Jay Hietpas
Director, Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Traffic, Safety and Technology
Automated and connected vehicle program
Im fortunate to work onautomated and connected vehicle technology. This technology is going to be transformational to government in several ways. As this technology develops, we need to identify how these vehicles work on our transportation infrastructure, and how they complement all modes of transportation, including transit. Our traffic laws and licensing laws never contemplated automated vehicles. We will need to identify how to safely operate these vehicles, how these vehicles are insured, and identify who is able to operate the vehicle. These vehicles may provide improved mobility options for the disabled and elderly community, as many of these citizens currently dont have a license or self-limit driving based on conditions. It is an exciting time to watch these technologies rapidly advance, and Minnesota wants to be prepared.
Samir Saini
Chief Information Officer, City of New York
LinkNYC
I was drawn to New York in particular because of Mayor de Blasios steadfast commitment to fight inequality on every frontincluding in tech, both inside and outside city government. The right kind of innovation can lead to transformational change for people. Being here in New York City takes that mission to an even larger stage. Building on the transformation underway here at DoITT, we are becoming even more inventive in the technology we provide to our customers, even better listeners in terms of understanding what our customers need, and even more agile in how we deliver it. We are pushing even farther with LinkNYC, a first-of-its-kind communications network replacing the citys payphones to build the worlds fastest and largest free public Wi-Fi network. Its pioneering in a global sense on its way to becoming the worlds largest, fastest, free muni Wi-Fi system. Nearly 3 million people have used it. Thats more than the populations of the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and Houston. And we have over 50,000 new users joining the network each week. I want to push farther on DoITTs part of executing the Mayors goal of bringing affordable, reliable high-speed broadband to every New Yorker by 2025. And Im looking forward to working on smart city efforts to help keep NYC on the leading edge of urban innovation.
Bob Bennett
Chief Innovation Officer, Kansas City, Missouri
Dynamic data analysis and operations optimization
City leaders who focus on people will be the people who achieve the smart city vision first. They start with a vision for what the smart city will do, and they will focus first on what residents need most. To understand the need, they use the most descriptive data they have describe the problem. This enables them to gain control of the data they have. Most cities can become smart using what they have today 85 percent of the data we use comes from our open data site. Long before a chief innovation officer has to make a case for a technology acquisition, she can describe how a problem has evolved and where gaps exist. In this way, the city begins its transformation. No longer do we fix streets and water pipes based on a street-by-street schedule we look at trends and anticipate future needs. And we can do this without a single sensor.
The next step is to predict future needs. Simple trend analysis gives city leaders quicker access to the resident wisdom in your customer-facing departments. The remaining 15 percent of the data that city leaders need can be gained through targeted procurement of sensors and analysis. We use sensors and third-party data to enable our Public Works Department to predict where potholes will form. We are using math to predict potholes and fixing the streets before potholes form. This allows us to almost double the miles of road we can service every year. From this proof of concept, we are moving forward with predicting other issues we have to manage: crime and public health. If an issue can be solved with preventative maintenance or security, a mayor can nip a crisis in the bud. In the end, government becomes boring. And efficient. And effective.
