We know Chattanooga is special, but if you needed more evidence — our city is one of only 36 worldwide chosen to help “pioneer a smart technology policy roadmap.”

The World Economic Forum — an independent international organization aimed at improving life across the globe — just announced that 36 global cities will create this new smart tech roadmap as part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.

The news in a nutshell

Chattanooga and San Jose, California are the only two cities in the United States picked to participate.
Chattanooga is known as the Gig City for its pioneering, high-speed, fiber optics internet from EPB. San José is home to California’s Silicon Valley.
The smart cities alliance brings together cities to explore issues from environmental sustainability to financial transparency.
Members of the alliance share ideas + address challenges to create universal policies and standards that all cities can use and benefit from.

Chattanooga’s smart city initiative

This international effort builds on work Chattanooga leaders started a couple of years ago with its smart community collaborative.

Chattanooga institutions and organizations, EPB, UTC, and CARTA, have worked on smart tech projects in recent years.

CARTA — the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority — worked with the U.S. Department of Energy and Vanderbilt University to make the local fleet more energy efficient while maximizing the service area.
UTC also partnered to help the city of Chattanooga deploy an advanced traffic signal system.
EPB is working with Oak Ridge National Lab researchers on smart grid network projects, such as smart building energy mandates and solar field development.

Why should I care?

Beyond knowing what’s going on in this fantastic city we live in, there are benefits to this smart city work. 👇

According to a recent study from research firm Frost & Sullivan, smart cities:

will develop infrastructure for post-pandemic health facilities + public security services
will create business opportunities to the tune of $2.46 trillion by 2025
are the future — there will likely be more than 26 smart cities in the U.S. by 2025