AI & Government: Smart Cities

The Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group (RMAIIG) will host an in-person meeting in Boulder on Monday, March 23rd, at 6:30 pm MT on “AI & Government: Smart Cities.”

Cities have always been systems – roads, utilities, emergency services, zoning, and public safety working together to support daily life. But something fundamental is changing. As sensors, real-time data, and AI are embedded into transportation, energy, buildings, and public services, cities are beginning to do more than simply operate. They are beginning to perceive, predict, and respond.

This session brings together the executive director of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, the founder and CEO of My Town AI, and a futurist from TCS. Together, they will explore what this revolution means for the present and the future of the world’s cities.

We will move beyond buzzwords and tech demos to examine how data-driven decision-making is already altering city operations, governance, and public services, and what it could mean for safety, sustainability, equity, and privacy in the decades ahead.

If you live, work, commute, run a business, teach students, or build technology, this conversation is about your future. The question is no longer whether cities will become smart, it’s how society will adapt when the places we live begin to make decisions in real time.

Thanks to Phil Nugent and Karla Pascarella for organizing this meeting!

Phil Nugent serves on RMAIIG's executive committee and is a member of its board of advisors. He also is the founder and editor-in-chief of Colorado AI News.

Karla Pascarella, a veteran of Big Law and general counsel roles, is a cross-border transaction expert and sustainable infrastructure specialist currently architecting the 'law firm of the future.' As a leader in WRISE Colorado and RMAIIG’s Legal AI subgroup, she bridges the gap between high-level legal strategy and the transformative power of ESG and AI to champion women and sustainable startups.

We still need a pizza sponsor. If you can help, please email dan@rmaiig.org with "Pizza Hero" in the subject line!

AI & Government: Smart Cities
CU Boulder East Campus: In-person
Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building (Room 120)
3775 Discovery Dr., Boulder, CO 80303
Mon, Mar 23rd
6:30 - 8:30 PM - Meeting
5:45 PM Free pizza (if we find a sponsor)
Parking: https://www.rmaiig.org/parking

Our first speaker, Tyler Svitak, is executive director of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. At the intersection of government leadership and corporate innovation lie the solutions to many of the problems facing Colorado’s towns and cities, and Tyler Svitak’s role is to facilitate the regional projects and partnerships necessary to find those solutions. He works with a large coalition of public agencies and private sector companies to co-develop and customize projects that test and scale new ways of doing business here in Colorado. Tyler will discuss how the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance is a nationwide leader in the smart cities’ revolution, and how the Alliance is helping municipalities across the state – and beyond – continue to become more efficient and more responsive to those who live there.

Next up is Nichole Sterling, founder and CEO of My Town AI and Mayor Pro Tem of Nederland, Colorado. My Town AI is a civic intelligence platform that helps local governments use municipal data, GIS, and digital-twin methods to improve housing, transportation, and economic development. Additionally, Nichole contributes to responsible AI efforts through the GovAI Coalition and serves as a Director for the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Nichole's work as Mayor Pro Tem informs her focus on pragmatic tools that reduce friction for resource-constrained public sector teams. Nichole will discuss how local governments are using AI to improve productivity and to address broader community priorities such as affordable housing and economic development.

Finally, we will hear from Bill Quinn, a futurist with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is one of Fortune Magazine's "World's Most Admired Companies." Bill helps Global 2000 clients understand the possibilities and implications of an emerging future shaped by the convergence of science, technology, economics, geopolitics, society, and the environment. Based on that understanding, he works with clients to “connect the dots” and develop business strategies, informed by foresight and enabled by ecosystems, that enable them to become more innovative, resilient, and adaptable to changing dynamics. Bill will explore the future of smart cities, looking at how they can continue to build upon present technologies to become even more adaptive and responsive to their populations.

Special thanks to Bobby Hodgkinson for arranging the meeting space!