A free work/play trip to Dublin: Enterprise Ireland to host North American smart cities for knowledge exchange Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the Smart Cities Council are partnering to bring North American smart cities to Dublin this December to exchange with Irish cities and technology companies. To find the best North American projects, the Council is holding a competition from October 1 to November 1, 2019. North American cities are invited to nominate projects inside the Council’s Smart Cities Activator online planning platform, which already hosts several hundred North American projects. Entry is by completing a short online summary of current or planned projects at www.smartcitiesactivator.com. For an invitation to access Activator, contact irishrc@smartcitiescouncil.com. Enterprise Ireland will select cities with bold projects to improve livability, workability, and sustainability; and projects that mesh with the ambitions of Ireland’s cities and tech sector. Those cities will be offered travel scholarships to attend EI’s smart city conference in Dublin on December 2/3, 2019. “We are inviting North America’s top smart cities to share their lessons learned with other cities from around the world,” explains Sean McKeown, Project lead Smart Cities at Enterprise Ireland. “And to meet Irish technology companies that can help them with their next projects.” Smart Cities Activator is an online planning platform that is free to qualified cities. It allows those cities to use expert, pre-programmed templates to engage with stakeholders, to build action plans, and to share best practices with other entities working on similar projects. “We have worked with cities around the world and find the Irish smart cities sector to be quite advanced,” said Smart Cities Council CEO Philip Bane. “We invite North American cities to enter short project summaries inside Activator, or to update the projects already inside. Those cities that are most qualified with be invited to attend the Dublin Smart City Conference and enjoy Ireland during the holiday season. A great combination of work and play that is uniquely Irish!” The invitation applies to towns, cities, counties, districts, states, provinces, and regional authorities from the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. The Council accepts projects at any stage, whether completed, in process, or in early planning. Projects will be evaluated based on the scope of their ambition and innovative uses of advanced technology. For an invitation to access Activator, contact irishrc@smartcitiescouncil.com.
