Since the beginning the idea of CitiWave took form, there were questions like I’ve never heard before. The questions also took many others by storm as we discussed and pitched it to professionals in the community. But the interests and excitement of the idea of the community genuinely engaging with community stakeholders to drive the formation and development of every part of their life around them with smart city data they own never fizzled out.

Was it because many people are tired of the traditional ways that statistics assume what’s best for their health, safety, economic stability, or environmental sustainability in their community? Or the fact that Meta empowers Facebook and Instagram marketplaces and ecosystems with real world data that creates economic opportunities, yet our own community stakeholders struggle with grasping the same realities through technology to benefit the community?

Alhtough there’s still much of a gap between the two disparate worlds of government and the public, they are now more than ever in demand to become one and aligned in many ways. Since frequent crisis and impact such as wildfires and COVID-19 have demanded us to collectively adapt, many government agencies have been forced to adopt modern technology to engage with the community, rather than just individuals, in ways that they were once only planning to.

How has your community stakeholders met the challenge to engage you into the important matters of public health, resources conservation, public safety, and sustainability? And have they used modern technology and concepts to enable ecosystems of innovation and opportunity to build solutions for your community and economically benefit from them?

As we still see community innovation spikes that eventually become stagnant and stale, we wonder why such important matters seem like a whack-a-mole challenge.