NIST Is on a Global Mission to Build Smart Cities

The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants to foster not just smart American cities, but smart global cities that can tap into all that the Internet of Things has to offer.

NIST is partnering with nonprofit US Ignite to kick off a yearlong Global City Teams Challenge, aimed at helping communities around the world use IoT projects to address air quality issues, improve traffic management and better coordinate emergency services, the institute announced Wednesday.

The challenge will help NIST in its quest to develop standards for interoperable IoT technologies.

The project will build on the success of the SmartAmerica Challenge. The initiative brought together 24 project teams and showcased how cyber-physical systems, also known as the Internet of Things, can create jobs, new business opportunities and socioeconomic benefits for the U.S. NIST wants to spread the wealth to cities around the world.

In Barcelona, kiosks will soon allow residents to remotely manage waste pickup, find parking spaces and access other services, NIST noted.

Global Cities Kickoff

NIST is hosting a two-day workshop in September that will bring together innovators, technology providers, city planners and other representatives from academic institutions and nonprofits, to kick off the challenge. People from around the world are invited to attend the meeting via webcast. (Register here.)

US Ignite will host a website where “communities and technology innovators can sign up to create teams that will focus on particular smart city goals and challenges,” according to NIST. The National Science Foundation and the Transportation and Health and Human Services departments, as well as Intel, IBM, Cisco and Extreme Networks, are among the partner organizations joining forces with NIST.