One of the fastest growing cities in the DFW area was looking to becoming a leading Venture Capital, Startup friendly and Smart City in the country. The result? Our assessment tool and methodologies provided our client with specific recommendations and a roadmap for implementation.
The Challenge
- How does the city engage and measure outcomes of a successful innovation ecosystem?
- How does the city leverage its existing success in research, development testing and deployment of new, emerging technologies to become a hub and global leader in Smart City technology and innovation?
- What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) the city should establish to effectively measure the city’s Smart City status?
- What emerging technologies should the city be considering as it looks towards the future to attract and retain innovative companies?
- An assessment and recommendations on how the city can best capitalize on 5G technology and smart cities resource alignment in general.
The Solution
Amazech team used the standard approach of Plan, Listen, Collect, Analyze, & Develop a Roadmap, and performed the following list of activities for the project:
- Plan Developed – A detailed project plan with weekly milestones and frequent deliverables was developed.
- Interview and Data Collection Process – Since collecting stakeholders input and available data was critical to benchmarking and understanding expectations, a data collection process was developed by Amazech and approved by the city.
- Interview Stakeholders and Documents Required – A list of stakeholders to be interviewed was jointly developed with the city and the Amazech team and refined along the way. A detailed list of required available system data and documents was also developed.
- Conduct Interviews, Receive Documents and Data – A critical amount of time was spent conducting stakeholder interviews and collecting available data from the city engineers.
- Record Observations – Each interview was documented in detail and the city data was documented in a proprietary Amazech Smart City Assessment Calculator.
- Analyze Data – The recorded observations, along with the city data and documentation collected were analyzed in detail. Trend analysis was conducted along with a SWOT assessment and gap analysis.
- Document Recommendations – Using data from other cities, recent technology trends, and Amazech smart city expertise, a preliminary list of recommendations was developed and later finalized with the city.
- Develop KPIs, Strategy and Roadmap – Using the NIST Smart City Framework as a starting point, Smart City KPIs, strategy, and a roadmap were developed for the city.
- Final Delivery – The final findings, recommendations, KPIs and roadmap were presented both in a detailed report and a summary PowerPoint presentation.
The Results
- Two dozen key smart city-related stakeholders were interviewed, and the data documented leading to an Overall Smart City Interviews Summary which highlighted the positive outcomes, and identified the challenges.
- Extensive hours were spent with the city engineers collecting, reviewing, and analyzing all available city data and documentation and entering this data into the Assessment.
- Amazech’s Smart City Assessment Calculator was completed with over 75 specific items reviewed in seven KPI categories. A Smart City Assessment Score was calculated to be used as the benchmark going forward and to measure annual improvements.
- A Smart City SWOT analysis was developed.
- Ten specific smart city recommendations were developed along with a recommended Roadmap for implementation of each.
- A Smart City Rubric was developed along with a Smart City Project Selection criteria for which projects and technologies to Seek, Consider, and to Avoid.
Customers Say
“We genuinely appreciate all the expert insights and collaboration on the final product. As you can see, I'm passionate about this topic, and its importance to economic development and job creation. We're fortunate to have your team’s experience so close to home.”
