By Sue Marek
Fierce Wireless
LAS VEGAS -- Partnerships with vendors are key to making smart city initiatives a reality because they allow cities to make investments in infrastructure without taking unnecessary risk -- such as investing in platforms that may become outdated. But partnerships alone won’t make a smart city a success-- it also depends upon the leadership in the city government and the community.
This was one of the key messages at the FierceWireless “Inside the Building of a Smart City” event held in conjunction with CTIA’s Super Mobility conference today."You can’t have smart cities without them being driven by the leadership at city hall and by the leadership in the communities,” said Aidoo Osei, director of business development of smart cities and industrial IOT at Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM).
But Ingenu (formerly On-Ramp Wireless) CEO John Horn noted that many of the smart city projects such as smart grid applications that his company is involved in have resulted in 30 percent or even 40 percent savings.
However, Jeff Stovall, CIO of the City of Charlotte, countered that while return on investment is important, the overall mission of the project is even more critical because municipalities often have bigger goals than cost savings, such as making their citizens safer or lowering the carbon footprint of a city. “Saving money is always a great idea for city government, but saving money as a government business case has limitations,” Stovall said. “Yes we can save money, but is that enough?”
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