TheRoleofBusinessinSmartCities

Originally posted on US News & World Report

When these kinds of innovations are done best, they are often the result of cooperation between government and the private sector.

If people could see what I've seen, they would know that becoming a smart city is not just the responsibility of a government entity. Large employers have significant operations in the cities where they are located, and a robust population commuting into their campuses each day. The way forward in how we engage the private sector is to not think of it as a group of vendors or sponsors, but as a true partner with skin in the game.

In Columbus, Ohio, we asked the public sector and the business community to put interests aside and bring community interests to the table. When Columbus won the $50 million U.S. Smart Cities Challenge, private employers, represented by the Columbus Partnership, invested $12 million to partner with the city of Columbus to co-lead Smart Columbus, a regional smart city initiative that is focused on leveraging technology to improve transportation. Columbus Partnership's original commitment to match the grant with $90 million of aligned investment from 22 local partners has since grown to more than $520 million. Beyond financial support, the region's largest employers have banded together to use their influence to promote a more sustainable and equitable transportation ecosystem.

Below are a few ways that city leaders and the private sector can work together to achieve mutually beneficial smart city solutions.

Establish meaningful public-private partnerships

Traditionally, public-private partnerships are defined by vendor relationships, based on contracts where something written defines the relationship and there is a partnership to do a project. But that's not an actual trusted, collaborative relationship where we have a shared vision and shared input. While the private sector might not deliver direct services to residents, it doesn't mean that they don't have a role to play.

The most ambitious project in Columbus' portfolio is the Smart Columbus Operating System, an interoperable, open-data platform built on open source tools that would meet the functionality needs of complex smart city projects with the intention of eventually being portable to other cities.

We commissioned a technical working group of experts and entrepreneurs from our business community to think about technical challenges that could be solved using the system. Because our technical working groups were developed from diverse businesses in the community, we held a hackathon to further explore how the system could be used to solve complex city problems. More than 100 people attended the hackathon, focusing on how the technology could be applied to parking services, food access, accessible transit, rest area parking availability and bridge height intelligence for trucks.

The Smart Columbus Open Data Enthusiasts, a monthly volunteer meetup group, was created as a result of the event. When members get together, they continue to explore uses for the operating system.

Help employers think differently about mobility

Businesses that understand the connection between modernizing transportation and attracting and retaining the best talent will reap the benefits of being a part of a smart city. Employees expect businesses to be good corporate citizens in ways that go beyond philanthropic efforts; they're looking for employment at companies where leaders are thoughtful and intentional about the impact they're making.

The highest amount of congestion and the majority of vehicle miles traveled are generated through commutes to and from work. One way Smart Columbus works to achieve widespread electric vehicle adoption and community behavior change is by partnering with more than 60 large employers through the Acceleration Partners program. These partnerships aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing electric vehicle adoption by 500% and reducing the number of single-occupant commuters by 10% by 2020. Smart Columbus gives partner corporations in-person electric vehicles and alternative mobility education through events, such as electric vehicle test drives and lunch and learns with smart city thought leaders.

Understand the government's strengths

It's going to take a lot of courage for people to realize that business models need to change to create better outcomes for city residents. The private sector owes the government a little bit more trust in the process. The government notoriously does not speak ahead of its capabilities, because it's very sensitive to resident expectations. The private sector doesn't have the same responsibility. While the private sector can make things sound really easy, it needs to be honest about the limits of emerging technologies and not assume it can learn about new tools on top of a government contract.

The business community needs to trust the government and acknowledge the complexities and challenges of its work. For example, as electric scooter companies deploy their scooters guerilla-style in cities across the country, it's not to say their strategy is bad. But those scooters need to be in low-income areas because they need to be accessible to everyone. If government and business were to work together, they could build better business models.

What we've done with Smart Columbus is not impossible in any other city, but it takes time, relationships and trust. And trust doesn't happen overnight. In our experience, working with the private sector on several projects prior to the creation of Smart Columbus is what got this exciting initiative off the ground.