April DIA News: Awards, Announcements and Digital Inclusion
In support of a vision to leverage innovation to create better places, spaces and services for our communities, below are updates and opportunities for partners and the community.
Partner Highlight: I am pleased to welcome AMLI Fountain Place to the North Texas Innovation Alliance! AMLI is an industry leader in building environmentally responsible communities and offers amenities that allow residents to live more sustainably and embrace a healthy lifestyle. As a leader in multifamily LEED® and ENERGY STAR® certifications, AMLI offers environmentally responsible homes. Welcome to the team AMLI!
Congratulations to our partners at the Dallas Police Department: DPD was recognized for its “Violent Crime Evidence-Based Reduction Plan” in the Data-Driven Policing category in IDC's Smart Cities North America awards. The awards were designed to recognize the progress municipalities have made in executing Smart Cities projects, as well as provide a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development. DPD will be honored at Smart Cities Connect being held on April 4-7, 2022. Congratulations DPD!
DIA is Hiring! Are you passionate about Digital Inclusion, innovation and building something brand new? The Dallas Innovation Alliance is looking for a Program Manager to lead our digital inclusion projects, including the development of our new Digital Ambassador Program and the continued growth of our Mobile Learning Lab and other projects and partnerships in the portfolio that serve communities in access and skills training related to internet and digital services and careers. Learn more here.
Dallas’ Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park: The new facility—located in Dallas’ rapidly expanding Innovation District between the Dallas Design District and the Southwestern Medical District—is Boston-based BioLabs’ first location in the central U.S. The new facility features six private biosafety Level 2 labs, 90 open benches, and four tissue culture suites with biosafety cabinets and CO2 incubators. Dallas continues to be a trailblazer in technology, innovation and science. Its stated goal is to serve as “the epicenter for life science innovation” in North Texas, and to empower biotech trailblazers “in their pursuit of the next big scientific breakthrough. Read more here.
Texas Smart Cities Summit 2022 Announced!
From intelligent infrastructure to participatory futures, the Texas Smart Cities Summit will be hosted in San Antonio on April 27-29 and bring together leaders from local government, industry, academia, nonprofit organizations and more to share information on the leading practices in smart cities efforts, to share ideas and experiences, and to discuss and plan new efforts to accelerate smart cities development in Texas and across the world. Register here: https://buff.ly/3tIlPrQ
Smart Regions; Smart Communities: The North Texas Innovation Alliance and its members continue to drive research, collaboration and design of Smart Cities initiatives across the region. NTXIA is looking for partnerships and experts that can help drive resiliency, digital infrastructure, transportation, sustainability, data sharing and privacy. Creating 'readiness as a region' for federal investment, broadband, legal partnership structures, cybersecurity and citizen engagement are on the list for this spring.
Please email info@ntxia.org for more information on how to join the NTXIA on this journey!
Much more below, and for more updates and stories from the road, please visit us! We're excited to share our full year-in-review in our next edition - whew, it's been a busy year!
Be well,
Jennifer Sanders, Executive Director
Partner Spotlight!
A big welcome to AMLI Fountain Place, our newest member offering luxury apartments and penthouses in the Dallas Arts District!! AMLI is a leader in the development of environmentally responsible apartment communities and offers amenities and green initiatives that allow residents to live more sustainably and embrace a healthy lifestyle. AMLI builds communities from the ground up and is dedicated to being an active part of the neighborhoods and cities they serve. As a leader in multifamily LEED® and ENERGY STAR® certifications, AMLI offers environmentally responsible homes. Welcome to the team AMLI!
Congratulations to Dallas Police Department, Winner in IDC Smart Cities North America Awards
Join us in Columbus for one of our favorite conferences focused on smart city innovation in North America. Working closely with the technology community, they bring together the largest collection of intelligent systems providers for energy, infrastructure, networks, data management, urban mobility, citizen engagement and governance solutions.
Friends of DIA can receive 15% off registration with code 22DIA. Public sector registrations are free!
Dallas’ Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park
Autonomous Transit Pilot Project in Texas to Expand Service
Solar-powered digital platform incorporates new capabilities for cities
Shaping the future of mobility safety and technology
Absent New FCC Broadband Maps, Local Govs Plot Coverage
See Inside: BioLabs Coworking Lab Opens at Pegasus Park for North Texas Biotech Startups
DHS and the Virginia Smart Community Testbed to fund IoT security 'best practices' blueprint
City Of Houston Announces Three Year Smart City Partnership With Rubicon
Founding Members of the Dallas Innovation Alliance
Many Thanks to the Founding Members of the North Texas Innovation Alliance!
