Cities aiming to become smarter should look to cooperate heavily with their neighbors, but be careful to ensure they keep people — not technology — at the forefront of any experiments in technological innovation.

Those were some of the key lessons from the Smart Regions Conference, hosted by smart city investment firm Venture Smarter in Columbus, OH over two days late last week.

Attendees heard discussions around the need for regionalism as cities work to get smarter, with speakers also noting other areas such as resiliency can be boosted when cities work together.

That collaboration has already been fostered in initiatives including the Congressional Smart Cities Caucus, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Smart City Challenge and Smart Infrastructure Challenge, with the winners of the latter being unveiled at this conference.
More>>