Jacksonville has been selected as one of eight cities in the U.S. and 33 in the world to receive a “Smarter Cities Challenge” grant from IBM.
In about a month, a team of IBM experts will assemble in Jacksonville and evaluate Downtown to develop recommendations for improvement.
Steve Swaim, IBM senior location executive, described the end product, which he said would be delivered in June, as a “blueprint for Downtown development.”
“This is not another white paper. It’s about action and making it happen,” said Mayor Alvin Brown.
Brown said the project is funded entirely by IBM, with no taxpayer money involved, and the grant’s value is $400,000.
The Smarter Cities Challenge is a competitive program in which IBM is awarding $50 million worth of technology and services to 100 municipalities worldwide through 2013. Jacksonville is the first city in Florida to be selected.
Brown said $1.4 billion has been invested in Downtown in the past 12 years and it’s time to protect that investment.
“We’ve never been short of vision. We need help with execution,” he said.
Swaim said the grant program is IBM’s largest philanthropic project and that Jacksonville was chosen as a recipient from among 150 applicants because of Brown’s vision and the city’s leadership.
The grants are an extension of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps grants program, in which IBM sends teams of its top experts to areas in the developing world to work on projects that combine business, technology and society.
Since the launch of the Corporate Service Corps in 2008, nearly 1,400 IBM employees have participated in more than 140 team assignments in 24 countries.
Brown said that to secure the grant, his office worked with the City Council and the business community. He credited Public-Private Partnerships Commissioner Renee Finley for making a major contribution to winning the award.
“Jacksonville is a city on the move. This proves it,” he said.
“This shows that public-private partnerships can work,” he said.
“This is a major vote of confidence in Jacksonville.”
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