If you were to look up the word “smart” in the dictionary you’d see definitions that included references to words like prompt in action, showing quick intelligence, shrewd, clever, impressively neat and sophisticated.

Clearly, the Smart Cities Council (SCC) understands these qualities and strives to embody each as they work globally to help create a world where digital technology and intelligent design have been harnessed to make cities more livable, workable and sustainable – three core values that are at the heart of this organization comprised of top universities, laboratories and standards bodies.

The Council was founded in the United States and has developed global alliances in Europe, Australia/New Zealand and India where regional councils now exist. Each regional council works to adopt and adapt programs and services to resonate SCC's values by offering a combination of advocacy and action to help cities become smarter. In addition, SCC partners with a wide variety of smart technology providers, consultants, educational institutions and financial institutions to facilitate real change within cities.

Since its inception, SCC has continued to expand opportunities. In September 2016, the Challenge Grant Program, an initiative to find the most qualified cities in the US, was kicked off at the White House. More than 140 cities across the U.S. participated in the program, with five cities – Austin, Indianapolis, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia - receiving top honors. Each are receiving a Readiness Workshop with the objective to accelerate deployments of Smart City projects, encourage coordination between cross-functional teams and to build true action plans to move efforts forward. Through SCC resources, the goal is to make the winning cities’ efforts more of a reality and increase confidence in city planning.

​In October, SCC will be hosting Smart Cities Week in Washington, D.C. This year’s event will feature tracks that include Infrastructure Innovation and City Showcase, offering presentations and panels that provide real world applications of technologies and the benefits they provide to cities when implemented. A special focus will include the critical role that the Internet of Things (IoT) plays in smart city development. Smart Cities Week will also see the launch of the 2017/2018 Challenge Grants. In 2017, the Challenge will include many more improvements around the qualification of city data, improved assessment and roadmaps for cities and a more targeted approach to address city problems with in-kind contributions. 

AIM members learn more about the Smart City industry and the challenges faced by cities and solution providers. The effort to create a successful and sustainable global network of smart cities will undoubtedly rely not only on organizations like the Smart Cities Council, but the innovators in automatic identification and data capture whose technologies will be in the forefront of smart city development. Together, we have the ability to transform lives and our world for a better future. Now that’s a smart move!

​RAIN, the UHF RFID Alliance which is part of AIM, held its ninth face-to-face meeting a few weeks ago in Seattle, Washington, USA.  The meeting was hosted by Amazon and Impinj with extra sponsorship from Aware Innovations, Logopak, NXP, SML, and Zebra. Over 260 people from all over the world attended this RAIN Alliance 3-day meeting.

Three fun filled days included many presentations about RAIN technology being used in a variety of markets, with a focus on healthcare during the final day (open to non-members). As well as the meetings, the attendees had the chance to participate in a "Fun Run" around Green Lake that raised $650 for the World Heart Federation in memory of Ken Traub, and the chance to dine at the world-famous Seattle Space Needle (hosted by Impinj). After a great dinner, we had the chance to visit the top of the Needle and look out on the surrounding area.  Fantastic views.

Presentations from the event are now available to interested individuals on the RAIN website read more here...

RAIN's next event is 24-26 October 2017 in Shenzhen, China, hosted by Invengo. Details for this event are being released as finalized on the website, with registration opening shortly.

2018 events are also being discussed with the following provisional details:  March 2018, USA (probably California), late June 2018, Europe (Germany or Austria), November 2018, Asia (possibly Bangkok).

If you are involved in passive UHF RFID, you should join the more than 150 companies that are already members of the RAIN Alliance. Contact RAIN President Steve Halliday or visit the RAIN website.