GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

3 Highlights from 2016 Gigabit City Summit

More than 75 city representatives convened at the 2016 Gigabit City Summit in Kansas City, Mo., highlighting do's and don'ts in civic tech.

By Jason Shueh

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- What will a world of gigabit Internet offer cities? That was the underlying question Tuesday, May 17, as officials discussed and debated the issue at the 2016 Gigabit City Summit.

Held at the University of Missouri, Kansas City May 16-18, the event drew representatives from more than 70 cities to discuss the trends, strategies and prospects tied to gigabit broadband initiatives in such areas as infrastructure, policy, digital inclusion, education and civic tech — technologies that aid citizens and government.

Here are three civic tech highlights from day two of the event.

1. KC MAKES AN OPEN DATA COMEBACK

 

Launching an open data portal is a milestone for any city, yet for Kansas City’s portal, Open Data KC, Chief Data Officer Eric Roche said success came only after much toil and strategizing. Shortly after its inception in 2013, the site was struggling to attract visitors. It’s content was slim, data usage poor, and it burdened staff with an excessive amount of manual data entry. The low engagement prompted the addition data sets, such as policy and 311 service information, but to no avail; the incremental updates produced onlyincremental returns.

“I couldn’t tell you what was going wrong," Roche said. "I just couldn’t figure out the problem of why people were still not visiting the site, why we weren’t having that much of an impact."

Pressure built with each quarterly update, prompting the city to reevaluate the open data program's entire structure.

“Looking back at the [site’s visitor] chart, there was not that much of a deviation," Roche said. "But at the time, when it’s your program — and you have to report on it quarterly — it sucks."

To turn things around, Roche, under the direction of Kansas City Mayor Sly James, instituted an open data policy to prioritize high value data sets, added automated open data uploads into workflows, and established an open data policy to codify best practices for departments. Roche said the city also realized it had to make the data user-friendly and accessible to average citizens, a process it did by inserting open data links into Kansas City’s traditional communication channels, such as emails, newsletters and press releases.

“We’ve really doubled down on our focus into helping our community use this open data,” Roche said.

Thanks to the changes, the site's usage and visitor counts are on the rise. And Roche said the city is building on the success with help from experts at the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Initiative, a program providing free tech expertise and collaboration for cities nationwide.

2. BOSTON IS A MODEL FOR INNOVATION

Keynote speaker Nigel Jacob paid a visit to break down how the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics experiments with potential innovations.

The office, well known for its ambitious projects, has coordinated a host of civic tech applicationssince its start in 2010. These include apps that track school buses for parents, locate free flu shots and gamify civic engagement for city feedback. Impact and scalability are the two defining metrics, with learning as the overall goal.

"The process we go through is just as important as the end product you actually build," Jacob said.

This process, Jacobs said, begins by exploring potential solutions — whether from the city, startups or a nonprofits — and pairing each solution with a specific population the innovation is meant to assist. A short experiment comes next, followed by a quick evaluation to accept or reject the idea.

If a project is sustainable, scalable and drives impact, Jacobs said, it’s handed off to another department or organization to implement. If rejected, notes are made for future reference.

Often, Jacob said rejected projects can be highly impactful but not sustainable. Yet for those that make the cut, gains are far reaching.

“These applications make government rethink its role with citizens, not to be passive observers in the innovation ecosystem, but to be enablers,” he said.

3. TIPS TO JUMPSTART CIVIC TECH

Leaders from two volunteer civic tech groups, Code for Kansas City andSmartChicago, listed a few quick tips for how cities and data advocates can seed grassroots civic tech programs.

Code for Kansas Co-founders Jason Harper and Paul Barham advised attendees to first focus on recruiting a stable roster of talent by enlisting help at tech meetups, using hackathons as incentives, and to keep a steady flow of communication among group members. The two encouraged groups to reach out to academic institutions and like-minded organizations after accruing a sizable group of volunteers.

Representing SmartChicago, Project Coordinator Sonja Marziano suggested that cities and organizers avoid attempts to recruit project participants and instead hunt for group members, a practice that prides more longevity over short-term engagement. She added that regular meetings and meetup locales with Wi-Fi, ample space and nearby public transit — like libraries — were good picks.

Jason Shueh is a staff writer for Government Technology magazine. His articles and writing have covered numerous subjects, from minute happenings to massive trends. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Shueh grew up in the east bay and Napa Valley, where his family is based. His writing has been published previously in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Amazon Publishing, Bike Magazine, Diablo Magazine, The Sierra Sun, Nevada Appeal, The Union and the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.

