Illinois Civic Leaders Experience the Power of Smart Cities at Verizon IoT Event

Verizon’s first annual Smart Cities tour stopped in Chicago on Friday, June 5 to host a seminar aimed at educating Illinois civic leaders about the power of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for managing the many issues facing municipalities today.

Speaking to a full house at Chicago’s Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Toni Oubari, senior consultant with Verizon’s IoT Smart Cities team, shared how making cities smarter can help address challenges including livability, sustainability, resiliency, aging infrastructure, congestion, public safety and budget constraints. She offered up the example of intelligent lighting, which provides energy efficient on-demand light levels, helps improve public safety and offers cost savings opportunities, freeing up valuable funds that can be reallocated to address other pressing local needs.

Oubari also spoke about the value of bringing more technological innovation to Chicagoland to reverse what she referred to as the “net negative migration” trend of losing young professionals to tech hubs, such as San Francisco and Denver.

Oubari was followed by guest speaker and technologist Dan Burrus who delivered a message with universal appeal. "IoT is about predicting and preventing, and not just about reacting and responding," he explained. Further making the case for connected solutions, Burrus commented that in a world of uncertainty, “data and analytics bring certainty.”

The Value of IoT and Connectivity
The final session involved a discussion on the value IoT and connectivity for local governments featuring Cook County CIO Simona Rollinson and Bureau Chief of Economic Development Michael Jasso, along with Jeremy Hajek with the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Information Technology & Management program.

Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago and numerous suburbs, is one of the largest in the United States, with a population of more than five million residents and thousands of businesses and organizations. With approximately 1,500 local governments and one the largest healthcare systems in the country, Jasso commented that information sharing and technological innovation is critical for Cook County. “The reality is that all businesses are becoming technology businesses, and as a government, we need to be cognizant of this,” Jasso said.

Hajek told the audience of civic leaders that demonstrating results is critical for achieving buy-in and greater investment for technology initiatives. He also recommended teaming with a nearby university which can prototype and test various initiatives prior to deployment.

The event wrapped with an Expo featuring demonstrations of smart solutions from Verizon’s ecosystem of ‘Smart Cities’ providers.

Read “State of the Market: The Internet of Things (IoT) 2015” to find out how enterprise organizations are obtaining tangible business benefits using IoT technologies.