North Texas Innovation Alliance Members and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners Announce SCEWC Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge

Pitching Challenge to Reward Companies with United States Pilot and Funding Opportunities

DALLAS, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA), a 501(c)3 regional consortium of over 40 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across North Texas working to create the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country, has announced an international pitch event, named the Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge, to be held at this year's Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona alongside partner Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners and Texas cities Frisco, McKinney and Fort Worth. This pitch competition will select five startups to compete to win piloting and funding opportunities in the United States.

"Our goal in creating this pitch competition is to foster international innovation across smart cities," said NTXIA Executive Director Jennifer Sanders. "We are very fortunate to have strong cross-sector and cross-regional collaborations with organizations across the U.S. This pitch competition represents the opportunity for these companies to interact with some of the U.S.' leading minds in this space, and the opportunity to pilot their technology and receive funding to help achieve their goals of developing their technology and potentially entering the U.S. market. We are very excited to see the innovations these international companies bring!"

The 2024 Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge is focusing the problem statements on the future of transportation, sustainability and VRUs. Companies interested in participating in the pitch event will need to ensure their solutions address these key challenge areas, with a solution focus on the following:

• Traffic congestion mitigation
• Curbside management
• Autonomous delivery systems
• Pedestrian safety
• Heat island mitigation
• Energy and water efficiency and resiliency
• Crowd management at large events from a public safety and visitor experience lens

Companies will also need to ensure their technology is ready to be deployed for testing and development in real-world smart city environments.

"With the World Cup coming to the U.S. and Frisco serving as a host city, with the 2028 Olympics returning to the U.S. soon after that, we are looking to the international startup and smart city communities to bring forward their innovations to help us prepare for what is to come," said Gloria Salinas, Vice President of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation. "The winners of this pitch competition will have the unique opportunity to help various parts of the U.S. prepare for these global events and aid various municipalities and organizations to ensure the best technologies will benefit all residents and visitors of our cities. Frisco and North Texas are looking forward to seeing how we can integrate these solutions into our city and the region."

Finalists will be given passes to the SCEWC in Barcelona, where the final pitch will take place. Winners of the competition will be rewarded with travel, pilot and funding. Prizes include:

• Curiosity Lab will commit $15,000.00 towards a pilot, one year of office space at its Innovation Center and access to a global partner network for additional market support.
• Frisco and McKinney, Texas will provide travel and accommodations to the U.S. in Texas and Georgia for senior leadership, up to $10,000.00. This includes airfare, hotel, ground transportation, food and office/co-working space in McKinney and Curiosity Lab for the initial visit.
• NTXIA, Frisco and McKinney, Texas and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will create a curated itinerary of high-level meetings with decision makers in city departments to explore pilot implementation.
• Winners will also be introduced to high-level individuals at Plug and Play, University of North Texas, the Dallas College system, major healthcare institutions in Texas like Baylor Scott & White Health, Fortune 500 corporations, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Chambers of Commerce and major sporting and entertainment venues in Texas.
• Winners will receive global exposure through various media channels.
• One-of-a-Kind Texas swag and bragging rights.

"We offer a very unique real-world environment for companies of all sizes to test their technologies," said Curiosity Lab Executive Director Brandon Branham. "Our smart city ecosystem allows international companies to have a soft-landing pad in the U.S. to continue to develop their technologies and to, when ready, enter the U.S. market. We are thrilled to be a part of this incredible pitch competition and to be helping support these international startups in their mission to improve our everyday lives with their various technologies."

Submissions for the pitch competition open on September 23. Five finalists will be selected by the Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge committee to pitch in person at SCEWC on Wednesday, November 6 in the USA Pavilion. Each company will have 10 minutes for their pitch, followed by a five-minute Q&A session with the judges. Once all presentations and Q&A sessions are final, the judges will deliberate for 10 minutes and will then announce the winner. The Challenge is also supported by Marketplace.city with its Clearbox Source market intelligence product which will promote the opportunity, accept applications and compile vendor submissions.

"North Texas is growing at an incredible rate and having innovation to continue to foster growth in our technology sectors is a huge economic driver for us," said Michael Kowski, President & CEO of the McKinney Economic Development Corporation. "Our hope in supporting this pitch competition and these innovators is to help companies flourish in a new market and to provide the connections and testing requirements needed to see them succeed. This will help foster North Texas' smart city ecosystem and showcase how we can harness the power of innovation to create diverse and resilient communities."

Find out more about the Smart Cities Global Pitching Challenge and the form to submit your application here.

ABOUT THE NORTH TEXAS INNOVATION ALLIANCE
The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) is a 501(c)3 consortium of key cross-sector stakeholders working to develop and implement a smart region strategy for North Texas. The NTXIA is building the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country – bringing together government entities on all levels, transit agencies, utilities/infrastructure, public safety, educational institutions and some of the world's top technology developers in the private sector to pave the way for a brighter tomorrow. The organization's mission is to break down silos and drive the collaborative use of data, technology and community to address the most pressing topics and create solutions that will improve quality of life, drive inclusive economic development and promote resource efficiency. For more information, please visit www.NTXIA.org, or follow LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners
Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory located in the southeastern United States near Atlanta, Georgia. Designed as a proving ground for IoT, mobility and smart city emerging technologies, the centerpiece of the lab is a three-mile autonomous vehicle lane leveraging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies. Additional infrastructure includes intelligent traffic cameras and traffic signals, smart streetlights, the country's first "IoT Central Control Room" implemented in a city and a 25,000 square foot technology incubator. Owned and operated by the City of Peachtree Corners, Curiosity Lab is one of North America's only real-world testing environments and is available for use free of charge. Additional information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com.