Stafford County, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), and OST celebrated the success of the Virginia Smart Community Testbed today with an anniversary event that gratefully reflected on the support of the Commonwealth, the community, the Federal government through DHS Science & Technology Directorate, and Testbed corporate sponsors Cisco and Verizon. Over the last year, The Testbed, which is the first of its kind in the Commonwealth, became an award-winning Smart Community initiative receiving national recognition.
“Innovation is the key to creating new jobs, driving economic growth, and tackling our biggest challenges,” said David Ihrie, VIPC CTO and VP of Strategic Initiatives. “The Virginia Smart Community Testbed serves as a living laboratory that helps communities like Stafford lead in the development and testing of technologies while proving the value of successful public-private partnerships.”
As the established leader of Smart Communities initiatives on behalf of the Commonwealth, VIPC partnered with Stafford on the testbed project in 2019 as part of a comprehensive plan to build the new “smart” community. Stafford is now the first Smart City Testbed in Virginia involving an IoT platform, fully integrated with 5G and other new and emerging technologies that are having a national impact.
“We are delighted to have an opportunity to continue to attract technologists, entrepreneurs and innovators to our community through the Testbed and that our partners from the state and private industry including Cisco and Verizon continue to support us as we grow and expand,” said John Holden, director of economic development and tourism for Stafford County. “We are excited to see the positive impact that this initiative is having on our community. We are leading the way and being recognized as one of the nation’s best Smart City initiatives is truly an honor.”
The Virginia Smart Community Testbed received the SMART 50 Award in 2022. The award, in partnership with Smart Cities Connect, Smart Cities Connect Foundation, and US Ignite, annually recognizes smart cities projects around the world and only honors the top 50 most innovative and influential work. In only their first full year as a technology testbed, Stafford was honored as a winner.
The Testbed serves to accelerate technology solutions for the Commonwealth. It provides a place for companies seeking to provide technology solutions to public infrastructure challenges. It provides a space and place to accelerate the commercialization of new products.
The Testbed pilot projects and partnerships in the last year have included more than a dozen technology companies in the development of innovative solutions for public-private, state, and federal opportunities and identified needs. Innovation participants have included: AccessVR, ATA, Breeze Technologies, Express-tek, Helicore, Hire Henry, Intellisense Systems, N5 Sensors, NFF, Onclave, Planet Defense, RIoT, Signify and Traxyl.
Original source can be found here.
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