Cisco Blog > Government
Local government agencies are facing increased pressure to improve agency agility and performance, while creating efficiencies and reducing costs in order to better serve the public, and cloud solutions could be just the answer. Today marks the kick-off of our thought leadership blog series designed to provide local government leaders around the world with specifics on how cloud solutions can enable citizen services and drive transformation for a more connected, more efficient government.
Throughout the series, our industry experts will examine a variety of topics from the value proposition of cloud to a review of how specific agencies are effectively using cloud to meet department imperatives. Below is an example showing how the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain is using cloud to increase its ability to quickly provision new projects, realize operating and capital cost savings, and offer new services to its widely dispersed citizens and workforce.
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Tags: cloud, Connected Government, government, Public Safety, state and local
Last week I spoke with Louis Zacharilla and Robert Bell co-founders of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). They were both very busy getting ready to announce the Intelligent Community of the Year at the Building the Broadband Economy summit in New York City June 6-8.
Each year, ICF presents an awards program for Intelligent Communities and the public-sector and private-sector partners who contribute to them.
This year the 2012 Revolutionary keynote theme will be Intelligent Communities: Platforms for Innovation. Innovation is one of ICF’s five Indicators, but the special theme will focus on how Intelligent Communities create uniquely powerful innovation ecosystems on a foundation of information and communications technology. Innovation in Intelligent Communities brings together business, government and institutions in a dynamic partnership that produces results ranging from better and cheaper service delivery to citizens to the birth and growth of entrepreneurial businesses and vital new institutions.
There is a nice synergy between the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities and the Intelligent Communities recognized by ICF.
This year’s ICF finalists include:
- Austin, Texas, United States
- Oulu, Finland
- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- Riverside, California, United States
- Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
- Straford, Ontario, Canada
- Taichung City, Taiwan
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Do you know any communities that deserve to be recognized?
Tags: broadband, Connected Government, innovation, intelligent community, network platform
During the past several years I have had the great opportunity to work with the leaders from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the annual Community Policing Awards (CPA).
For the 14th year, IACP and Cisco are proud to celebrate and pay tribute to departments worldwide practicing the community policing philosophy. These departments bring change, address crime and terrorism, and make their communities safe places to live, work, and play.
Please help us spread the word and encourage others to share their success. The application deadline is midnight EST on June 3, 2012.
Community policing organizations from around the world can apply now for the opportunity to be recognized for the ways it has made public safety a priority through the use of collaboration, crime prevention, and partnership formation. Winners will be honored at the 2012 IACP Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.
The Chiefs leading the CPA committee are dedicated and each your do a great job recognizing the winners and also sharing best practices during a session at IACP. Last year was fantastic and we expect IACP 2012 in San Diego to be even better!
Please let me know if you know any communities that deserve to be recognized.
Tags: collaboration, Connected Government, Public Safety, social media, video
This week is National Telework week. I’m working from home using WebEx video to collaborate with Cisco colleagues around the world.
My 3-day telework pledge will save me $81.90 in transporation costs and 122 pounds of pollutants for the week. If I continue the 3-day telework routine for a year, I will save $4,095 in transporation costs and 6,120 pounds of pollutants or 3.06 tons for the year. Imagine how much we could all save if every government worker and citizen was able to use network collaboration and video to work from home.
Also this week, the President members of the Pacific Alliance participated in the first Virtual Presidential Summit through TelePresence without the need to travel. During the 90-minute “Historic Presidential Summit,” the Presidents of Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica and Panama (by telephone) were able to specify the fundamental points for the signature of the treaty for the “Pacific Alliance.”
There are many exciting video applications for government including:
Please let me know how you are using video apps in your government agency to cut costs and enhance services for citizens and constituents in your community.
Tags: Connected Government, Connected Justice, TelePresence, telework, video conferencing, WebEX
This week I had the opportunity to meet with a research group from the University of Tokyo visiting California to explore the role of technology for intelligent cities of the future. I prepared for this meeting with a discussion with colleage Dr. Norm Jacknis concerning his collaboration with government leaders and university researchers who are delving deeply into the impact of the Internet on government, politics, and society.
Three takeaways were clear from these conversations:
1. Critical importance of collaborative research across expertise domains, geographies, and public and private sectors
2. Capability to harness the explosion of information or big data deluge that is being fueled by mobile devices connected to the intelligent network
3. An optimistic point of view about potential for research applications, and I’m an optimist!
Next month, Cisco is hosting a live webcast with Dr. Martin Chalfie, 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry Fueling Innovation: How Research is Really Done (February 29, 2012 at 9:00 am Pacific Time / 12:00 pm Eastern Time).
This webcast will explore how the fruits of basic research are critical to fueling applications. Dr. Chalfie will give examples from his own research developing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a biological marker, as well as from work by others, to demonstrate that the application of basic research into fundamental problems in biology is important for its own sake and, fuels the development of various new applications.
While research is typically focused on one industry, great discoveries generally provide value for multiple industries.
Dr. Chalfie is a Professor of Biological Sciences and former chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. In 2008 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Tsien for his introduction of GFP as a biological marker.
Tags: Big Data, Collaborative research, Connected Government, data deluge, Smart Cities
