The Georgia Institute of Technology, City of Atlanta, and Georgia State University will be founding members of the MetroLab Network, announced at the White House Smart Cities Forum. The goal of the forum is to research, develop, and deploy new technologies to address challenges in the nation’s urban areas.

The MetroLab Network will provide the opportunity to share successes, address challenges, and build shared platforms for experimentation and data between cities and universities necessary to increase the tangible results of new innovations. 

“For years, various disciplines within Georgia Tech have helped cities throughout the state to develop potential solutions to infrastructure challenges,” said Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson. “For example, our Center for Urban Innovation supports interdisciplinary research on urban sustainability and partners with other groups. The Metro Lab Network allows us to take this work to a new level as we collaborate and leverage expertise in the smart cities effort,” he said.  

The MetroLab Network is based on previous successes of technologies developed from established city/university partnerships. These partnerships have produced innovative transportation and water infrastructure projects that have increased the efficiency and reduced the environmental impact of infrastructure systems.

“The City of Atlanta is proud to participate in the MetroLab Network,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “We look forward to leveraging this opportunity to take advantage of our strong university talent base and their extensive experience in technology, engineering and computer science to develop innovative solutions to some of our most pressing infrastructure and service challenges.”

“As an urban research university, Georgia State is deeply entrenched in Atlanta’s success and in the success of cities around the world,” said Georgia State President Mark Becker. “We welcome the opportunity to work closely with the City of Atlanta and Georgia Tech to find creative solutions to critical societal issues.”

By becoming partners of the network, Georgia Tech will partner with the city and colleagues at Georgia State to collaborate on smart solutions to challenges, not only in Atlanta, but throughout the cities that have partnered in the MetroLab Network. 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has provided $1 million in support of the start of the MetroLab Network. MacArthur’s grant is one of severak investments by the foundation in efforts to use data and information technologies to better understand how cities work and to improve the urban condition. 

More information on the MetroLab Network and its founding partners can be found at http://metrolabnetwork.heinz.cmu.edu/.