The Honeywell Smart City Accelerator Program will help expand smart city growth in selected cities to support safer, more efficient, resilient and equitable communities
ATLANTA — Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) and Accelerator for America today announced the launch of the Honeywell Smart City Accelerator Program to help cities strategically plan their futures and build capacity to fund transformational initiatives. Honeywell is engaging with five U.S. cities to provide in-kind support to accelerate progress on their smart city strategic planning. The cities are Cleveland, Louisville, Ky., Kansas City, Mo., San Diego, and Waterloo, Iowa.
Through the Smart City Accelerator, each city will receive technical support from Honeywell and Accelerator to develop a Smart City Strategic Plan. Each strategic 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 organization led by an Advisory Council of mayors, labor and business leaders, and urban and economic development experts that finds and develops solutions to economic insecurity and shares them with cities to create national change from the ground up.
“We are proud to work with Accelerator for America to support cities of all sizes advance their smart city journeys and drive meaningful outcomes such as advancing sustainability efforts, creating equity, digitalizing systems and helping to improve safety,” said Matthew Britt, general manager, Smart Cities and Communities, Honeywell. “A smart city eliminates silos, identifies integration opportunities and uses data to institute change. Honeywell’s ready now smart city solutions leverage data to help create safer, more resilient and sustainable cities and communities that improve quality of life.”
“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 Program does,” said Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, CEO of Accelerator for America. “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’ leadership visions and data strategies and reviewed each city’s strategic plan, sustainability plan, climate plan, and operating and capital budgets. Working closely with city stakeholders, Honeywell will create a four-track Smart City Strategic Plan for each city that encompasses:
- 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 1, including program statements, recommended solutions, high level solution 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 program,” said Justin Bibb, Mayor of Cleveland. “Accelerator for America is a national center of excellence and trusted resource in developing and sharing resources in economic development, transit, infrastructure, and workforce enhancement across the nation. The Honeywell and Accelerator for America initiative will help us implement new solutions that improve the quality of life for our residents and bring City Hall and government operations to the people — to connect, protect and enhance the lives of those living here in Cleveland. Smart city initiatives, smart buildings, IoT and edge computing devices that deliver information and communications technology will improve the quality of government services and citizen welfare for generations today and the future. We are excited to have this opportunity as part of our vision to modernize City Hall.”
“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,” said Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville, Ky.
“My administration is committed to improving Kansas City’s infrastructure, public safety, and sustainability, and we’re looking forward to working with Accelerator for America and Honeywell to make transformational change,” said Quinton Lucas, Mayor of Kansas City. “As Accelerator for America’s Advisory Council co-chair, I am proud to be a part of the continued effort to bring infrastructure package dollars to cities across the country. As a result of our partnership, Kansas City received millions in federal funding for vital infrastructure projects to improve our growing communities. With Honeywell’s support and expertise in smart city technology, we will work toward improving our 911 dispatch infrastructure, improving public safety and the quality of life for all Kansas Citians. We’re thrilled to be joining other smart cities across the country with a common goal of becoming more resilient.”
“The City of San Diego is thrilled to be selected by Honeywell and Accelerator for America to be part of the Smart City Accelerator program,” said Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego. “San Diego is committed to utilizing available resources to improve our city’s infrastructure. Through this program we’ll be able to leverage additional resources and expertise to help us further smart city solutions to accelerate the transformation of our city’s infrastructure and service delivery to improve the lives of many San Diegans.”
“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,” said Quentin M. Hart, Mayor of Waterloo, Iowa. “This kind of strategic partnership builds capacity, creates momentum, and maximizes outcomes for our residents. This will help launch Waterloo to the next level of the internet of things.”
The Honeywell City Suite Software, an artificial intelligence enabled IoT platform, 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 of the ready now solution helps cities connect systems and capabilities to bridge departmental silos and allow budgets to stretch further and create safer, more resilient communities. The Honeywell City Suite is deployed in 75 cities worldwide, helping to improve more than 100 million lives, and can be scaled by communities to gauge energy consumption across city-owned facilities and utilities.
