10 US Cities Selected to Kickoff Envision America Smart Cities Acceleration Initiative

Charlotte, North Carolina, Dec. 3, 2015 -- Envision America, a smart cities initiative that was announced at the White House this fall, is proud to select 10 U.S. cities to participate in 2016. The cities will leverage technology collaborators and businesses to address the challenges of climate change and improve city services. They include Cambridge, MA; Dallas, TX; Greenville, SC; Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; New York City, NY: Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; San Diego, CA and Spokane, WA.

"We appreciate Los Angeles being selected as one of the country's first Envision America cities," said Mayor Eric Garcetti. "L.A. has always been on the cutting edge of innovative technologies that tackle the biggest challenges of our time. This new partnership will help us continue to nurture ideas that can be developed today to better serve residents, businesses, and visitors tomorrow."

Envision America, a program under the nonprofit Envision Charlotte, will host the 10 cities to attend a smart cities workshop from January 12-14th, 2016. The three-day workshop in Charlotte brings city leaders, smart cities experts and corporate partners together to facilitate project planning and implementation.

The Envision America program will help other cities use successes and lessons learned of Envision Charlotte in the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Envision Charlotte began its smart cities initiative in 2011 with a goal of reducing energy use by 20% over five years in collaboration with companies such as Duke Energy, Cisco, and Itron. The City of Charlotte is also working to produce cleaner air, decrease the amount of waste going to landfill and reduce water use in buildings through the Envision Charlotte effort.

“Envision Charlotte is excited to share our experiences with cities from across the country and to help ignite a smart and sustainable cities revolution in the U.S., “ said Amy Aussieker, Executive Director of Envision Charlotte and Envision America.

Corporate partners for Envision America are Accelerated Innovations, AT&T, Autodesk, Bank of America, Black and Veatch, Cisco, Duke Energy, Esri, GE, IBM, Intel, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Microsoft, Qualcomm, SAS, ThingWorx, and Wells Fargo.

“Itron is proud to be a part of Envision America, and we look forward to helping advance smart cities initiatives both nationally and around the world. For participating cities and communities, this initiative will drive outcomes, including improved city services, enhanced energy and water management and increased economic opportunity, through collaboration and shared technologies,” said Philip Mezey, Itron president and chief executive officer.

For more information, please visit http://envisionamerica.org/