Racine Designated Wisconsin’s First Smart City, Earns Honor

SAN DIEGO, CA -- In a ceremony today at the Smart Cities Week Conference in San Diego, California, the City of Racine was announced as one of the five winners of the third-annual Smart Cities Readiness Challenge.

The Readiness Challenge is a competition where cities must demonstrate their commitment to becoming a Smart City by using technology and data-informed decisions to better deliver City services and create a more equitable community.

Over the coming months, Racine and its partners will roll out a public outreach and engagement campaign with the help of the Smart Cities Council. Racine officials say the goal of the campaign will be to meet residents in their neighborhoods so that there is a clear understanding of what Smart Cities means and how it can benefit their lives.

“I have always said we get things done in Racine through collaboration. I want to thank Gateway Technical College, UW-Parkside, RCEDC, Racine County, and Foxconn their continued partnership, vision, and leadership,” Racine Mayor Cory Mason said from the conference.

The winners of the Smart Cities Readiness Challenge receive several benefits that will help propel the City’s smart cities initiatives.

• Access to best practices. The application process is almost like a smart cities workshop. Knowledge resources coach you on best practices as you go along.
• Access to the Smart Cities Project Activator, an online tool to help cities and their public and private partners plan, manage, and finance smart city projects.
• Access to other cities to share lessons learned and expand the peer network.
• Access to financing to explore alternative business models and financing options.

The five winners also receive a full-year Readiness Program, including mentoring, an outcome-oriented Readiness Workshop in their cities, a Readiness Roadmap based on their priorities, and regular progress calls and follow-up workshops.

Winners also receive nationwide publicity as a great place to live and work, plus travel scholarships to Smart Cities Week twice per year to continue their learning. Winners also get access to financiers who can structure public-private partnerships and other forms of alternative financing.