KCUR 89.3 FM

2016 Gigabit City Summit Hopes To Help Cities 'Seize The Gigabit Opportunity'

By Lisa Rodriguez

As more and more cities across the United States get access to gigabit Internet, more are asking the question — what do we do with it?

And a lot of those cities turn to Kansas City for help finding the answer.

This week, hundreds of civic leaders from around the country are in Kansas City for the second annual Gigabit City Summit, where according to the organizers, they’ll learn how to "seize the gigabit opportunity."

More than 75 cities will be represented, from those just learning how to manage a large-scale fiber-optic infrastructure, to those who are ready to turn the technology into civic change.

Aaron Deacon is the managing director of KC Digital Drive, which organized the three-day event. He says once Internet service providers like Google and AT&T started announcing plans for expanding gigabit service, the calls started flooding in.

“[Cities] really wanted to know how do you start to use this asset to achieve the kind of social and civic changes that you want," Deacon says.

He says at last year's summit, attendees were focused on seeing the actual, physical network and exploring some of the initiatives that Kansas City had started.

This year, he says, people will see how Kansas City has evolved and look at some of the results of the initiatives that were in progress the year before.

“With the Smart City corridor now open, even if seeing a widget on a street pole, or a light pole may not be the most scintillating thing. But there something that's nice about the tangibleness of it, even still,” Deacon says.

This year’s conference, which runs through Wednesday, features sessions on infrastructure, digital inclusion, civic tech, education and city collaboration.

For a more in-depth look at some of the conversations taking place at this year’s Gigabit Summit, tune in to KCUR’s Up To Date on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Lisa Rodriguez is a reporter and producer for KCUR 89.3 Connect with her on Twitter@larodrig.

KCTV 5

Tech leaders converge on Kansas City for Gigabit City Summit

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - Civic, business and tech leaders will share ideas about how to create smart cities at the second annual Gigabit City Summit.

About 300 people are expected to attend the three-day summit, which is being held at Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It runs through Wednesday.

Organizers say Kansas City has become the model smart city, thanks to a $15.7 million public-private initiative to change the way people interact with the city. That's why Kansas City was selected to host the summit two years in a row.

Think Big Partners in downtown Kansas City is the office of the future. It’s a co-op workplace where different companies collaborate and that’s becoming a new trend in the tech industry.

It’s that kind of collaborative environment that drew startups like the Kansas City Drone Company to set up shop in the laid back, modern office.

“It's a nice, creative environment. You can come up with a business idea or new concept and immediately bounce it around with the other people who work here,” said Casey Adams with Kansas City Drone Company. “I want to see more union between Kansas and Missouri as far as how people see Kansas City because I see it as one place. In the digital age, physical borders don't mean anything.”

Think Big is just one example of a spirit of unity blossoming on the Silicon Prairie with the help of companies like Google Fiber, Sprint and Cisco.

“We have a lot to teach other cities,” said Mike Burke.

Burke leads Kansas City’s bi-state innovation team that’s helped bring tech projects like smart kiosks to Kansas City’s downtown.

“The internet doesn't know county lines, state lines or city lines. It benefits the entire region to collaborate,” he said.

This week Burke’s presenting at the Gigabit City conference, teaching other cities how to build their own tech infrastructure.

“We all tackle the digital divide issues in terms of educating people who don't currently have access to the internet,” he said.

Attendees at the conference will also hear about how other cities have had success in transforming into smart cities, and get ideas about how to get their own cities to join the smart city movement.

It will include a guided tour of the KC Streetcar corridor so they can see the transformation taking place in Kansas City.

For more information on the Gigabit City Summit, visit http://www.gigabitcitysummit.com.

KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL

KC's Biggest Win in Smart City Initiative? Data

Kansas City Business Journal
By Leslie Collins
May 16, 2016

Three days after the Kansas City streetcar launched, it already had more than 32,000 riders.

The 2.2-mile line goes far beyond connecting people to other parts of town, however — the streetcar also is a key part of the city's Smart City initiative.

Representatives from Sprint Corp., Kansas City and Cisco Systems talked about the Smart City initiative as part of the Gigibit City Summit hosted by KC Digital Drive. The summit continues through Wednesday in Kansas City and is geared toward leaders in current and emerging gigabit cities; it's about showcasing how technology and gigabit speeds can transform cities.

