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December 4, 2020

Category: Smart Cities – Smart Futures

📣🎉 Smart Cities-Smart Futures Competition: 2019/20 Official announcement 🎉📣

Friday, 26 July 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Smart Cities-Smart Futures Competitors

We’d like to share our gratitude for your participation in Year One of the Smart Cities-Smart Futures Competition.  No matter where your concept landed, you will be remembered as a group that was involved in spearheading this exciting initiative in Year One.  We’d like to invite you to submit your innovative concept or plan for year two beginning September 17th, 2019 (Mark your calendars!), whether an advanced version of last year’s or a brand new one.  You all represent the future innovators of Wisconsin, and for that you should be proud!

For up to date information, Follow us on Social Media @SmartCitiesWI or visit our website!

The purpose of this note is to announce and inform you that the 2019/20 “Smart Cities-Smart Futures” competition was KICKED OFF this past Monday (July 22nd, 2019) at UW-Stout, during the WiSys WSTS conference.  This marks the second year for this innovative program, where students, staff and faculty from Wisconsin’s higher education intuitions are eligible submit innovative concepts and plans for creating smart cities of the future.

Like last year, cash awards, in-kind contributions and public recognition will be made to winners.

We invite you to view this PDF to learn more about the formal announcement.

Some new and exciting changes include!!

  • Improved competition structure with greater emphasis on broad inclusivity and creating investment-ready concepts and plans.
  • Expansion of Core Partner Team
    • The organization SCORE will be available to provide Executive level mentorship for Round One winners to aid with advancing their business plans in subsequent rounds
  • Optimizing the time required by judges and partners.
  • An Engaging College Road Show to visit universities and promote the competition (We welcome your invitation to universities, schools or programs.)

This merely scratches the surface of the exciting variations in Year Two, and we look forward to sharing more detailed information in the weeks to come.

For now, please feel free to check the website for updates and information regarding timing, criteria, and structure changes.  We’ve only just begun to tap the higher education talent that exists in the state, and with partnership and support from you all we look forward to recognizing the fine institutions of Wisconsin at a greater level this year.

Follow us on Social Media @SmartCitiesWI

Shawn McComb
Director of Business Development & Academic Partnering
Shawn.McComb@fewidev.com

Jack Nickeas
Promotions and Sales Strategist
Jack.Nickeas@fewidev.com

Diane Koepke
Senior Manager of Innovation
Diane.Koepke@fewidev.com

Lorraine Hastings
Senior Manager, Ventures and Investments
Lorraine.Hastings@fewidev.com

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Forbes: Smart Cities: The Future Of Urban Development

Thursday, 23 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and technology-dependent, a new wave of smart applications is changing how we approach everyday activities. Utility appliances such as intelligent fridges (yes, you read that right), personal assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or smart home security applications create opportunities for more efficient living. While the ideas of “Smart Cities” has been proposed as the future of urbanism, the question remains: how do we connecy this new technology for the ultimately “efficient” society?

Cities Of The Future

Smart cities bring together infrastructure and technology to improve the quality of life of citizens and enhance their interactions with the urban environment. But how can data from areas such as public transport, air quality meters and energy production be integrated and effectively used?

By rendering more technology capable of communicating across platforms, IoT generates more data that can help improve various aspects of daily life. Cities can identify both opportunities and challenges in real-time, reducing costs by pinpointing issues prior to their emergence and allocating resources more accurately to maximize impact.

Efficiency And Flexibility

By investing in public spaces, smart cities can be places where people want to spend more time. The city of Barcelona has adopted smart technologies by implementing a network of fiber optics throughout the city, providing free high-speed Wi-Fi that supports the IoT. By integrating smart water, lighting and parking management, Barcelona saved €75 million of city funds and created 47,000 new jobs in the smart technology sector.

Read the full story here.

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Forbes: The Realities Of Smart City Development

Tuesday, 14 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

When most people speak about smart cities, they often imagine a futuristic metropolis, as depicted in movies and television. In reality, smart cities will be the product of the ongoing and gradual evolution of information technologies — with which we’re already familiar in our everyday lives — and will not look much different than they do today.

The smart city market is projected to grow from $81 billion globally in 2018 to over $158 billion in 2022, according to IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide. In a smart city, internet of things (IoT) networks can be deployed to create applications that will change the manner in which residents coexist with technology. Soon, parking structures will tell drivers which spots are open, smart outdoor lamps will automatically adjust for weather and climate conditions and green buildings will be able to monitor air quality and optimize energy consumption. The IoT will enable us to constantly sense and process information from the outside world in an effort to bring efficiency to everyday life in a city.

