goals of economic development, sustainability, innovation, citizen engagement, and partner ecosystem development to fundamentally change and improve the quality of life for residents. These goals are inextricably linked to produce systemic outcomes that extend beyond financial performance. The overarching mission for Smart Cities is to catalyze digital transformation of an urban ecosystem to meet environmental, financial, and social outcomes.

Smart Cities and Communities are, by definition, focused on using emerging technologies and technology innovations, for societal and quality of life outcomes. Catalyzing technologies include cloud, big data analytics, mobile technologies, and social networks. Next generation innovation accelerators include the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, next-generation security, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), 3D printing, and robotics.

Smart Innovation for Morrisville

The Town of Morrisville must embed innovation into government service delivery. We want to augment the quality of life for our residents, by becoming even more of a data-driven organization, one that is responsive to residents, businesses and visitors. We also need to be transparent in our operations. In 2018 we completed a consolidated Town plan and realized that we could catalyze this progress further by adopting smart technologies and processes.

To this end, we have created the Morrisville Smart City strategy, which provides a roadmap as to how we got here, where we are going, and why. Innovative technologies are critical tools that can be leveraged to meet the expectations of our digitally savvy residents and business community.

The Town of Morrisville Smart City Strategy

We had an assessment done with each Town Department and aligned our Smart City Strategy to the goals in our Strategic Plan. (Transportation Mobility, Liveable Neighborhoods, Inclusive Neighborhoods, Public Safety, Education, and Economic Development.

I am very proud of our establishment of a Smart City Steering Committee, which will continue to guide and advise the Town of Morrisville on our Smart City Strategy.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #1: Intelligent transportation Utilize advanced transportation capabilities and data to help mitigate local traffic congestion.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #2: Balanced sustainability Development of long-term sustainability efforts, including solar, EV, environmental and smart building deployments.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #3: Engaged community Collaborate with community members to optimize service delivery through innovative solutions.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #4: Data-driven public safety Leverage data from next-generation 9-1-1, regional computer aided dispatching and IoT solutions to proactively mitigate and prepare for incidents.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #5: Enterprise intelligence Deploy technology to improve operational efficiencies and promote transparency through the Town’s open data program.

Smart Morrisville Strategy #6: Partner ecosystem Develop partnerships with local technology providers to support technology

My Smart City Playbook

1) Collaborative Partnerships with Technology Leaders, like IBM, Cisco, NC RIoT, Microsoft, Oracle, Verizon, Truliant, etc to establish a Smart Campus. Market Leading technologies and smart city innovation can be tested and piloted by Town Departments, “Try Before You Buy”.

2) Encourage entrepreneurs to share their smart city ideas with our Steering Committee, and collaborate with NC RIoT, to encourage regional collaboration and share best practices with IoT Technology. We will host 2 NC RIoT Start Up Pitch Events per quarter.

3) IOT/Smart City Accelerator in the Morrisville Incubator (refer to the Jobs Playbook).

4) Town of Morrisville must hire a Staff or Consultant, who can pursue Smart City Grants for the Town.

5) Innovate Morrisville: Innovate Morrisville will be a 16-week partnership program that turns the Town of Morrisville into a lab to test new ideas, products or services. Through the program participants get access to staff, data and facilities to assist with making Morrisville more efficient and encourage a culture of innovation at the City. Smart City Companies would be invited into this program and I will have more information on this program in my next set of plays.

Innovate Morrisville Program Goals:

• Test Latest Technology: Keep Morrisville informed of new trends and technologies by opening the doors of government to startups and entrepreneurs.
• Build Innovation Capacity: Build capacity for innovation work by allowing departments to partner with program participants to test new ideas and use new technology.
• Support Local Businesses: Provide opportunities for businesses to work with the City, giving them a use case to attract clients or investors.