Dallas Innovates People: Techstars, Critical Start, VolunteerNow, Corganics, and More Make Moves
Techstars’ First North Texas Accelerator Names Managing Director
Techstars Managing Director Trey Bowles
This week, global investment platform Techstars announced it is bringing a physical therapy-focused accelerator program to Fort Worth, and it’s tapped a local entrepreneur as its leader.
Tapped to lead the new Techstars program is local entrepreneur and startup champion Trey Bowles, who will serve as managing director.
Bowles brings to the table decades of experience in nearly every aspect of the startup journey. In addition to founding a number of companies in the media, e-commerce, and consumer tech spaces, he’s served as an advisor and board member to dozens of other companies in the region—while also acting as chairman emeritus of The Dallas Entrepreneurial Center, the entrepreneurial support nonprofit he helped co-found
On the investing side, Bowles serves as co-chair of the North Texas Angel Network. Bowles is also responsible for co-founding InnoCity Partners and the Dallas Innovation Alliance, two public-private partnerships aimed at building “smart city” programs.
Community Foundation Update (03/05/2022)
The Dallas Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2021 Community Impact Fund Grants program, which provides support to organizations aligned with the foundation’s community impact framework. Recipients include Bachman Lake Together, Bonton Farms, RevJen, and the Dallas Innovation Alliance.
D Magazine: Big-Time Partners Aim to Lure Physical Therapy-Focused Startups to Fort Worth
Trey Bowles, co-founder of the DEC Network and Dallas Innovation Alliance, will serve as the accelerator’s managing director. “Fort Worth makes so much sense for the physical health focus because you have UNT Health Science Center and several schools within their program, and the focus they have around physical medicine and rehabilitation and physical therapy,” Bowles said. “There are a lot of resources, research, labs, clinics—things that are very important for a startup to have access to to help prove the model and validate their concepts.”
Dallas Innovates: Santander Consumer USA Invests $7M to Bridge Digital Divide in Dallas
Dallas Innovates: Entrepreneur Trey Bowles on How to Drive Innovation in Dallas
I have been involved in the startup space for about two decades as a serial entrepreneur of both for-profit and nonprofit ventures. I launched an entrepreneurship program at SMU’s Meadows School for Arts Entrepreneurship/Arts Management and co-founded the Dallas Innovation Alliance, the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, and, most recently, InnoCity Partners.
Dallas Innovates: From Automated Airport Parking to On-Demand Rides, North Texas Boosts Autonomous Vehicle Capabilities
NCTCOG's Regional Transportation Council believes autonomous vehicles are part of the solution to North Texas' future.
From autonomous parking at DFW airport to self-driving DART shuttles to medication deliveries in McKinney—along with local hubs for Kodiak Robotics, Aurora, and TuSimple—the region could prove to be the "most robust, automated, and connected vehicle ecosystem in the country," says one official.
Aurora's autonomous trucks are just one self-driving innovation hitting the streets in North Texas these days.
BY KEVIN CUMMINGS • MAR 24, 2022
The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG)—a voluntary association of local governments aimed at regional initiatives—sees the North Texas area’s population growing to more than 11 million residents by 2045. To address strains that will put on the region’s transportation system, it sees autonomous vehicles as part of the solution.
At a meeting of the NCTCOG’s Regional Transportation Council (RTC) earlier this month, the organization approved plans to further test autonomous driving capabilities across North Texas, from automated parking at DFW International Airport to the delivery of medical supplies in McKinney, building upon a project it first began in 2018.
“The larger significance of this project…is deepening the innovation portfolio in the region, creating a level playing field for every community in North Texas to participate,” said Clint Hail, a transportation planner with the NCTCOG who’s overseeing its technology and innovation program.
At the meeting, an additional $3 million was allocated to fund five projects across DFW, adding to more than $31 million the council approved to test technology capabilities in the region.
Automated parking at DFW Airport
One of the projects that’s part of the second round of the RTC’s Automated Vehicles Program includes $1.5 million to bring an autonomous parking system to DFW International Airport. As part of the project, the airport will conduct tests in the coming months that could see cars that already have autonomous parking capabilities “park themselves” after dropping off passengers at the terminal. This would be done via a system that tells the car where to go and coordinates with other vehicles to lessen congestion. Paul Puopolo, executive VP of innovation at the airport, told the Fort Worth Report that a full system could be implemented in the next five to eight years.