However, these advancements aren’t possible without the adequate wireless connectivity that evolves with these technologies to meet escalating bandwidth demands.

Smart Cities Are Already On Their Way

A 2016 survey by the United States Conference of Mayors demonstrated that smart city IoT projects in cities of every size are well underway in key areas, including transportation, energy efficiency, government services and health care. For an example, look no further than Los Angeles. The city is installing new LEDs in 4,500 miles of streetlights. This will increase visibility in those areas, leading to safer roads and areas surrounding them. These bulbs will also tap into an interconnected system that reports any malfunctions that may arise, speeding up the replacement process. Overseas, Nanjing, China, installed sensors in 10,000 taxis, 7,000 buses and 1 million private cars to help track and monitor traffic patterns.

Click here to read the full article.

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UW Platteville: Faculty recognized for innovative ideas to improve quality of life in Wisconsin

Friday, 10 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Two University of Wisconsin-Platteville faculty members are being recognized for their innovative ideas to improve living and working environments in Wisconsin. A yearlong competition, sponsored by Foxconn Technology Group in partnership with the University of Wisconsin System, among others, invited participants to submit innovative ideas that enhance quality of life, improve working environments, expand transportation networks, inspire creative city planning and promote sustainable energy solutions. After narrowing down an initial 325 participants, officials recently announced the top 12 final winners, which include Dr. Hanwan Jiang, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Dr. Fang Yang, assistant professor of electrical engineering in the UW-Platteville Engineering Partnerships Program.

Dr. Hanwan Jiang

Dr. Hanwan Jiang

Two UW-Platteville students, Jonas Wagner and Jacob Sina – both engineering physics majors – also participated in the competition and were among those who were selected as round-two winners of the contest.

“It is just so exciting to see our faculty and students competing, and winning, in this competition to develop innovative ways for enhancing our cities of the future,” said Dr. Molly Gribb, dean of UW-Platteville’s College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. “The College of EMS at UW-Platteville is committed to providing experiential learning opportunities for our students, and this is just one example of the exceptional work our faculty do to engage their students in cutting-edge research.”

Jiang’s proposal addresses structural deficiencies in bridges – a situation that is getting worse, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Infrastructure Report Card. More than half of the bridges in the United States are approaching or have exceeded their design lives, and just over 9% of bridges nationwide are deemed structurally deficient. Recent fatalities have brought this issue to national attention, including the collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge in 2018.

Jiang proposes the development of a monitoring system – similar to a medical ultrasound – that generates images of cracking, damage and subtle stress changes inside and on the surface of the structure. She bases her research on Coda Wave Interferometry, a theory that focuses on how the depth, position and frequency of cracks affect the structure. Jiang hopes that this new method is more effective than the traditional way of testing, which doesn’t locate all the cracks, some of which can be thinner than a strand of hair.

Dr. Fang Yang

Dr. Fang Yang

Yang and her team have developed a novel microgrid energy management system. A microgrid is a small-scale power system that oftentimes consists of renewable energy sources, such as solar power or wind. Microgrids serve a specific area, which could range in size from a single building to a university campus or industrial complex, or even a small island.

Microgrids are becoming increasingly popular, as is the demand for environmental sustainability and the use of more renewable energy sources in microgrid applications. While existing microgrid energy management techniques include renewable resources in the supply of power, according to Yang, they do not use those resources to their full power generation capacity. Yang’s microgrid energy management system seeks to improve upon this by achieving coordinated and optimal control of various energy resources.

“Electricity touches every life and almost every activity in any city,” said Yang. “Microgrids make cities smarter by empowering local control to achieve economic, environmental and energy resiliency goals for their citizens. The developed technology enhances microgrid function to fill the energy needs of residential, commercial and industrial activities in an efficient and sustainable manner, and has the capacity to serve the community by helping the microgrid to work smarter.”

The final round winners received a $5,000 prize, bringing the total award amount they received throughout the duration of the competition to $7,000. For more information on the Smart Cities–Smart Futures competition, visit wismartcities-smartfutures.com/.

Read the full article here.

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Medical College of Wisconsin: Three MCW teams among dozen winners of Foxconn’s innovation competition

Thursday, 09 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Three MCW teams among dozen winners of Foxconn’s innovation competition

Milwaukee, May 2, 2019 – Last week, the Medical College of Wisconsin learned that three MCW teams were recognized among 12 winners in a statewide innovation competition, Smart Cities – Smart Futures, sponsored by Foxconn Technology Group. Foxconn’s goal for this grant competition is to invest in a broad spectrum of new ideas generated by college and university teams throughout the state to improve the health and quality of life of Wisconsin communities.

