Syracuse named one of “8 Smart Cities” to Watch”

Syracuse, N.Y. — A trade publication that covers government technology recently named Syracuse one of its “rising smart city stars,” due to City Hall’s efforts to expand connectivity and digital accessibility.
StateTech Magazine listed Syracuse as one of its “Eight Smart Cities to Watch”
Other cities on the list are Aurora, Ill., Coral Gables, Fla., Colorado Springs, Colo., Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., Philadelphia and Reno, Nev.
“This new batch of rising smart city stars have focused their efforts on providing the right smart city applications at the right time for their residents.
Those use cases broadly fall into six buckets: use of data analytics; expanding broadband; electric vehicles; public safety; smart streetlights; and smart mobility, meaning transportation,” said StateTech Magazine.

It noted that the cities all have leaders with leaders with vision and a strategy to use technology to help meet the needs of its population, especially during these times of the pandemic, and planning for post-pandemic life.
Mayor Ben Walsh established connectivity and digital access as critical to the city’s economic future. In January 2019, he launched his “Syracuse Surge” economic development strategy, aimed at attracting and growing tech-based companies here. That meant investing in infrastructure like 5G wireless and buying and installing more than 17,000 streetlights and affixing them with smart nodes. The city’s efforts to expand municipal WiFi with public hot spots and its partnership with Verizon to roll out new 5G cellular data technology also helped land Syracuse on the magazine’s Smart Cities to Watch list.

The small cells would allow for 5G connectivity throughout the city, creating a data network with the capacity for up to 1 million connected devices per square kilometer, according to company officials.

The New York Power Authority also named Syracuse the “flagship smart city” in New York.