In Kansas City, the streetcar, digital kiosks and Sprint's free Wi-Fi along the route are "cool," but what it really comes down to is data, said Bob Bennett, chief innovation officer for Kansas City.

"Cities now need to actually be able to get, and then more importantly use, the data associated with what happens in a smart city," Bennett said.

The data gleaned from residents using Sprint's Wi-Fi can be used to determine where the police should focus their patrolling efforts or where a new restaurant should locate, or aid in making decisions about water and electricity, he said.

Cliff Thomas, managing director of Cisco, added that the data can give insights into traffic flow, people and their behaviors. That data can then be used to solve pain points the city faces.

For Sprint, being able to partner in the Smart City initiative not only gave it an opportunity to provide residents a "robust data model to access the Internet," it gives Sprint a revenue model, said Tony Singer, business strategy manager of network planning for Sprint. The Overland Park-based company will use the data for direct marketing efforts and also will glean insights to improve its network coverage and make capacity enhancements.

The city will continue to look for ways to build on the Smart City platform, and within the next three years, the officials plan to have driverless vehicles on the streets, Bennett said.

The city and its Smart City partners are looking to the future, he said.

"We're looking at not only what are we doing with data now, but what's the next step?" Bennett said.

Leslie covers retail and restaurants, and creates Web stories and other online content.

STARTLAND NEWS

Gigabit Summit Leader: "People Look to Kansas City for Answers"

2015 Gigabit City Summit

By Bobby Burch

So you’ve got gigabit-fast — roughly 1,000 megabits-per-second — internet speeds. Now what? 

That’s a question the Kansas City-hosted Gigabit City Summit will help communities from across the U.S. answer. The summit— organized by KC Digital Drive and set for May 16 through 18 — is back for round two thanks to popular demand after its inaugural event last year.

The three-day event will explore such topics as smart city infrastructure, digital inclusion, civic technology and how communities can tap gigabit internet to do good. The conference is expecting 300 attendees, which will be comprised of city officials, educators, techies and economic developers. Check out the summit’s agenda here.

Startland News spoke with KC Digital Drive managing director Aaron Deacon to find out what made the first summit such a huge success and how it plans to keep the momentum going.

On the summit’s origins …

The Gigabit City Summit is really a conference about how we translate emerging tech applications and infrastructure into the kind of impact we want to see in the communities and cities we live in.

We started with the question of “how should the city take advantage of Google Fiber?” but realized that the capacity to answer and act upon that question is much broader than one technology or corporate partner. As other cities began to build out gigabit fiber, they had the same realization, and we think Kansas City is a great place to host a conversation among those cities.

On why the summit is back again …

We got really good feedback from last year’s event, and a lot of questions about the next one…which is really why we’re doing it again. It certainly wasn’t a given that there would be a repeat.

We’ve seen it affect the way some cities prepare for their future. Fort Collins, CO, for example, showed up last year and put out a fiber request-for-proposal shortly afterward that seemed to me to reflect a lot of the approaches we talked about (at the summit). … Carbondale, IL is another community that put together a digital playbook that grew out of last year’s event.

On how the summit developed its focus …

I’ve spent a lot of time going to conferences that talk about how to get fiber, and they do a great job. But the “what do you do with it?” question was a little bit of a sidebar. We knew when we started this that smart city infrastructure and applications would be one of the answers, so we’ve pointed in that direction from the beginning.

On the cannot-miss-events …

I’m really excited about the maker conversation on Monday afternoon. Peter Hirshberg is a great speaker and his work on Maker Cities with Kauffman Foundation and the White House has been really fun to watch.

Maybe a little under the radar, but I think the City+University Collaboration track is pretty compelling. Not a lot of people here have necessarily been tracking the emerging partnerships that help translate academic research into practical city outcomes, but UMKC has been a real leader in this area … it’s a pretty cool space right now.

On how the summit helps entrepreneurs and the tech community …

I think it’s important for people here to realize how many people look to Kansas City for answers. And it’s not because we have all the answers, but we do have a lot of experience asking the questions and thinking about the issues. Having an engaged entrepreneurial and tech community is a critical piece of that.

The things that cities want to accomplish, the impact we want  to see as a result of technology — it needs to have a business model of some kind to support and sustain it. That’s where the tech community provides — and hopefully receives — tremendous value.

On how smart cities impact the digital divide …

As the world becomes more digital, the inequities in the world naturally get transferred there. As connectivity increases, all of the usual social justice issues have a digital component — poverty, health care access, hunger, homelessness and education to name a few.

