Tech-Focused Multi-City Innovation Campaign Expands to 25 Communities in 2015

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National League of Cities (NLC) today announced that the Multi-City Innovation Campaign (MCIC), a program that helps spur quality innovation in cities across the country, will expand to 25 communities under NLC's leadership in 2015. The campaign was started in 2014 by four NLC member cities—Boston, Nashville, Palo Alto and Raleigh—who asked NLC to expand the program for 2015. The program was recognized earlier this month as a "Bright Idea" by The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University, and receives thought leadership support from Esri and Socrata.

The MCIC serves as a platform for developers, innovators and community leaders to build scalable and sustainable solutions that will change the way that cities communicate with their community members and provide information to citizens about resources.

"We are proud to have been one of the pilot cities last year to work across city boundaries to create meaningful new technologies," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said. "As cities, we often have common challenges, so I am looking forward to seeing the shared solutions created by innovators across even more cities this year to address our community and public health needs."

"As the leading voice of cities, we're thrilled to be able to use our resources to grow this campaign and help our cities develop game-changing tools to address their greatest challenges such as health, public safety and economic development," said Clarence E. Anthony, CEO & executive director of the National League of Cities. "It is important for cities to develop sustainable, technology-driven solutions that address the unique challenges that our local communities face."

To support scalable and sustainable new technology, the partnering cities will each provide $5,000 to the winning technology, if the city chooses to deploy that new technology in its community, for a total of up to $120,000. Additionally, MCIC applicants will have the opportunity to compete to be a finalist in the upcoming summer 2015 Jumpstart Foundry cohort, one of the nation's leading startup accelerators based in Nashville, Tenn. The winner of the program can receive up to $100,000 in seed capital.

This year, the 25 communities will partner to prove that cities can work with the entrepreneurial ecosystem in new ways to improve public and community health and spur quality innovation.

Participating cities include:

Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Boston, Mass.; Charlotte, N.C.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; Mountain View, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; Oakland, Calif.; Palo Alto, Calif.; Philadelphia, Penn.; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco, Calif.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Durham, N.C.; Somerville, Mass.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Saint Paul, Minn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash. Non-city participants include Durham County, N.C., and State of Rhode Island.

The National League of Cities (NLC) is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.

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SOURCE National League of Cities