The Office of University Strategic Communications Insider
San Antonio expects its population to grow substantially in the next 20 years.
Its Office of Innovation has a mission to identify community needs and find solutions to do better.
Current projects include the SmartSA program, the R&D League, and Connected Beyond the Classroom.
This article is part of a series focused on American cities building a better tomorrow called Advancing Cities.
Over the next 20 years, about 1.1 million more people are expected to call San Antonio, Texas, home, according to US Census estimates. To adjust to the influx of new residents and make it an equitable place to live, San Antonio is embracing new technologies and infrastructure.
The Office of Innovation in San Antonio, Texas, is working to advance technology and infrastructure.
Created in 2007, the office is expanding Wi-Fi access for kids with Connected Beyond the Classroom.
A smart streetlight program was also implemented to save money and energy and collect valuable data.
This article is part of a series focused on American cities building a better tomorrow called Advancing Cities.
Digital inclusion is an issue that the city of San Antonio, Texas, started to address before the COVID-19 crisis sent people to work and learn from home full time.
In 2019, the city s Office of Innovation kicked off a digital-divide assessment of residents. We really wanted to get to the granular level of our residents and identify where the gaps are based on broadband connectivity, based on access to devices, and based on digital literacy, Brian Dillard, the city s chief innovation officer and a third-generation San Antonio native, told Insider.
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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in infrastructure, mobility challenges, and a digital divide.
These US cities will remain resilient due to investing in things like sustainable technology and innovation.
As a result, places like Raleigh-Durham, Denver, and Atlanta are some of the fastest-growing cities.
If city leaders across the country learned anything from the past year, it s the value of resilience.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in infrastructure, posed mobility challenges, and revealed a digital divide. The places that have fared the best are the ones that have been investing in the future, specifically in areas like digital transformation, manufacturing, sustainability, infrastructure, and innovation.