Nearly a dozen Colorado municipalities and Denver International Airport are tapping tech startups to increase accessibility and safety.
As part of the fourth annual Connected Colorado Challenge, seven startups were selected from an international pool of 75 proposals to help local cities and government organizations address specific problems. These businesses will now work with their respective entity to co-develop a project showcasing how their solution solves a need in the community.
The Connected Colorado Challenge is hosted by the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. The problem participating companies aim to address varies each year. The goal of the program is to give tech startups an opportunity to partner with the public sector.
“We all use technology to improve our daily lives — our local governments should, too,” Tyler Svitak, executive director of Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, said in a statement. “By defining a problem instead of the solution, we allow the world’s best innovators to help improve our local governments and the infrastructure we all use.”
This challenge also saves time and resources for the public and private sectors and allows businesses to pitch several different public entities at once, he said.
“The results … are truly innovative, not bound by the requirements of what government RFPs usually constrain,” Svitak said. “And the result is that we get tremendous value for our communities throughout the state and a peer-to-peer collaboration network that very much advances what is possible within government here in Colorado.”
The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance is a nonprofit founded six years ago. It has partnered with 36 cities and counties across Colorado and a slew of innovative companies, nonprofits and research organizations from across the globe. The Connected Colorado Challenge is one way the alliance pairs public and private sectors. To date, the challenge has fostered 65 different smart city projects, with about 20 replicated by other jurisdictions after proven to be successful, according to Svitak.
The seven winning solutions of this year’s challenge include using artificial intelligence to repair roads, robots for snow removal and digital maps to help people navigate their way around the airport. Each project has its own timeline for implementation, but the alliance expects them to roll out next year.
CityROVER
Headquarters: Ontario, Canada
CityROVER is an AI camera and cloud service. A CityROVER camera can be installed in any vehicle. As the driver moves about town, the camera collects data to help the city make smarter decisions and better utilize their resources, CityROVER Chief Technology Officer Roy Tal said. Once things like potholes and damaged street signs are identified, this information is shared to a cloud-based work management platform where the city can prioritize projects.
The startup is working with Arapahoe County and Commerce City to implement its tech. Keith Fuchser with Arapahoe County said the county has been looking at implementing similar tech for years to save employees time and to provide better customer service.
CityROVER’s tech is offered in more than 250 cities across 15 countries, per its website.
Numina
Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York
Numina aims to make cities more bikeable, walkable and equitable, according to CEO and founder Tara Pham. Numina uses computer vision sensors to measure how objects and people move in the streets, including cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. The sensors take pictures of the street a few times each second. With the help of AI, Numina takes the images and traces each object’s path to help cities better understand consumer behavior.
The city of Aspen plans to use this tech to make its downtown core safer for bikers and pedestrians.
This is Numina’s second partnership in Colorado. It also partnered with the city of Colorado Springs to help collect foot and vehicle traffic data in the downtown corridor.
Clovity
Headquarters: Dublin, California (with sales office in Denver)
Founded in 2008, Clovity is an AI and IoT solution that can detect accidents and near accidents. It can help reduce public safety response times, increase communication among responders, identify injured animals as a result of an accident and integrate with digital signs to alert drivers about icy roads or accidents.
Will Jones with the city of Greeley said the city is trying to lean into how it can be more proactive.
“What we’re excited about with Clovity … is detecting those crashes that may happen and then also notifying dispatch so that PD and public safety can arrive on scene in a more timely fashion, and then sharing that information for not only [the] investigation but also for the ambulance service and hospital,” Jones said.
Intelligent Traffic Control (ITC)
Headquarters: Tel Aviv
ITC uses machine learning and computer vision to predict traffic patterns and prevent traffic jams before they accumulate. The smart traffic management system uses already installed traffic cameras to digitize data in real-time.
The startup plans to work with the City of Greeley to reduce congestion and emissions.
Jones said census data shows Greeley is the fourth fastest-growing metropolitan statistical area. He said ITC will help the city improve how it manages traffic, including identifying expansion opportunities and finding ways to better use the infrastructure already in place.
Lazarillo
Headquarters: Tampa, Florida
Mapping platform Lazarillo is helping people with disabilities better navigate city landmarks like airports and shopping centers. CEO and co-founder of Lazarillo René Espinoza said the company is similar to Waze for people with disabilities. The startup offers a desktop version and mobile app in 25 languages. It can also integrate with kiosks.
Lazarillo plans to work with the Denver International Airport to improve its wayfinding for all visitors. Carol Reagan with DIA said the airport is also looking into using Lazarillo to highlight art exhibits.
Snowbotix
Headquarters: Detroit
Snowbotix’s 100% electric and fully autonomous maintenance robots can be used to remove snow, manage ice, sweep sidewalks, haul trash cans and help with lawn control. Snowbotix co-founder and principal Sasi Prabhakaran said the product is similar to a Roomba but intended for outdoor uses. He said having the robot manage sidewalk safety is also four times cheaper than hiring a human to do the same task.
Snowbotix partnered with the city of Greeley last year and will soon conduct a pilot with Arapahoe Libraries.
George Sproul with Arapahoe Libraries said he hopes to deploy Snowbotix at Koelbel Library in Centennial to monitor and remove snow.
Qwally
Headquarters: Denver
Business engagement software Qwally automates matching new businesses with the necessary government resources. The platform can be customized to fit a city’s needs. It saves the public and private sector time while offering better customer service to the business community.
Qwally is working with Commerce City to identify ways to support businesses there and accelerate and expand its business retention plans.