Technology has no magic bullets that solve these problems — it just tends to make whatever we’re doing more efficient. So, there may be some tech solutions that make it easier to address these issues. But if we’re not careful, tech can also reinforce and accelerate structural inequality. This is the big challenge.

NEWS RELEASE

Gigabit City Summit Unites National
Civic, Business, Technology Leaders
in Kansas City, a “Smart City” Pioneer

Second-annual Summit for leaders of current, emerging gigabit cities features companies, governments, organizations harnessing technology in smart cities

Kansas City, Mo. (May 10, 2016) – Powered by KC Digital Drive, a non-profit organization that drives positive civic outcomes from next-generation technology networks, the 2016 Gigabit City Summit (#GCS16) is a three-day learning and networking opportunity designed for leaders in current and emerging gigabit cities to come together inKansas City – a flagship smart city – to empower smart communities to use technology to transform cities on many levels.  

The Summit features more than 100 thought leaders from across the country who will lead plenary sessions, keynote speeches and breakout tracks from May 16-18 at the Bloch Executive Hall and Student Union at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (5110 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO 64110).

“With Google Fiber widely available and the country’s largest Cisco smart city project, Kansas City is the ideal location for this exchange of ideas between cities that want to harness technology to empower their communities,” said Aaron Deacon, managing director, KC Digital Drive. “Sharing knowledge across all cities and states the key to improving the nation’s economy, education, health care, plus other systems that impact everyone’s quality of life.”

The Summit offers a discounted package for cities and organizations that want to bring delegations of five or more members. The purpose of this discount is to encourage collaboration across geographic and departmental silos that can hamper growth and smart decision making.

“This type of community connectivity promotes economic growth and entrepreneurism,” said Kevin Honomichl, president, BHC RHODES, a civil engineering company based in Overland Park, Kan. “I’m excited to discuss how we can use gigabit infrastructure, such as what is available here in Kansas City through Google Fiber, to create real, positive, lasting impact for our cities and towns.” Honomichl will co-present on the topic of fiber as foundational infrastructure (and what’s coming next) with Kelly Carnago, head of business operations at Google Fiber on Monday, May 16 at the Summit. 

The inaugural 2015 Summit drew 250 delegates from 50 U.S. cities that included job titles such mayors, city managers, chief innovation officers, cable-industry insiders and social-justice advocates. Most gave the Summit high marks, with 92 percent of delegates indicating they “probably” or “definitely” would recommend that a colleague attend a future Summit and 82 percent of delegates said they would probably or definitely attend again. 

Also based on attendee feedback, #GCS16 offers a variety of tracks and sessions including:

·         Education
·         Digital Inclusion
·         Civic Tech
·         Smart City Infrastructure
·         Gigabit City Activation
·         University + City Collaboration
·         Gigabit/Smart City Networks and Ecosystem

Additionally this year, delegates will benefit from hearing about the experiences of translating tech infrastructure into civic impact in cities such as Atlanta, Louisville, Charlotte, Portland, Ore., Nevada City, Calif. and Montrose, Col.

In addition to high-level discussion, the #GCS16 also features the opportunity for delegates to take guided tours of Kansas City’s top innovation hotspots, including the Cisco Smart City and KC Streetcar corridor. While many cities have streetcars, Kansas City’s “smart” streetcar just opened on May 6 and will be ready to ride during the Summit. Delegates can also choose to visit community computer labs to see how the digital divide is closing or experience 1 Million Cups, the original “shark tank,” at the Kauffman Foundation. 

Pricing for the Gigabit City Summit is $699 for individuals or $2,995 for delegations of five or more ($499 per member). Delegates can register at: www.gigabitcitySummit.com/register and stay the Downtown Marriott, the Summit hotel.

The Summit is sponsored by companies such as BHC RHODES, Google Fiber, Cisco, the Kauffman Foundation and many more that help make cities smart. Reporters can follow the Summit on Twitter @gigabitcities and Facebook using the hash tag #GCS16.

About the 2016 Gigabit City Summit
The 2016 Gigabit City Summit occurs from May 16-18, 2016 at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Much like the inaugural Summit, powered by KC Digital Drive, we’ll examine how to use fiber - and community energy around the gig - to actually achieve social, civic and economic impact in the community. And we’ll highlight more cities who are developing their own strategic technology playbooks and facing their own challenges in creating sustained capacity. We’ll continue the robust discussion for the community we saw emerge last year and plan to add additional content tracks to support the diversity within metro delegations. For more information, please visit: www.gigabitcitySummit.com. 

