Imagine a city of the future where no one owns cars and there are no parking spaces. Wealth no longer decides who has access to transportation, because buying cars is no longer a factor. Transportation, in fact, has been totally disrupted. Every car on the road is autonomous and shared. The connected cars have advanced sensors that eliminate accidents and create more space. The extra space is used to create affordable housing, public spaces like small parks, and other shared spaces that will benefit everyone.
This is San Francisco’s smart city vision, and the foundation for SF’s proposal for the US DOT’s Smart City Challenge. We at Microsoft have joined with the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation, SF’s Department of Technology, the City Innovate Foundation, and more, to create a new lab to solve city problems with technology: Superpublic Innovation Lab.
The goal of Superpublic, an innovation lab and collaborative space, is to build pilots for technology that solve genuine city problems with an eye towards replicating them across all US cities. The lab is one of the first of its kind because to do this, it brings together public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors to address policy and regulatory issues and solve urban problems.
We’ve been working with Superpublic to create the smart cities of the future. And we want to show you some of the leading ideas in this space. Which is why we’re excited to be at BridgeSF this year (September 3-9), a conference celebrating all that civic innovation does to change the world and build the partnerships that will build a better tomorrow.
At BridgeSF, our team is hosting a Demo Day at the Microsoft Reactor on Tuesday, September 6 from 10am-12:30pm. The top “Smart City” startups from the Bay Area, as well as the nation and international spaces, will demo their disruptive technologies. The five-minute demos will focus on connected cities, IoT, big data, mobility, and transportation. The winning startups will be judged by a panel of judges, including our own Director of Technology and Civic Innovation, Scott Mauvais. While we’ll be picking one winner, all of the startups are winners in our eyes for coming up with ideas that will make the world we live in a better place.
Here are some more key panels at BridgeSF that you don’t want to miss. We’ll see you there!
September 3-4 (8am-6:30pm) — UC Berkeley “Disrupting Mobility” Hackathon
The BRIDGE SF 2016 UC Berkeley Hackathon explores how Shared Automated Electric and Connected (SECA) vehicles will impact the way people and goods move within a city.
September 6 (10am-12:30pm) — DEMO DAY: City of the Future
Bay Area, National and International Startups in the “Smart City” arena are nominated by our partners to demo their disruptive technologies to a diverse audience in a juried competition. This is a free event, but you must be registered to enter. Only 100 seats available! If you are a ticket holder, simply select this session and will be automatically registered. If you do not have a ticket, please REGISTER HERE.
September 7 (9:45am – 12:45pm) — Urban Mobility: In Hot Pursuit of the Perfect City
Cities worldwide are in hot pursuit of more optimal means and modes of moving people and goods in, out, and around. Match the fact that current infrastructures are unable to sustain, yet alone meet growing demand, and the need to innovate is now! Will the promise of new new technologies finally be the end of brutal congestion, unsafe roads, inequitable and inaccessible systems? Join a team of experts in an interactive session emulating City Innovate’s “Collider” methodology involving all participants in a co-creation of the perfect city.
What are the steps needed to assure rapid adaptation of connected devices transforming cities into ever more inclusive and intelligent eco-systems? One that can save lives through disaster preparedness and emergency responsiveness. One that makes our streets safer. One that can provides housing and quality transportation for all it’s residents. One that’s easy to navigate and engaging for it’s visitors. One that makes a city more economically viable. One that cares for the environment. One that cares for the elderly and infirmed. One that provides equal opportunity for all. Join us as leaders in the research, development, policy, finance, and public-private partnerships will look intently upon the challenges in taking on city-wide projects from concept, through pilots, and into lasting returns for a city and it’s citizens.
September 8 (9:15am – 10:40am) — Bold Visions Revolutionizing Cities
Cities are using technology to transform the way they interact with residents and businesses. For example, Mayors are increasingly using data-driven dashboards to track how quickly potholes are being filled. But these improvements often require revolutionary changes to public infrastructure and policies. This session will feature bold visionaries that are pushing major initiatives that will revolutionize how cities operate.
September 8 (11:05am-12:30pm) — Cities for People and Planet: The New Urban Paradigm
This discussion pushes the boundaries of our imaginations toward a more perfect city. Technology and human-centric urban design has a lot to say about that, but so too does our individual mindsets and cultural norms. Join us as we step forward into a connected city that is more eco and human-friendly by design, while also stepping up into a vision of a city that best supports life on planet earth.
No more waiting for someone else to come to the rescue! This panel looks at how community organizations are empowering their citizens like never before to prepare for and respond to emergencies. From necessity comes innovation and cities need more rapid and scalable responses if they are to rise to the challenge of natural disasters and emergencies affecting their citizens, businesses, and visitors. Fortunately, people have always been willing to help and now they have the resources to do so. Learn from experts in community-based resiliency measures in how to engage a community and together weave a net of safety.
September 8 • 3:35pm – 5:00pm — A Systems Approach to Resilient Cities
Cities are incredibly complex, living entities that present formidable challenges for strengthening bonds that boost resiliency. At the same time, their size and intricacy provide unique opportunities to explore the key components of resiliency. Just how resilient is your city? Join us as we take a social-ecological systems approach in exploring how systems thinking can provide useful tools for understanding and addressing the structure and complexities of cities.
