On October 13th, President Obama hosted a day-long conference that brought together researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists, local innovators, and students to discuss building U.S. capacity in science and technology. Jennifer Clark, who is an associate professor in the Ivan Allen College School of Public Policy and director of the Georgia Tech Center for Urban Innovation (CUI) Director was an attendee at the invitation-only White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh. Also invited was Beth Mynatt, executive director of Georgia Tech582802s Institute for People and Technology (IPaT).

Attendees participated in a national conversation about keeping America on the cutting edge of innovation in the decades to come and shared work already in progress. The conference included the participation of more than 700 innovators from across academia, industry, government, and civil society, who discussed different frontiers of innovation, including:

* Personal frontiers in health care innovation and precision medicine

* Global frontiers in accelerating the clean energy revolution and developing advanced climate information, tools, services, and collaborations

* Interplanetary frontiers in space exploration, including our journey to Mars

Clark attended the Local Frontiers track, which focused on building smart, inclusive communities, including through investments in open data and the Internet of Things.

The White House also announced new research partnerships and a $300 million investment in research initiatives that reflected the frontiers discussed at the conference.

Read Dr. Clark's Blog Post about the conference: Smart Cities and National Innovation Policy: The #WHFrontiers Conference and the Future or Urban Innovation

Learn more about the White House Frontiers Conference at frontiersconference.org