Heading to SXSW? Everything Mayors Need to Know Before Austin

Motivated on behalf of their citizens, mayors across the country are looking to be more agile and continue to innovate to make cities smart, connected, and sustainable. In many ways, mayors look to solve problems and overcome challenges through the use of new technologies, like connected intersections, gunshot detection, water quality monitoring, and energy management.

To fuel innovation and conversation about how technology can help cities, the City of Austin is hosting the United States Conference of Mayors Track as part of the SXSW conference in Austin, TX on March 10-13th. AWS will be the premier sponsor of the track.

This year’s dialogue will be focused on how technology and policy are improving quality of life for citizens around the country. Key themes include: technology, tech policy and governance, entrepreneurship and economic development, constituent relations and engagement, and public sector innovation.

From mobility to the Internet of Things (IoT), take a look back on what we heard from local governments during last year’s track about what matters most to them to continue to innovate for the benefit of their citizens.

This week, mayors will have the opportunity to once again hear from other mayors working through the same challenges and driving toward similar missions.

2017 Highlights for Mayors

Partner Demo Day – At the partner demo day, AWS partner, Intel, will show an air quality sensor and monitoring system that works on vehicles and measures air pollution. Intel is leveraging the AWS Internet of Things (IoT) Service and will be sharing best practices for sensor technology and data collection leveraging the AWS Cloud.

Civic.IO Mayors Matchup – AWS is also sponsoring the Civic.IO Mayors Matchup competition on the morning of Sunday, March 12th. Come hear from civic tech startups who will pitch their technologies to the mayors for a chance to win up to $20,000 and the opportunity to implement their technology in one of the mayors cities.

City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge – To learn more about how local and regional governments are innovating on behalf of their citizens around the globe, check out our City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge. Apply today for a chance to earn up to $50,000 in AWS promotional credits. Winners will be announced at the AWS Public Sector Summit June 12-14, 2017, in Washington, DC.

Stay Connected

Watch for more information here on the blog, follow our periscope series on @AWS_Gov, as well as our interview with City of Austin’s Mayor Adler on our Facebook Live.