The South Carolina city is running a living lab public-private partnership programme to support the development of emerging tech and use of the city as a hub.
The City of Myrtle Beach in the US state of South Carolina is formally launching its smart cities initiative with four living lab participants.
The programme is a public-private partnership designed to support the development of emerging technology and encourage entrepreneurs to use Myrtle Beach as a hub
Living lab participants
The City reports that more than 25 companies from across the US, Canada and the UK have explored the living lab programme since its inception last year.
Tech companies Cocoflo, Rep’d, Polco and Dependbuild are the first to reach the project launch phase within the programme to prototype and test their technologies.
As an incentive, the city provides the space and environment, or living lab, for local businesses, small businesses and large corporations who have up-and-coming technology to test.
The city will also test the appropriate technologies within municipal operations and provide feedback. Some companies may be a part of the living lab programme for as little as three months, while others could be involved for a year or more.
The City of Myrtle Beach is working toward building a living lab facility within the Arts & Innovation District. Until the lab is built, programme participants will have the options to work remotely or to utilise the HTC Aspire Hub as a workspace once the expansion is complete.
The City hopes the opportunity will lead to business expansion, help launch new technologies, contribute to the economy and create more local jobs.
- Cocoflo Innovations: provides cloud-based city services including business licencing, emergency alerts, payments, development planning, parks and recreation and citizen communications. Cocoflo’s mission is to help communities achieve an effective, collective communication flow. The platform aims to enhance engagement to forge a closer relationship with the community.
- Rep’d and Polco: Rep’d and Polco are two complementary platforms designed to collect resident input, share key city updates and address frequently asked questions. Rep’d empowers city leaders to instantly share short video updates with residents to clarify concerns as needed. Polco’s all-in-one community engagement platform allows government leaders to collect and analyse resident feedback to make data-driven decisions. These two platforms enter the living lab programme as a joint pilot.
- Dependbuild: a risk and knowledge management software focused on helping municipalities improve project outcomes through sound risk and knowledge management practices. The software helps city infrastructure projects stay on time and on budget through increased risk mitigation, data accessibility and operational efficiency.
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Quelle/Source: Smart Cities World, 09.09.2024
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