ASU Launches Hub for Smart City Innovation

Arizona State University is partnering with Amazon Web Services to create the ASU Smart City Cloud Innovation Center to build smarter communities in the Phoenix area.

  • By Sara Friedman
  • 11/28/18
smart city

A new effort at Arizona State University is designed to help build smart communities in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The ASU Smart City Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) will leverage the power of the Amazon Web Services to solve community and regional challenges through improving digital experiences for smart city designers, expanding technology alternatives to minimize costs, spurring economic and workforce development, and facilitating sharing of public sector solutions within the region.

"The ASU Smart City CIC has the opportunity to bring tremendous value to the local community and its citizens," said John Rome, deputy chief information officer at ASU. "We've been approached by city planners, healthcare administrators and ASU faculty members to work on challenges around autonomous vehicle governance, healthcare management, urban resilience and a host of education-related challenges. The possibilities for the CIC are endless."

The ASU Smart City CIC will serve as a training ground for university students while also providing resources for large-scale ASU initiatives such as TenAcross, which looks to solve societal and environmental issues across the Interstate 10 Corridor. The center will also support visiting scholars, faculty, student researchers, industry experts and community members who are looking to build solutions for smart city challenges. The center is expected to open early in 2019.

AWS has also partnered with the California Polytechnic University and Dongseo University in South Korea to develop AWS CIC programs. More information about the ASU collaboration can be found here.

About the Author

Sara Friedman is a reporter/producer for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe covering education policy and a wide range of other public-sector IT topics.

Friedman is a graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied journalism, politics and international communications.

Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.

Click here for previous articles by Friedman.


Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • close-up illustration of a hand signing a legislative document

    California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature

    California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law.

  • illustration of a VPN network with interconnected nodes and lines forming a minimalist network structure

    Report: Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

    OpenVPN, a popular open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a new report from Microsoft.

  • interconnected cubes and circles arranged in a grid-like structure

    Hugging Face Gradio 5 Offers AI-Powered App Creation and Enhanced Security

    Hugging Face has released version 5 of its Gradio open source platform for building machine learning (ML) applications. The update introduces a suite of features focused on expanding access to AI, including a novel AI-powered app creation tool, enhanced web development capabilities, and bolstered security measures.