Mission

About Us
Located in Tech Square and in partnership with local governments, industry and communities, Georgia Tech’s initiative on Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation (SCI2) develops cutting-edge approaches to shaping resilient and sustainable communities through a suite of applicable technology and data applications. SCI2 is university-wide and intentionally works across Georgia Tech’s schools, colleges, and research units to foster multidisciplinary research and teaching for community impact.

What is Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation?
All communities can be smart.  They do not have to be restricted by population, location or median income.  “Smart” is a process of continuous improvement and integration of people, data, partnerships, and suitable technologies.  Establishing a smart community requires an inclusive set of voices from all walks of life in order to fully understand the needs of the community.
 

SCI2 believes multi-disciplinary, applied research is at the heart of building an equitable smart community.  Communities should be empowered in understanding and applying the most innovative and suitable research to address their complex problems. We facilitate the partnerships between researchers, communities and industries to promote private/public collaboration. As a result, communities have access to the research and teaching and researchers can ground truth to their work through real world input. This also enhances education and training for students, so they are equipped with leading and supporting smart development projects.

A smart city utilizes data that are central to the inclusive and connected community.  A smart process relies on knowing what data you have, what data you need, and how to connect the right people to the right data. It also understands the limitations and biases that data can bring, and seeks to improve data literacy and application. Finally, it looks at the importance of data security and privacy that is localized to the particular context and conditions.

Although a Smart City is a complex system, at SCI2, we use an ecosystem approach that spans multiple domains and touches on three key parts: vision, functions, and components.

 


Vision
Our vision of a Smart City is a community that is safe, secure, sustainable, and equitable for all residents.  At SCI2 our emphasis is on research, education and advocacy.

Function
SCI2 assists municipalities by connecting them with Georgia Tech’s applied and multi-disciplinary research and teaching to address challenging, complex civic and societal issues.

Components
Components include different technologies and data that support a smart city.  SCI2 uses these components to develop programs in mobility, sustainability, connectivity, and community engagement.