HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.14.15_SouthBend_NotreDame_Join_WhiteHouse_MetroLabNetworkCITY OF SOUTH BEND
PETE BUTTIGIEG, MAYOR
Office of the Mayor
CONTACT:
Kara Kelly, (574) 235 -5853
kkelly @southbendin.gov
FOR RELEASE: Monday, September 14, 2015
SOUTH BEND, NOTRE DAME TO JOIN METROLAB NETWORK ANNOUNCED AT WHITE HOUSE
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto will join officials from the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to introduce the MetroLab Network at a
White House event at 2 pm today, Monday, September 14.
The MetroLab Network brings together local governments and university researchers to address
urban needs. The City of South Bend, in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, is one
of about two dozen participants. Other partnerships include the City of Pittsburgh with Carnegie
Mellon University, the City of Chicago with the University of Chicago and Argonne National
Laboratory, and the City of New York with New York University.
"South Bend is honored to be among a select group of cities asked to participate in White House
Smart Cities Forum," says Mayor Pete Buttigieg. `By joining forces, local governments and
academic researchers can craft innovative solutions for cities across America."
The MetroLab Network will enable university -city partnerships to share their projects and
results, disseminating promising solutions to support widespread adoption across the country.
"We're focused on piloting research projects in multiple areas to determine where the South
Bend -Notre Dame partnership can have the greatest impact," says Santiago Garces, chief
innovation officer for the City of South Bend. "The MetroLab Network will allow solutions
developed in South Bend and other cities to be shared in the most efficient way, providing data
on what works best to address common urban issues."
The vision for South Bend's participation is laid out in a joint letter signed by Mayor Buttigieg
and Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins. As part of the MetroLab Network, the City
of South Bend and Notre Dame commit to work together on these projects over the course
of the year:
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- Bowman Creek Project: In collaboration with Notre Dame's College of Engineering, work
will continue toward revitalizing this impaired tributary to the St. Joseph River, developing
sensors, systems, and analyses that contribute to cleaner water and green infrastructure.
- Neighborhood Report Card: Building on the City's Vacant and Abandoned initiative, the
Office of Innovation will work with the Notre Dame Department of Applied and Computational
Mathematics and Statistics to develop a methodology to classify neighborhoods based on 200
indicators to understand where they stand relative to city, state, and national benchmarks. The
resulting "report card" will be used by the City to inform policy decisions, including the
allocation of revitalization funds.
- Community -Based Research Course: Along with Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns,
the City's Innovation Office is hosting a seminar to introduce students to community -based
research. The focus is on vacant land and property conditions to help identify, prioritize, plan,
and measure the impact of neighborhood improvement projects.
- Wireless Institute: Notre Dame's Electrical Engineering faculty, in conjunction with the
City's Office of Innovation, are developing a wireless network to be tested in downtown South
Bend.
"This South Bend -Notre Dame partnership represents an opportunity to use new technologies
and ideas to deliver faster, better, less costly services for residents," Mayor Buttigieg says. "The
MetroLab Network will find new, real -world applications for research that already happens right
in our area, putting us at the cutting edge of innovations to improve quality of life, services, and
the economy. This is the future of what it means to be a university city."
David Murphy, Notre Dame's associate dean of entrepreneurship for the Colleges of Engineering
and Science and director of the ESTEEM Graduate Program in Entrepreneurship, will be the
University's leader in the MetroLab Network partnership. Mayor Buttigieg appointed Santiago
Garces, the chief innovation officer, to oversee the partnership for the City.
"Using the latest in technology and research processes, Notre Dame and the City of South Bend
will develop, initiate, and evaluate solutions for the common good of our city and our greater
community," Murphy says.
South Bend's Office of Innovation was established in 2014 as a centralized location for data
analytics, process improvement, and technology optimization. The Office focuses on analytics
and performance management, innovation delivery, and strategic partnerships.