So-called "smart cities" have less
pollution, safer streets, and better quality of life for citizens. But many
finance officers struggle to fund the upgrades that will make their cities
smart. To help, Cisco today introduced the City Infrastructure Financing Acceleration Program. It is a $1 billion
program aimed to make it easier, faster, and more affordable for cities around
the world to fund and adopt technologies that will transform their communities.
The funding will be provided through Cisco Capital®
in partnership with private equity firm Digital Alpha Advisors and pension fund
investors APG Asset Management (APG) and Whitehelm Capital.
"Funding is a major stumbling block for
municipalities beginning their smart city transformation," said Anil
Menon, Global President of Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities. "With our
partners, Cisco will bring the capital and expertise it takes to make smart
city projects a reality. Digital Alpha, APG, and Whitehelm Capital bring a
fresh perspective on investment in an area that has previously been perceived
as too new and, therefore, too difficult to finance."
The program helps cities assemble the right type or
suite of finance instruments to fund and deploy innovative technology
with minimal initial investment. Whether a city is looking to reduce
energy usage, ease traffic and parking, or boost public transportation
ridership and revenues, the program will help cities with solutions.
Revenue-share financing, for instance, even allows a city to tie
financing to desired outcomes and extend future operating
budgets through revenue streams from the new services that a digitized
infrastructure makes possible.
Additionally, today at the Smart City Expo World
Congress, Cisco is announcing added functionality to its newly
renamed connected digital platform, Cisco® Kinetic for Cities, which integrated
with the Cisco Kinetic IoT data platform.
The new features provide enhanced support for public safety. From the new
full-policy automation options to an improved dashboard with integrated video,
updates to the platform put citizen safety first. Real-time notification of
emergency information now draws on additional IoT data sources and Cisco Spark™
Collaboration, enabling faster emergency response.
Cisco has also announced new purchasing
options for Cisco Kinetic for Cities, including prepackaged starter
solutions, which combine the Cisco IoT data platform, solution, and services
with those from our ecosystem partners into ready-to-roll-out, end-to-end
solution suites.
Cisco has added a number of new Cisco Kinetic for
Cities customers. The Town of Cary, North Carolina, for instance, has created a
"Living Lab" providing smart city technologies to improve the lives
of citizens. Using the Cisco Kinetic for Cities platform, town officials can
actively monitor the number of available parking spots—particularly spots for
the handicapped—to gauge use and help with planning. "The Cisco Kinetic
for Cities platform provides us the tools we need to positively affect our
citizens' lives," said Terry Yates, Infrastructure and Network Manager,
Town of Cary, North Carolina. 
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