“Parking is vital, it’s another one of these vital bridge technologies,” Hail said. “It’s something that’s happening now…and it’s only going to accelerate. Finding ways to do parking differently in the light of these technologies, that’s a really great opportunity.”
Arlington’s RAPID Program
Another project getting funding is the city of Arlington’s RAPID Program, which landed $600,000 to expend within the city. Through a partnership with UT Arlington, Via Transportation, and May Mobility, the RAPID program, which stands for rideshare, automation, and payment integration demonstration, provides an on-demand transportation service using autonomous vehicles.
With funding from the NCTCOG and the Federal Transit Administration, RAPID has provided more than 28,000 trips around Arlington’s downtown and the UT Arlington campus since beginning in March 2021.
Autonomous deliveries in McKinney
As part of the Automated Vehicles Program, McKinney is eying a program that would use autonomous vehicles to deliver food and medications to underserved areas in the community. According to Community Impact, the NCTCOG and the city of McKinney are seeking to partner with nonprofit Feonix-Mobility Rising to bring two autonomous vehicles to the city to serve senior residents, along with those who are disabled or living below the poverty line. Additionally, Feonix would use its vehicles to act as mobile sites for telehealth visits.
Feonix currently has operations in nine states. Through the RTC’s program, the organization is looking to provide similar services in southern Dallas, working with potential partners like Children’s Health, Parkland Hospital, SMU, and DART. Feonix said it could begin those operations in early 2023.
‘Technology is now a transportation mode’
“Technology is now a transportation mode, no different than transportation modes that maybe were generated 100 years ago,” said Michael Morris, NCTCOG director of transportation, at the meeting. “You’re changing the accessibility to the transportation system as a way for people to gain more productivity in that system.”
Other approved projects part of the second round of the program includes increasing broadband access in places like Lancaster and southern Fort Worth, along with transportation-related projects, including a system that would automate traffic lights for emergency vehicles to quickly reach their destination.
Building on the foundation of innovation
The first round of projects, which received funding approval in 2018, included testing an autonomous vehicle truck port in Fort Worth, mobile food delivery services at Paul Quinn College, and an automated bus line on DART’s operations between Dallas Love Field Airport and the Inwood/Love Field Station, along with other autonomous vehicle projects in various cities around North Texas.
The DFW area has quickly emerged as a hub for autonomous driving technologies. Companies like Kodiak Robotics, Aurora, and TuSimple have all opened operational hubs in the region in recent years. And Ford recently shortlisted Dallas as a potential site for a $160 million facility for its self-driving business, which could potentially bring 250 new jobs to the area.
Partnering with local universities
In addition to the work of private companies, the NCTCOG is also tapping into talent at local universities to drive mobility innovation. In late 2020, the organization partnered with the Texas Research Alliance and a number of institutions, including UNT, UT Arlington, UT Dallas, and SMU, to launch the North Texas Center for Mobility Technology to address mobility challenges and provide an R&D network for local industry players.
With $2.5 million in seed funding from the RTC, the center unveiled its first two projects. One involves a partnership between UNT and Hermes Autonomous Air Mobility Solutions to look at how unmanned aircraft can be integrated into urban, suburban, and rural airspaces. The other involves UNT and Plano-based startup Emobilus developing a system to help vehicles detect cyclists on the road.
“What you’re seeing now is…the most robust, automated, and connected vehicle ecosystem in the country and certainly within the state,” Hail said.
My Smart Community Podcast: The Intersection of Economic Development, People & Technology
Looking for a new podcast to fall in love with? Look no further than the Smart Community Podcast featuring Executive Director of DIA, Jennifer Sanders! In this episode, Jennifer starts by talks about her background in communications and change management, her passion for Dallas and her focus to make change locally, before she tells us what a Smart Community means to her. Jennifer then shares what she has been working on since we last spoke in 2020 and what changes she has seen in the Smart Communities space since then, before discussing how she collaborates across state and county and some of her learnings from these partnerships. Jennifer then shares with us some of the interesting projects she has been working on, and we discuss the digital divide, and how we can overcome this in our communities.
The Smart Community Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or their website.
Congratulations to our Partners at the Dallas Police Department!
The Dallas Police department was recognized for its “Violent Crime Evidence-Based Reduction Plan” in the Data-Driven Policing category in 2022 IDC's Smart Cities North America awards. The awards were designed to recognize the progress municipalities have made in executing Smart Cities projects, as well as provide a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development. DPD will be honored at Smart Cities Connect being held on April 4-7, 2022. Congratulations DPD!