By Jorja RomanPUBLISHED March 26, 2019 @5:51 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg is the newest Smart Gigabit Community in the country, thanks to a new partnership between Spectrum, US Ignite, the city of St. Petersburg, and St. Pete Innovation District.St. Petersburg announced as Smart Gigabit Community, 1st in stateProgram creates access to ultra-fast network, allowing city to incorporate new technology that residents and visitors can benefit fromSmart Gigabit CommunityThe goal of the program is to install new technology that will help grow the city. Spectrum, Bay News 9's parent company, is providing a three-year grant to pay for the projects.US Ignite is a company that helps cities connect with the latest technology. Its "Smart Gigabit Communities" program is currently giving 27 cities across the country access to an ultra-fast network, allowing them to incorporate new technology that residents and visitors can benefit from.St. Petersburg is the first city in Florida to join the program."The program will help St. Pete become an even smarter city than it is today," said Phil Meeks, the Executive Vice President and President of Spectrum Enterprise."We're not just going to be a network provider for smart cities; we’ll be providing the entire solution as well, in partnership with other key vendors and technology partners," said Satya Parimi, the Group Vice President of Data Products within Spectrum Enterprise.During a press conference and panel discussion on Monday, leaders announced the new initiative and detailed how it will help with economic growth in St. Petersburg."This is also opening doors for us when it comes to our efforts for sustainability and resiliency," said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.The first phase of the project will take place in the next few months. New smart light poles will be installed throughout the city. They're designed to save energy, save money, and help keep the community safe."We can use maybe cameras on the light poles to detect pedestrians, cyclists and traffic all intermingling together," said Parimi.The goal for the first part of the project, through that technology, is to find ways to prevent accidents."One of the things we can do is just look at the natural dynamics of how people and cars and bikes interact, and then work with the city to figure out how to solve some of the problems,” said Alison Barlow, the Executive Director of St. Pete Innovation District.The lights will have dimming and brightening capabilities, making it a cost effective and efficient addition to the city.The project will also explore ways to improve marine science through technology.
Thank you to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (JHACH) for sponsoring and hosting our inaugural Morning Sparks: Innovation X-change breakfast. The event was kicked off by Alicia Schulhof, President of JHACH, and followed by an overview of the topic - Artificial Intelligence - by Dr. John Licato of USF's Advanced Machine and Human Reasoning Lab.
Kudos to the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, a technology incubator, accelerator and coworking office operating the ARK Innovation Center in the Innovation District. They recently announced the startups that will participate in their spring accelerator program. These startups offer a variety of intriguing solutions, many based in the Tampa Bay region. Keep an eye out for a showcase featuring these companies in July.
The Dali Museum is once again leveraging innovative technology to engage the audience in a deeper understanding of Dali. A recent NPR profile highlighted: Ask Dalí, a new installation based on a copy of Dalí's iconic Lobster Telephone sculpture, allows visitors to pick up the crustacean-shaped receiver, ask a question, and hear Dalí's response. The artist's voice, speaking in heavily-accented English, is made possible through generative artificial intelligence. The artist's AI voice was trained on voice samples taken from archival interviews Dalí did in English over his career.