Breaking News: A Week of Digital Divide Bridging Comes to KC

KC DIGITAL DRIVE AND NATIONAL DIGITAL INCLUSION ALLIANCE JOIN FORCES

The digital divide existed in our community before fiber. And it will exist after fiber, too, if we do not join with our policymakers in effecting meaningful change.

“Effective digital inclusion public policy relies upon strategies tested on the ground by community-based organizations, libraries and local government increasing equitable broadband access and use,” says Angela Siefer, director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.

The Gigabit City Summit is proud to join with NDIA in welcoming their annual conference, Net Inclusion 2016: The National Digital Inclusion Summit to Kansas City on May 18-19 at the Kansas City Public Library. This exciting gathering of digital divide bridgers will happen right on the heels of the Gigabit City Summit, which returns to KC May 16-18!

A Week Not to Miss

With Net Inclusion Summit and Gigabit City Summit happening in tandem, this makes for a solid week of connected city learning May 16-20 in KC. If you are interested in the ways next-generation technology is impacting our communities, from digital inclusion to gigabit innovation, this is a week not to miss in Kansas City. Tweet: It’s like SXSWi for cities!

Don’t wait! The early bird deadline for 30% off registrations to the Gigabit City Summit is January 31.

Registration for the Net Inclusion Summit will open soon, and they are looking for members to take part in the summit Planning Committee. If you are interested, contact Angela Siefer: angela@digitalinclusionalliance.org

2016 Speaker Update: Gray Area's Peter Hirshberg Joins All-Star Lineup

At the Gigabit City Summit, our goal is for attendees to walk away from our conference not just with inspiration, but also with actionable next steps to take back to their cities.

To that end, we're assembling a lineup of speakers that will guarantee you get good, solid lessons on using your city's technology capabilities for community impact.

One man who definitely understands the connection between community and technology is Peter Hirshberg.

Peter Hirshberg to give GCS16 keynote.

Peter is co-founder of San Francisco's Gray Area Art Gallery and Theater, a 7-year-old beacon for digital media artists whose mission is "to apply art and technology to create positive social impact through education, civic engagement, and public programs."

A Silicon Valley tech soothsayer with a heart for cities, Peter pioneered Urban Prototyping, a global movement that engages citizens in the co-creation and co-planning of their cities. Peter serves as chairman of the City Innovate Foundation, a SF-Berkeley-MIT-crossing organization that wants to build a network of global civic innovation centers. Along with Maker Fair Founder Dale Dougherty he is co-author of the forthcoming “Maker City Playbook”, a project of the Kauffman Foundation. And that's only a partial list of Peter's credits.

EARLY BIRD 30% DISCOUNT ENDS JAN. 31 - REGISTER NOW

If you're interested in the ways your city's creative class of makers, artists, and entrepreneurs can engage in shaping the future of your city, then you won't want to miss Peter's talk at the Gigabit City Summit.

The Top 5 Moments from the 2015 Gigabit City Summit

Everything's up to date at the Gigabit City Summit, Aunt Eller!

There were tons of great moments at KC Digital Drive's inaugural Gigabit City Summit, held January 13-15, 2015, in Kansas City.

The kickoff speeches by Kansas City mayors Sly James (KCMO) and Mark Holland (KCK) were superb.

Blair Levin's opening exhortation for cities to invest in the infrastructure they want 50 years from now set a tone for enthusiasm for human-centered tech that rang throughout the conference.

Boyd Cohen's rallying cry for cities to support creative entrepreneurs was also great, as were the many panels focusing on things like how to bridge the digital divide, how to build peer networks, how to spur next-generation innovation over gigabit technology... the list goes on.

We expect even more awesomeness at our newly announced Gigabit City Summit-2016. It's going down May 16-18 at UMKC's stellar Bloch Executive Hall, and tickets are on sale now. People who jump on early can claim a 30% discount off both individual and 5-person Metro Delegation registrations.

To get you in the spirit, here's a recap of 5 of our favorite moments from last year. (And if that's not enough, check out media from the event, including news coverage and full session videos.)

Top 5 Moments from the Gigabit City Summit

5. Mary Beth Henry from Portland Leading Everyone in a Gigabit-centric Version of "Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City"

It's always great when someone else sings your praises for you. Mary Beth Henry did that -- literally -- when she led a singalong to kick off her panel on digital inclusion, "The Digitally Underserved in a Time of Broadband Abundance." Mary Beth, who is Portland's Director of Community Technology, wrote her own technology-inspired take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, and led the entire room of nearly 200 broadband advocates in a rousing chorus. You can catch a snippet of the merry singalong at the tail end of this broadcast from local NPR affiliate KCUR.