Foxconn announced Smart Cities – Smart Futures in August, stating it would award up to $1 million over the next three years. The competition focuses on various themes, such as smart mobility, smart buildings, smart homes, smart energy and smart health, as well as efficiency, productivity and the management of resources. More than 300 teams entered the contest, including several dozen from MCW. On April 25, at an event at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Smart Cities – Smart Futures representatives announced that 12 teams had been selected to receive $5,000 each to support their ideas.

Teams from MCW comprised exactly one-fourth of the winners and are led by faculty, staff and students.

“It was a privilege for me to attend the announcement of the contest winners and celebrate alongside three of our outstanding teams,” says Joseph E. Kerschner, MD, Dean of the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Provost and Executive Vice President of the Medical College of Wisconsin. “They represent MCW’s ‘can do’ attitude which makes us such a wonderful asset to our communities and a vital part of tomorrow’s smart cities.”

MCW’s Smart Cities – Smart Futures winning teams are:

Michelle Botts, Devashish Joshi and Adhitya Ramamurthi, students, School of Medicine

Project Summary: Project aims to bring virtual reality modules to medical students and residents to assist in learning and medical exposure. Additionally, the project would target medical employees to train for emergency protocols and patients to ease anxiety about certain procedures.

Zak Sharif-Sidi, student, School of Medicine

Project Summary: Project focuses on the development of web-based technology that attempts to the close the gap between doctors and the organizations in our community. The solution solves this problem by integrating into the clinical workflow to algorithmically run community-level data against clinical data in order to identify and refer patients to specific resources in the community. The result is early risk identification with actionable next steps, identifying resources in the community and facilitating logical connections for patients to stay healthy.

Other Team Members: Bradley Crotty, MD; Mike Anderes, PT, MBA

Brandon Tefft, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary: Project focuses on the development of a modern, computerized stethoscope that can produce 4-dimensional (4D) sound maps from a patient over space and time, which can be used to diagnose diseases of the heart, lungs, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and joints. Furthermore, the system can be deployed into the community by using a smartphone app to capture the sound data and transmit the results to a physician, allowing for more frequent screening and earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Other Team Members: Shayan Shafiee

MCW’s Smart Cities – Smart Futures honorable mention teams are:

Jennifer Lindner, Project Manager, Information Services

Project Summary: Product is a Technology Integrated Home System that connects people with advanced technologies like augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and smart devices to improve the quality of life, productivity, efficiency and convenience to all people without compromising efforts and achievements of future generations.

Anna Palatnik, MD, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology (Maternal Fetal Medicine)

Project Summary: Project focuses on the use of artificial intelligence technology and machine learning to reduce the risks of sudden infant death syndrome.

Shayan Shafiee, student, Graduate School, Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary: Project involves the development of a non-invasive means of detecting biomarkers in circulating blood or other bodily fluids that would enable earlier detection of diseases such as cancer and better management of diseases such as diabetes.

Other Team Members: Brandon Tefft, PhD

Read the full article here.

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Smart Cities Dive: “Smart Cities for All” playbook focuses on accessibility for people with disabilities

Wednesday, 08 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Dive Brief:

(more…)

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Infinimed Round 3 #SmartCitiesWI video submission (360 – watch on mobile device)

Saturday, 04 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Now this is very cool technology!

Posted by InfiniMed for #SmartCitiesWI Round 3.

Thank you to the contestants who submitted their innovation for consideration.

Watch on mobile device for 360º experience!

 

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UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science: College team named Smart Cities finalist

Friday, 03 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

A team from the College of Engineering & Applied Science was one of the 12 winners (from an initial pool of 352) in the final round of Foxconn’s Smart Cities-Smart Futures competition. Congratulations to: team leader Zihao Jin, graduate student, civil engineering; faculty advisor Jie Yu,assistant professor, civil & environmental engineering; Shamsi Trisha, Zhong Liu,both civil engineering graduate students; Xinyu Liu,visiting PhD student, civil engineering; and John December(’91 MS Computer Science).

The team was the sole winner in the contest’s IoT (Internet of Things) category and the only UWM team named as a finalist.

Click for 2-minute video on their presentation Smart mobility, smart campus.

From left to right: Zhong Liu, Shamsi Thrisha, Zihao Jin, Jie Yu, John December, Xinyu Liu

Read the full article online here. 

