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Smart Cities and Communities

Cumberland, Maryland, USA, road condition analysis (left); Indiana, USA, Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (right)

Cumberland, Maryland, USA, road condition analysis (left); Indiana, USA, Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (right)

Smart Cities and Communities, Cyber-physical Systems, and Internet of Things: Cities and communities across the globe are seeking to deploy advanced technologies such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT) to improve the quality of life for their residents. Such a system involves cyber-networking devices and other supporting systems working with physical infrastructure. When applied to transportation, health care, utilities and other sectors, these CPS and IoT could expand and improve services, promote economic growth, and enhance quality of life.

NIST’s Role: NIST works to develop the foundations and measurement science for CPS and IoT. NIST considers smart cities and communities to be an opportunity for studying CPS and IoT at scale, across sectors, and their interactions between devices, applications, and humans. In conducting this research, NIST seeks to facilitate stakeholders’ development of replicable, scalable and interoperable smart cities and communities.

NIST’s Smart Cities and Communities Projects: NIST engages stakeholders, encourages partnerships and collaboration, and informs them of key findings and developments by offering a set of frameworks. Current projects are:

Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC): This is a collaboration platform. It brings together cities, communities, industry, academic, and government stakeholder, seeking emerging technologies for smart cities and communities. The GCTC acts as a matchmaker and incubator, helping form public-private partnerships, called Action Clusters and SuperClusters, dedicated to implementing a given smart city and community project. For more information see GCTC.

Smart Cities and Communities Framework (SCCF) series: These are best practices in the field of smart cities and communities. The NIST SCCF series consolidates and organizes these practices for the purpose for informing smart city and community development and deployment. For more information see SCCF.

Further Information and How to Get Involved: For additional information, contact Dr. Michael Dunaway (michael.dunaway [at] nist.gov (michael[dot]dunaway[at]nist[dot]gov)), Associate Director, Cyber-Physical Systems Innovation.

Created June 30, 2014, Updated July 14, 2021