Comments to Ottawa becoming a Smart City

1. Smart city or “smrt” city
Comments on
SMART CITY 2.0 - OTTAWA’S SMART CITY STRATEGY
ACS2017-PIE-EDP-0042
Miranda Gray @mirgray mirgray@gmail.com

2. “I am so smart - SMRT” - Homer Simpson
singing to himself
▶ 2010 is a generation ago in tech years
▶ Just like dogs age faster than humans, technology moves faster than
strategists
▶ Yes, Ottawa was top 7 in 2010 but we didn’t return to the top 21 until
2016
▶ Several other Canadian jurisdictions are currently in top 21
▶ See: http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/smart21
▶ We have great potential but we can miss the window by waiting for the
perfect plan and ideal timing
2

3. Big hat and no cattle
▶ This document lists our track record but provides no firm roadmap
▶ This document is a good historical summary of many initiatives but misses
some critical initiatives, partners / players and stakeholders
▶ Ottawa Community Housing Partners with National Capital FreeNet to
Offer Low-Cost Internet Services to OCH Tenants
▶ No mention of any of the city’s 3 major maker spaces
▶ No mention of current staff-led innovation
▶ The major vision to keep working on developing a vision
▶ It’s disappointing to see a recommendation that nothing will be decided until
well into the next term of council
3

4. Set your people free
▶ The CIty needs to retain its innovators in a competitive market
▶ You have innovators on your team already but this document lists no specific
strategies to engage them
▶ Internal hackathons across teams
▶ A dragon’s den approach to funding internal ideas
▶ Listing your employees as specialist stakeholders.
▶ Recommendation:
▶ develop an engagement strategy for your employees
4