4. The Community Exhibits

You know how most techie conferences (and conferences in general) have exhibit halls full of sponsors standing in front of pipe-and-drape displays giving out tchotchkes? While we have nothing against that approach, at GCS, we wanted to try something different. Instead of vendors, we invited people from the local innovation/entrepreneurship community to come show off projects and businesses that are using tech for social good. We had the KC Startup Village (whose Matthew W. Marcus filmed the cool drone video above), Connecting for Good, Code for KC, the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, the Lean Lab, Launch KC, KU Med, and about 14 others.

3. The KC Tech Tours

Sitting and talking about technology can only go so far. To get some hands-on experience with the work Kansas City has done to build great ventures on our fiber infrastructure, we took all attendees on a tour of 4 exciting local places: the KC Startup Village, Google Fiber Space, the Sprint Accelerator powered by Techstarts, and Think Big Partners. And we plan to do it again this year, but with more streetcar!

2. Susan Crawford's Inspiring Keynote

It won't surprise you to know that broadband conferences can be pretty esoteric. Thank goodness for Susan Crawford. Her inspiring valediction to close the conference was both of the moment and deeply forward looking. She reminded us all that broadband can be the most human of technologies because it allows us to be together.

1. Obama's Surprise Cedar Falls Speech

POTUS didn't know he was part of the agenda, but his virtual "arrival" couldn't have been more topical. Day 2 of the Summit found us halting proceedings to watch President Obama's live address on the need for better U.S. broadband policies from the gigabit city of Cedar Falls, Iowa. Soon after, the FCC began loosening bonds on community networks. What's happened since then? Find out at #GCS16.

2016 Gigabit City Summit Announced for May 16-18 in Kansas City

Announcing the 2016 Gigabit City Summit, a KC Digital Drive production, from May 16-18, 2016 in Kansas City.

With 50 communities and nearly 250 delegates in attendance, our first Summit was an unqualified success! And the overwhelming feedback from those who attended was that we ought to do it again.

The Gigabit City Summit is the premier conference for leaders in cities that either have or are planning to build out gigabit fiber-optic networks. The “metro-delegation” model remains core to our approach, as we encourage cities to bring interdisciplinary teams of five members from government and civic organizations that share one thing in common: an interest in how emerging technology can be directed to shape the communities we want to live in.

2016 Summit Content

• Creating Your Community Playbook
• Planning Smart City Infrastructure
• Building Your Peer Network
• Focused Planning for Cities & ISPs
• Genre-Specific Tracks

We’ll also address key questions around education, entrepreneurship, regionalism, public safety and mobility as we build future digital cities.

New in 2016: Cisco Smart + Connected Communities Living Lab & Streetcar Tour

Kansas City is becoming home to the largest Cisco Smart + Connected Communities project in America. The project spans a 2-mile route along a streetcar line under construction. Pending completion in time, we'll hop on the streetcar and see the KC Living Lab up close!

Early Registration Through Jan. 31:

Register between now and Jan. 31, 2016 and you will save $200 on an individual registration and $900 on a metro delegation registration. That’s 30% OFF the regular price of $699 for individuals and $2,995 for metro delegations! Perhaps even a year-end budget surplus could pay for your 2016 registration before Dec. 31!

The Gigabit City Summit is the only event where you can learn how your city and your metro can prepare for the opportunity to become a Gigabit City.

REGISTER NOW

Accommodations:

Summit hotel and discounted room rate coming soon.

FAQs

I want to bring a delegation, but I don't have all the names yet. Can I still take advantage of the discount?

Absolutely. When you choose to purchase five or more tickets, on the Checkout page, enter your information for each attendee. You may contact us later to enter the correct names.

How can I assemble a delegation?

Past delegations enjoyed the most success when they worked across geographic, departmental and disciplinary lines. That's why we've optimized the conference experience for cities that bring diverse teams. If you have any questions about registering a delegation or the Gigabit City Summit in general, contact Jason Harper, KC Digital Drive Communications Director at jharper@kcdigitaldrive.org or 816-695-8770.

Sponsors Wanted: 

We offer an array of great benefits and flexible packages. Contact Aaron Deacon at adeacon@kcdigitaldrive.org or call 913-475-9885 to start a conversation today.