The concept of smart city technology and methods, however, involves deploying connected technology and data analytics to create better outcomes for communities. I don’t believe there is a destination that is a smart city. How would you choose to define a smart city? I can better understand their perspective and help to integrate those across sectors. What felt like a frenetic career path now contributes to my ability to bring people together. Ultimately, I found my calling in the smart cities space, which seemed to merge what I enjoyed most in my various professional experiences and, as a matter of fact, requires people from all of the above-mentioned industries to work together. I then went through a number of different positions in sectors ranging from non-profit and government to business and consulting. After a degree in communications, I started off working in the advertisement industry.

That is an interesting question as I haven’t always been involved in the smart city space.

Tell us a little bit more about yourself – how did you get involved in the smart city space? My ultimate hope is that Digi.City encourages people to talk to each other, but more importantly to listen to one another. The new way of working is to share information and to encourage supportive partnerships that can result in positive outcomes. Having information and using that as a lever for economic gain is the way of the past. With the advent of technology, we have so many new methods for addressing the issues and sourcing new solutions. Whether the focus is mobility, affordability, air quality or education, people want access to better options. The challenges that face cities are not new and all involve a lack of access in some way. Digi.City presents an unbiased, informed perspective. This is a very complex and quickly evolving space with lots of different agendas. The website and events are designed to support those exploring how to integrate smart city technology. The purpose of Digi.City is simply to share information, best practices and to convene communities. This idea eventually led to the creation of Digi.City. I saw the opportunity and the need to translate the technical side to how smart cities impact people and ultimately communities. At that time, most of the smart city conversation was coming from industry and was very technology focused. In 2016, I received an Eisenhower Fellowship to study smart cities in the U.S. Hi Chelsea, thank you for being our guest today! Could you please tell us a bit more about how (Digi.City) came into being and what its main purpose is?

Haven by Hope Collier