November 8, 2018 — At a Milwaukee Startup Week event about Securing Smart Cities and IoT, Prof. Jacques du Plessis engages Kyle Puckhaber (Deeplight Systems) about launching an initiative to bring together local government, academic researchers, and private sector entrepreneurs to take on the Smart City concept for the greater Milwaukee.
November 2018 — Kyle and Jacques meet with Bryan Kennedy, Mayor of Glendale and Chair of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council to explore the initiative.
January 2019 — By invitation, Jacques and Kyle address the meeting of the ICC.
February-April 2019 — A campus network is forming to build an interdisciplinary base for academic engagement.
March 28, 2019 — A the 1st meeting of academic researchers, we were introduced to the diversity of each other's research areas. We will network to invite other colleagues who do not yet know about the initiative. We will develop our working model to define a smart city, then identify the key areas of focus, and take a problem solving approach to our areas of concentration. We will add a page to this site to briefly introduce each researcher and their areas of research. The next meeting is set for April 11 and 09h00.
April 11, 2019 — In this, the second meeting of researchers at UWM, we did an exercise to network around research topics of interest. The next meeting will be in early May. We now have over 30 researchers engaged in the initiative.
April 15, 2019 — Four members of our team met with the Office for Research to explore funding options. We have integrated this office in our communication to work together more effectively.
May 15, 2019 — This was the third meeting of researchers. We planned our work for the summer research agendas and we will explore grant opportunities. The outreach to campus researchers continues. We set up a collaboration network on the campus course management system, called Canvas. All research teams can now focus, and other researchers are able to follow along and join as it makes sense.
June, 2019 — Based on networking with other national players in this space, it is wiser to use a name that will express the broader mission, rather than the immediate mission. We are changing the name to the Wisconsin Smart Cities Alliance, taking our queue from Colorado, where they established the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance.
June 2019 — Established contact with the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance for future collaboration.
Summer/Fall 2019 — Do research in Europe and encourage the teams continue to develop and mature their research agendas.
Fall 2019 — Met with Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes to explore future options.
Fall 2019 — Engage Foxconn and Northwest Mutual
Spring 2020 — Due to Covid, the plan to develop student research did not happen. This was meant to be ideation sessions to discover research interests and strengths and to identify research priorities and opportunities. Although these sessions were held, the reality of the pandemic stalled the momentum. Feb 5 - Explorations in Disruptive Technologies: Transportation; March 4 - Explorations in Disruptive Technologies: Health Care; April 9 - Explorations in Disruptive Technologies: Democracy and Governance; May 13 - Explorations in Disruptive Technologies: Safety and Security
The Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted the plans of many, including our Alliance. This brings new perspectives about responses to dynamic challenges, and as we are able to resume optimal engagement, this will undoubtedly influence our views on how technology could have and should have aided our responses.
Depending in the dynamics of the pandemic, later in 2021 we will reach out to nonprofits, private sector entrepreneurs, Madison, and other initiatives nationally and internationally to expand the inclusive focus of the initiative.
Then we will seek funding for specific research objectives. Reach out to other universities, non-profits, local government, and the private sector.