Smart cities and Urban entrepreneurship: the study of Chicago and Medini

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Smart cities and Urban entrepreneurship: the study of Chicago and Medini Stefania Sini Abstract: Cities have become hyperconnected and smart, and everyday produce and consume a big amount of data. The growing availability of data facilitates the development of products and services for the city and, thanks to the platforms that facilitate collaboration, co-creation and novel entrepreneurial initiatives, cities are enforcing their role as catalysts of innovation. The article presents two case studies of smart cities: the city of Chicago in the United States and the newly emerging city of Medini in Malaysia. Chicago supports a broad civic tech community and a rich ecosystem of innovation and has set the basis for the development of products and services for the city, in conjunctions with open data initiatives. Medini has the objective of creating a smart city with key values conceptualized as safe, connected, livable and efficient. The case studies provide valuable examples of the approaches and challenges on the employment of open data for developing products and services for smart cities and on the positive impact on urban development of urban entrepreneurship and open innovation. Keywords: smart cities; open data; urban entrepreneurship; civic innovation

1. Introduction The pervasiveness of information and communication technologies have made cities hyperconnected and have dramatically increased the amount of data produced and consumed. The Internet of Things has generated networked systems of sensors and actuators: these systems create a continuous flow of data that provides a dynamic representation of urban contexts, and allows to embed intelligence into the vital systems of cities. Moreover, the increasing accessibility to these data has brought new opportunities for facilitating effective collaborations and entrepreneurial initiatives oriented to develop products and services for cities. Increasingly, the strategies and the projects that give meaning and value to data are providing results that are beneficial to cities. This article presents a study on smart cities that describes how two diverse contexts, the city of Chicago in the United States and the newly emerging city of Medini in Malaysia, are employing new forms of urban entrepreneurship to develop products and services for cities to increase the quality of life of citizens. Chicago supports the creation of a broad civic tech community and a rich ecosystem of innovation, sourcing open data initiatives, to improve services and facilitate economic recovery. Medini has the objective of creating a smart city with key values conceptualized as safe, connected, livable and efficient. It has recently launched the Medini Innovention Challenge to facilitate the commercialization of smart city ideas. 2. Materials and Methods The research consists in a comparative study that analyzes, describes and compares two case study: the city of Chicago and new city of Medini. First, the analysis introduces the open data initiatives in United States and Malaysia: it provides an overview on the level of involvement and development of the two countries in regards of open data initiatives and constitutes a reference for the understanding of the context in which smart cities initiatives were developed. Secondly, the analysis presents the two case studies with the description of the initiatives related to smart cities that each city promoted. Finally, in the discussion and conclusion section, the two case studies are compared and conclusion


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