The City of Columbus, through its Sustainable Columbus office, was awarded $778,900 from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, a funding opportunity from the Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The City of Columbus is one of the more than 2,700 eligible states, territories, local governments, and Tribes to receive a portion of the more than $430 million in formula funding that will help meet the unique energy needs in communities that serve more than 250 million Americans.

Sustainable Columbus will utilize the funding to partner with the Human Service Chamber (HSC) to provide commercial building energy audits and technical assistance to area nonprofit organizations. This collaboration supports Columbus Climate Action Plan goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping equity and environmental justice at the center. These values are shared by HSC and this new program, administered by the HSC, will facilitate energy and cost-saving measures, allowing participating nonprofits to redirect more of their budget toward their core mission of serving Columbus’ opportunity neighborhoods and climate vulnerable communities.

In 2000, the city of Columbus faced an uncertain future. Like most of Ohio, it was part of the “Rust Belt,” describing a manufacturing economy that had been decimated by globalization. It had plenty of strengths as the state capital, home of two major universities and the world’s largest private research institute. This enabled the city to outperform other Ohio cities – but only by remaining stagnant economically while they were declining.

Determined to make the city’s many assets live up to their potential, Columbus attacked its challenges on multiple fronts. It led formation of the Columbus Partnership, a collaboration among government, education, business and institutions. The Central Ohio Compact among educational institutions began working to remove the barriers keeping residents from higher education. Another partnership, Tech Columbus, provided support and seed funding for entrepreneurship.

From 2000 to 2017, Columbus added almost 400,000 people to its population and nearly 164,000 new jobs to the region. The region has attracted data centers, a new Intel semiconductor plant and the largest solar manufacturing facility in central Ohio. The city is home to one of the Midwest’s largest venture capital funds and a workforce in which 36 percent have a higher education degree. With rust firmly in its past, Columbus is now working hard to manage the challenges that come with economic success.

How did Columbus do it? Find out.

What can other communities teach me?

Communities accelerate by starting an Intelligent Community Journey. Each is different, but all follow similar paths. Start yours.
 
 

ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with thought leaders from intelligent communities around the world.

I wrote my last post, “Why Are We Falling Apart?” in response to a heartfelt editorial by David Brooks of The New York Times. Confronting today’s epidemic of inhumane behavior in America – reckless driving, unrest in schools, fights on airliners, hate crimes and murders – he asked, “What the hell is going on?” His plaintive and honest answer was “I don’t know.”

In my post, I explained why I thought we have been falling apart – not just recently but gradually for the past 40 years, and not just in the United States but in fellow industrialized nations around the world.

But understanding reasons is only gets us so far. What matters is what we can do about it.

In this freewheeling conversation, municipal CIOs and IT experts discuss the challenges of deploying reliable and secure information technology systems to support operations, deliver services and improve decision-making – within the limits of municipal budgets.  They explore the opportunities to expand capabilities and reduce costs provided by the latest technology developments.

There is a children’s book, which became an animated movie, about a town destroyed by giant pieces of food falling mysteriously from the sky. It turns out a similar thing can happen when the objects falling from on high are big bales of cash.

In 2015, ICF named Columbus, Ohio, USA as its Intelligent Community of the Year. The very next year, the city beat out 77 other small and midsize US cities for a grant of $50 million from the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge. (Its status as IC of the Year helped.) Its winning bid called for many cool projects: Wi-Fi-enabled kiosks to help residents plan trips, apps to pay bus and ride-hail fares and find parking spots, autonomous shuttles and sensor-connected trucks.

Self-driving shuttles are headed into a residential neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, as the city sets out on its second autonomous bus project.

The Linden neighborhood in northeastern Columbus will be the site of a 2.7-mile route for a small, electric autonomous shuttle, capable of carrying about a dozen passengers. The new route, set to be operational in November, will be in addition to an existing AV shuttle route operating in downtown, known as the Smart Circuit. More than 3,300 riders have boarded the three downtown shuttles since they began operating, say city officials.

A sculpture made of abstract glass pieces glows on a platform at the entrance of The Forge, the name the smart-tech startup Pillar uses for its space on the edge of Downtown.

“We ask people to say what it is. What do you see?” said Bob Myers, who is managing director of Pillar, an Accenture Industry X.0 company. “There are no wrong answers.”

The sculpture is supposed to activate left-brain thinking, spurring creative and innovative ideas on projects completed at the smart-tech hub, he said.

“When people come into The Forge, we want a no-constraints frame of mind. It doesn’t mean that there’s not restraints. Let’s just not start there,” Myers said.

(TNS) — Columbus' first interactive kiosk experience — or "IKE" — is now available to the public.

The 8-foot-tall touch-screen electronic tablets provide users information on stores, restaurants, hotels, services, parks, transportation and local events.

IKE Smart City launched the first screen in the Short North on Wednesday outside the UPS Store on North High Street.

Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the Smart Cities Dive website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification.

The US city won the US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes.