Mastercard’s City Possible network of local governments working together on innovation projects has expanded from 16 to 23, adding new members from three continents, including one of California's leading tech cities.
San Jose is among the newest crop of municipalities seeking to collaborate on innovation — a subject that the city's chief information officer, Rob Lloyd, strongly advocates.
The network, launched in November, is leaning on the expertise of former New York City Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño, who joined the company last year with an eye on helping cities solve problems. That’s what City Possible is about: bringing together city leaders from across the world who have the same problems, and using their collective brainpower to help tackle those issues. The network will explicitly address technology in local government.
The new cities joining the network, in addition to San Jose, are Austin, Texas; Wichita, Kan.; Erie, Pa.; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Guarulhos, Brazil; and Belfast, U.K.
“What unites this tribe of urban leaders is a fundamental belief in the superpower of collaboration: the opportunity for cities to build on each other’s progress,” Gamiño wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Whether you like or dislike the 'smart city' moniker, I believe there is one thing we can all agree on: For thousands of years, communities have progressed by embracing diverse ideas and people from other places.”
Two of the earliest outcomes of the network have been the convening of an accelerator in Las Vegas through the Harvard TECH program to identify multimodal mobility options and the publishing of the city of Aurora, Ill.’s technology plan.
