Pitching Challenge to Reward Companies with
United States Pilot and Funding Opportunities
DALLAS, Sept. 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- North Texas Innovation
Alliance (NTXIA), a 501(c)3 regional consortium of over 40
municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions
across North Texas working to
create the most connected, smart and resilient region in the
country, has announced an international pitch event, named the
Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge, to be held at this year's
Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona alongside partner Curiosity Lab at
Peachtree Corners and Texas
cities Frisco, McKinney and Fort Worth. This pitch competition will select
five startups to compete to win piloting and funding opportunities
in the United States.
"Our goal in creating this pitch competition is to foster
international innovation across smart cities," said NTXIA Executive
Director Jennifer Sanders. "We are
very fortunate to have strong cross-sector and cross-regional
collaborations with organizations across the U.S. This pitch
competition represents the opportunity for these companies to
interact with some of the U.S.' leading minds in this space, and
the opportunity to pilot their technology and receive funding to
help achieve their goals of developing their technology and
potentially entering the U.S. market. We are very excited to see
the innovations these international companies bring!"
The 2024 Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge is focusing the
problem statements on the future of transportation, sustainability
and VRUs. Companies interested in participating in the pitch event
will need to ensure their solutions address these key challenge
areas, with a solution focus on the following:
- Traffic congestion mitigation
- Curbside management
- Autonomous delivery systems
- Pedestrian safety
- Heat island mitigation
- Energy and water efficiency and resiliency
- Crowd management at large events from a public safety and
visitor experience lens
Companies will also need to ensure their technology is ready to
be deployed for testing and development in real-world smart city
environments.
"With the World Cup coming to the U.S. and Frisco serving as a host city, with the 2028
Olympics returning to the U.S. soon after that, we are looking to
the international startup and smart city communities to bring
forward their innovations to help us prepare for what is to come,"
said Gloria Salinas, Vice President
of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation. "The winners of
this pitch competition will have the unique opportunity to help
various parts of the U.S. prepare for these global events and aid
various municipalities and organizations to ensure the best
technologies will benefit all residents and visitors of our cities.
Frisco and North Texas are looking forward to seeing how
we can integrate these solutions into our city and the region."
Finalists will be given passes to the SCEWC in Barcelona, where the final pitch will take
place. Winners of the competition will be rewarded with travel,
pilot and funding. Prizes include:
- Curiosity Lab will commit $15,000.00 towards a pilot, one year of office
space at its Innovation Center and access to a global partner
network for additional market support.
- Frisco and McKinney, Texas will provide travel and
accommodations to the U.S. in Texas and Georgia for senior leadership, up to
$10,000.00. This includes airfare,
hotel, ground transportation, food and office/co-working space in
McKinney and Curiosity Lab for the
initial visit.
- NTXIA, Frisco and McKinney, Texas and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree
Corners will create a curated itinerary of high-level meetings with
decision makers in city departments to explore pilot
implementation.
- Winners will also be introduced to high-level individuals at
Plug and Play, University of North
Texas, the Dallas College
system, major healthcare institutions in Texas like Baylor
Scott & White Health, Fortune 500 corporations, the
North Central Texas Council of Governments, Chambers of Commerce and major sporting and entertainment
venues in Texas.
- Winners will receive global exposure through various media
channels.
- One-of-a-Kind Texas swag and bragging rights.
"We offer a very unique real-world environment for companies of
all sizes to test their technologies," said Curiosity Lab Executive
Director Brandon Branham. "Our smart
city ecosystem allows international companies to have a
soft-landing pad in the U.S. to continue to develop their
technologies and to, when ready, enter the U.S. market. We are
thrilled to be a part of this incredible pitch competition and to
be helping support these international startups in their mission to
improve our everyday lives with their various technologies."
Submissions for the pitch competition open on September 23. Five finalists will be selected by
the Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge committee to pitch in
person at SCEWC on Wednesday, November
6 in the USA Pavilion. Each
company will have 10 minutes for their pitch, followed by a
five-minute Q&A session with the judges. Once all presentations
and Q&A sessions are final, the judges will deliberate for 10
minutes and will then announce the winner. The Challenge is also
supported by Marketplace.city with its Clearbox
Source market intelligence product which will promote the
opportunity, accept applications and compile vendor
submissions.
"North Texas is growing at an
incredible rate and having innovation to continue to foster growth
in our technology sectors is a huge economic driver for us," said
Michael Kowski, President & CEO
of the McKinney Economic Development Corporation. "Our hope in
supporting this pitch competition and these innovators is to help
companies flourish in a new market and to provide the connections
and testing requirements needed to see them succeed. This will help
foster North Texas' smart city
ecosystem and showcase how we can harness the power of innovation
to create diverse and resilient communities."
Find out more about the Smart Cities Global Pitching Challenge
and the form to submit your application here.
ABOUT THE NORTH TEXAS
INNOVATION ALLIANCE
The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) is a 501(c)3 consortium
of key cross-sector stakeholders working to develop and implement a
smart region strategy for North Texas. The NTXIA is building the
most connected, smart and resilient region in the country –
bringing together government entities on all levels, transit
agencies, utilities/infrastructure, public safety, educational
institutions and some of the world's top technology developers in
the private sector to pave the way for a brighter tomorrow. The
organization's mission is to break down silos and drive the
collaborative use of data, technology and community to address the
most pressing topics and create solutions that will improve quality
of life, drive inclusive economic development and promote resource
efficiency. For more information, please visit www.NTXIA.org, or
follow LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners
Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city
living laboratory located in the southeastern United States near Atlanta, Georgia. Designed as a proving ground
for IoT, mobility and smart city emerging technologies, the
centerpiece of the lab is a three-mile autonomous vehicle lane
leveraging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies.
Additional infrastructure includes intelligent traffic cameras and
traffic signals, smart streetlights, the country's first "IoT
Central Control Room" implemented in a city and a 25,000 square
foot technology incubator. Owned and operated by the City of
Peachtree Corners, Curiosity Lab is one of North America's only real-world testing
environments and is available for use free of charge. Additional
information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com.
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SOURCE North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA)