Cox Leans in on Smart Cities, Innovation

While there’s been excitement for years around the potential of smart cities, the U.S. doesn’t have a single city ranked in the top 10 of the 2021 IMD-SUTD Smart City Index. Singapore took first, followed by Zurich and Oslo. Switzerland had three cities in the top 10. New York was the top-ranked city in the U.S. at #12, with another American city not appearing again until #31 with L.A.

“It’s a little bit embarrassing in my mind because we are a great country. I think there’s a lot we can do,” said Esther Lee, the President/CEO of Northern Virginia technology innovation hub Refraction and former Senior Policy Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under the Obama administration. Refraction is stepping up to partner with Cox Business next year to launch a Smart Cities Index, with a focus, at least initially, on Virginia.

“The index will highlight the most innovative localities that are leveraging smart cities technology to serve citizens and drive economic growth and jobs. We’ll launch in 2023 with multiple strategic partners and events across the Commonwealth,” Cox Northern Virginia VP Kathryn Falk revealed at a Cox Business event in Tysons Corner this week. Held at Refraction’s innovation and co-work space (housed in Gannett’s former HQ), the Cox event showcased technologies on the cutting edge of education, healthcare, work and life that are powered by Cox Business, mainly in the managed network and cloud services space.

The Cox SmartBiz event gave attendees a sense of what’s already happening and what’s to come, with Cox President Mark Greatrexmaking the trip to from Atlanta to see all the innovation. “We’re really proud to leverage our connectivity and all of our leading technology to empower businesses and entrepreneurs and innovators. It just gives me a lot of energy because it’s all about creating a better future for the next generation,” Greatrex said.

The demos included AR technology that allows EMTs responding to a situation that needs immediate assistance to link up with surgeons who can use AR to visually guide them through lifesaving steps, including even small surgery. McLean, Virginia-based DataBuoy was on site with its “Shotpoint” gunshot detection and localization system, which runs on edge computing. Think of a smoke detector but for gunfire. Showing that smart city technology can go beyond smart parking and street light monitoring, DataBuoy worked with utility BGE in Annapolis, Maryland, to use street lights for mounting and powering the system. It was found to notably improve police response times. Businesses in Las Vegas’ popular Freemont Street are already using the technology. And unlike posters on the NextDoor app, Shotpoint is able to distinguish pretty accurately between gunfire and fireworks.

Cox showcased its work in Vegas, where it’s partnered with the city for more than a year on a managed private network in Baker Park that allows for the use of 4K cameras, sensors and other technology to evaluate park activity, including crime. Execs said the city and Cox are working to expand to other parks.

The day also illustrated what the upcoming generation can do with all of this technology. Kaavya Karthikeyanand Akanksha Tibrewala, seniors at Virginia’s Chantilly High School, were there to demo the automatic walker they created to assist those with mobility issues and encourage them to exercise. AutoTrem features a start and stop button as well as a sensor to warn of an obstruction and a laser guide to help users increase their strides. The teens were inspired to develop the walker by Tibrewala’s great grandmother who has Parkinson’s Disease.

The biggest challenge for smart initiatives isn’t the technology, it’s the mindset. “I think for us to truly innovate, we’re going to have to think about a future that doesn’t exist today and remind ourselves that 65% of the children in K-12 classrooms in this country today are preparing for a career that doesn’t exist today,” said Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid, who participated in the Cox SmartBiz event.

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