Bringing about change means bringing a theory of change to bare. One of the core strengths of Start Co. and our partners is working at the fringe of two disciplines to uncover insights and opportunities. For The Digital City, the Smart Entrepreneurship Engine is our key insight that has created a new opportunity for Memphis and beyond.
The Smart Entrepreneurship Engine is our approach in combining and implementing Smart City thinking and our entrepreneurial processes (read about Zero Based Entrepreneurship and the Commercialization Framework). Smart City infrastructure and technology provide the solid foundation for innovation and entrepreneurship. If in the end, we are to scale insights into innovations, and talent into entrepreneurship, we’ll need a process and a framework to execute against. That’s the Smart Entrepreneurship Engine which we unpact more here.
Infrastructure: Touched on in a recent post, the foundation for this entire project will be the Smart City infrastructure that includes advanced Fiber and WiFi capabilities. Access to high bandwidth and high fidelity internet is essential in powering the smart, IoT (Internet of Things) devices and the intelligent, connected buildings that collect the data.
Devices: Devices will include the likes of cameras and sensors. Each device will be connected to the internet, allowing the Digital City to store the data in real-time in cloud and enterprise systems. There are many devices that can provide a beneficial service. For instance, a smart door that opens when a computer instructs it to do so or a parking sign that switches from reserving the space for a delivery to reserving it for public transit. The opportunities in introducing new devices or new purposes for existing devices are boundless.
Data: The data being collected by the smart devices is securely stored and organized within the Digital City’s Central Data Hub. This requires best practices for data handling, privacy, security, and organization. Protecting privacy while efficiently working with the data is the key to empower the Digital CIty (and we’ll talk more about data privacy in a future post). Being supplied in real-time, from both public and private sources, the data enables talented innovators to build new solutions and benefits within The Digital City — something we believe enables “Digital Life.” These innovations arise from the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence that leads to predictive insights and smart applications to operate the Smart/Digital City.
Ecosystem Investors: Complex problems within a community are solved when entities including government, industry, startups, and academia embrace investing in the ecosystems of innovation. The resources made available uplift talented individuals to begin utilizing the data and infrastructure produced from The Digital City. Specialized facilities within The Digital City provide the ideal environment to create and collaborate effectively with other ecosystem contributors. The necessary business and technical assistance is provided by organizations like us here at Start Co. This includes direct assistance as well as programmatic support through accelerator programs, hackathons, and early adopter programs. In culmination, The Digital City provides startups with facilities, business guidance, and sources of funding. These solutions are then grown to scale to other communities.
Solutions: Once you bring people together and have them collaborating and creating you start to see the benefits with new solutions being built. Not only that, new solutions, not built at The Walk will be attracted to the the opportunity to be in our “Living Laboratory” to apply and learn about their solutions in a real-world test environment. Testable prototypes, newly defined business models, and the ability to put products in front of customers will all happen at The Digital City.
Investment: The ecosystem of The Digital City, from the resources to the talented entrepreneurs, attracts institutional funding. This includes investments from angel investors, venture capital funds, corporate venture capital, direct corporate investment, and corporations that guide existing venture capital funds. Each type of investor specializes in businesses at different stages, including Pre-Seed ($5k – $100k revenue), Seed ($75k – $500k revenue),Early Stage ($300k – $3M revenue), Expansion Stage ($2M – $10M revenue), and Later Stage ($5M – $50M revenue). Investors are essential in the continued development of startups and the deployment of new solutions.
Scale: The Digital City and the Smart Entrepreneurship Engine create a solution for programmatic scaffolding in order to support the generation of social capital and the convening of diverse parties. For the health of the ecosystem and its economic impact on the surrounding area, community engagement is vital. Corporations, governments, and institutions will embrace the innovations in our city and well beyond.
Powering the Future with Our Engine of Change
The Smart Entrepreneurship Engine powers the development of The Digital City, adding layers of technology and entrepreneurship to create an effective ecosystem that attracts necessary talent and investors to power the future. The Walk on Union and those tenants, residents, and visitors stand to see the benefits directly, but we also know the lessons learned here will meet other Smart City developments in the future.