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Urban Milwaukee: Foxconn Announces Final Round Winners of “Smart Cities-Smart Futures” Competition

Thursday, 02 May 2019 by Laura Kaiser

Milwaukee, WI – Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn) today announced the final-round winners of the first year of its “Smart Cities-Smart Futures” competition alongside its state and local partners. Dr. Alan Yeung, Foxconn Director of U.S. Strategic Initiatives, academic leaders, and competition partners recognized 12 outstanding ideas submitted by students, faculty, and staff representing Gateway Technical College, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Platteville.

The winners are:

– Hanwan Jiang & Team, UW-Platteville
– Bahareh Behzadnezhad & Team, UW-Madison
– Michelle Botts  & Team, Medical College of Wisconsin
– Michael Schlicting & Team, UW-Madison
– Brandon Tefft & Team, Medical College of Wisconsin
– Jiatong Li & Team, UW-Madison
– Prof. Jeffrey Blessing, Ph.D., Milwaukee School of Engineering
– Fang Yang  & Team, UW-Platteville
– Zak Sharif-Sidi & Team, Medical College of Wisconsin
– Jingjie Li & Team, UW-Madison
– Kate Field, Gateway Technical College
– Zihao Jin & Team, UW-Milwaukee

In May 2018, Foxconn pledged up to $1 million in cash and in-kind technical support over a three-year period to support innovative ideas that enhance quality of life, improve working environments, expand transportation networks, inspire creative city planning, and promote sustainable energy solutions. Submissions were evaluated by a group of fifty judges based on clarity, impact, marketability, and other criteria.

Final round competitors were required to write a 1,500-word essay and create a five-minute video explaining how their submission contributes to the vitality of smart communities. Ideas submitted for the competition covered the following categories: energy and the environment, mobility and transportation, education, e-health, software, the internet of things, smart homes, robotics and manufacturing, and big data analytics.

Twelve submissions were selected as third and final round winners from an initial pool of 325 first round applicants. Today’s winners received a $5,000 cash prize for a total of $7,000 in awards over the duration of the entire competition. Beginning last year at a ceremony at Carthage College, first round winners received $500, advancing to the second round where winners received $1,500.

“When we first announced the ‘Smart Cities-Smart Futures Competition, we were amazed at the amount of interest and the quality and creativity of the submissions. I want to congratulate our final round winners on their work, as well as all of the candidates who participated,” said Dr. Yeung. “The goal of this competition was to encourage innovation and critical thinking to help the people of Wisconsin, and I think we are achieving that. The work that resulted from the competition will pave way for developing technologies that will revolutionize how people live, work, and play.”

Foxconn has partnered with the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Wisconsin Technical College System on the “Smart Cities—Smart Futures” competition. In addition to the academic partners, the competition is also supported by several groups, including the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, the Wisconsin Technology Council, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the WiSys Technology Foundation, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation.

For more information about the competition, please visit: https://wismartcities-smartfutures.com/

Twitter: @SmartCitiesWI 
Facebook: facebook.com/SmartCitiesWI
Instagram: Instagram.com/smartcitieswi
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smartcitiesWI

Read the full article online here.

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Columbia Journalism Review: What is machine learning and why should I care?

Monday, 29 April 2019 by Laura Kaiser

YOU MAY NOT REALIZE IT, but you’ve probably already used machine learning technology in your journalism. Perhaps you used a service like Trint to transcribe your interviews, punched in some text for Google to translate, or converted the Mueller Report into readable text. And if you haven’t used it yourself, machine learning is probably at work in the bowels of your news organization, tagging text or photos so they can be found more easily, recommending articles on the company website or social media to optimize their reach or stickiness, or trying to predict who to target for subscription discounts.

Machine learning has already infiltrated some of the most prosaic tasks in journalism, speeding up and making possible stories that might otherwise have been too onerous to report. We’re already living the machine-learning future. But, particularly on the editorial side, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface.

To be clear: I’m not here to hype you on a fabulous new technology. Sorry, machine learning is probably not going to save the news industry from its financial woes. But there’s nonetheless a lot of utility for journalists to discover within it. What else can machine learning do for the newsroom? How can journalists use it to enhance their editorial work in new ways? And what should they be wary of as they take up these powerful new tools?

The phrase “machine learning” describes a kind of finely crafted and engineered tool. Trint, for example, is able to transcribe an audio clip because its algorithm has learned how patterns of sound correspond to patterns of letters and words. Such algorithms are trained on many hours of manually transcribed audio. The algorithm learns the ways that patterns in audio translate into patterns of text, and can then perform transcription on new samples of audio.

Read the full article here.

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