San Francisco, US : Earlier this year Urban Integrated Inc, part of the urban institute group, joined the business council of the US Conference of Mayors (www.usmayors.org).

During its recent general meeting, Erwin Rezelman, President and CEO for Urban Integrated, was invited to speak at the Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force, chaired by Mayor Bill Finch of Bridgeport and Mayor James Brainard of Carmel. Mayor Finch has championed the topic of sustainability and took Bridgeport through some remarkable changes on the road to create a more sustainable city.

[ui!] and Bridgeport have been discussing the opportunities of smart city solutions in the sustainability plan. This was closely aligned to the topic of the presentation which showed how smart city initiatives go hand in hand with sustainability and can drive new revenue opportunities.

In particular, how evidence management helps a city make better decisions enabled through [ui!] UrbanPulse as the platform to integrate the city sensor data streams.

The mayors conference provided a great opportunity to interact with over 300 mayors and their staff to share best practices and discuss ideas.

This is integral to the concept of USCM. Besides the mayors, President Obama, the Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Martin O’Malley, Carlos Santana, MC Hammer and many other notable speakers provided key notes or joined the specialist’s panels.

{jb_iconic_tag}Attached the write up on the event - [ui!] is mentioned on page 8 : www.usmayors.org{/jb_iconic_tag}

Cambridge – On July 23rd, Erwin Rezelman, CEO for [ui!] in the US, was invited to give a lecture at Harvard University, to a group of professionals from Latin America as part of the symposium on Creating Public Value. The objective was to share projects and best practices that they could apply in their cities at home.

Erwin shared the three-hour slot with Ferdinand Alvaro, managing partner for Boston for the law firm Gonzales, Saggio & Harlan LLP under the umbrella of Cities in Chaos. Looking at major changes that cities have gone through as a result of natural disasters or regulatory decisions.

Fred provided an overview of the public policy challenges faced by the Boston metro system during the recent harsh winter. Erwin discussed the impact of the Energiewende (Energy Transition) in Germany on innovation in the utility sector.

In particular, [ui!]’s project in Saarlouis with the introduction of micro grids powered through renewable energy sources and the market place to buy and sell this energy rather than put it back into the grid.

Use it where you produce it makes a lot of sense for efficiency and costs effectiveness and adds a layer of resilience. It also generated a new revenue source for the utility company. As is customary at Harvard, the presentation was delivered as a case study with great participation of the audience.