Former Maryland Governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O’Malley will join MetroLab Network as a senior fellow supporting efforts to accelerate city innovation by deploying technology and policy solutions.
In response to the 2015 White House Smart Cities Initiative, about 20 cities and partnering universities formed the multi-city collaboration with a $1 million John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant. The MetroLab Network provides a platform for city-university relationships to share successful projects and coordinate multi-city, multi-university research efforts. MetroLab has since grown to 30+ cities, including Baltimore. In early May, the city joined 12 others, bringing several smart city projects with partners John Hopkins University and University of Baltimore.
O’Malley served two terms as Governor of Maryland, from 2007 to 2015, after serving as Mayor of Baltimore for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. Prior to his role as mayor, he served two terms on Baltimore’s City Council. He has long been regarded for his data-driven approach to government. As mayor, he developed CitiStat, a data and management platform that won Harvard University’s Innovations in American Government Award in 2004 for its ability to evaluate the performance pf each city agency. Then as Governor, he implemented StateStat.
It is up to cities to become innovation leaders, and to test new ideas and new approaches to public policy issues. Governor O’Malley’s experience and dedication will help elevate MetroLab’s important mission to strengthen city-university bonds and facilitate collaboration across the country,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.
Collaboration is a primary objective of MetroLab, something O’Malley addressed two weeks ago at MetroLab’s Summit in San Diego, Calif.
By connecting disparate projects which may be alike in mission or based on technological explorations through MetroLab’s opportunities to exchange best practices, the initiative helps cities working towards similar objectives benefit from each other’s experiences.
According to GreenBiz’s Shana Rappaport reporting from the summit, O’Malley said collaboration is the new competition.
“If there’s one thing I’ve come to appreciate, it’s that mayors the world over share the same mission statement,” said O’Malley at the summit. “They want to make their cities safer, healthier, cleaner places for kids to grow up and for businesses to expand.”
