The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, an interagency Federal coordinating group, recently posted a draft of the Smart Cities and Communities Federal Strategic Plan for public comment. The co-chairs of the NITRD Smart Cities and Communities Task Force distributed the following email to help raise the visibility of the request to the research community:

Dear Colleagues,

The draft Smart Cities and Communities Federal Strategic Plan was released January 12th for public comments by the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, an interagency Federal coordinating group. Access to the plan and information about how to submit comments can be found at NITRD Blog Post or the Federal Register Notice.

The Strategic Plan offers a high-level framework to guide and coordinate smart city/community-related Federal initiatives, with an emphasis on local government and stakeholder engagement. The Plan describes central goals and strategic priorities for Federal agency activities and describes proposed next steps.

The first goal of the strategy is to understand local needs and local goals. To pursue this goal, we encourage cities and communities, states, industry and academic stakeholders, professional organizations and societies, and all interested parties to review the plan and provide input and ideas to improve the strategy. Comments are due Feb. 28th, 2017 and detailed instructions for submission are provided at the links above.

We look forward to receiving your comments to improve our strategy and set out a path together for smart cities and communities that use advances in networking and information technology to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve quality of life for residents.

Ken Calvert, National Science Foundation;
Chris Greer, National Institute of Standards and Technology;
Ken Leonard, Department of Transportation
Co-Chairs, Smart Cities and Communities Task Force, NITRD