On the other side of the country while attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, Mayor Jeff Genung was hit with the news late last week that Cochrane was not one of the 20 communities short-listed for the Smart Cities Challenge. "I was disappointed ... I thought we had nailed it," said Genung. It was only six weeks ago that Cochrane opted to submit for a $5-million prize - choosing to play it safe, rather than opt for the $10-million or $50-million grant prizes - with a proposal to create a town-wide free wireless network that would bridge the digital divide. One of the biggest motivators, as informed by a 2017 Cochrane CARES survey, was to address the growing issue facing all ages in town: loneliness. The idea behind the proposal was to create a "Smart Cochrane" that would better connect residents with one another and with services, as needed. Critics of the proposal, including Coun. Morgan Nagel, were concerned that the town was not only potentially competing with private industry but that the very concept of tackling loneliness through technology was contradictory. But Genung says all hope is not lost and he looks forward to feedback to help the advisory team reshape and resubmit the proposal at a later date - suspecting that there are announcements yet to come about more grant opportunities for the tech sector. "We have some work to do ... I think people didn't understand it. It wasn't about the internet - it's about connecting people." Genung said by connecting Cochrane through a town-owned fibre network, the sky's the limit - from tracking traffic to accounting for tourism dollars to streamlining services and pooling resources. He added that he also felt the delivery of the news was in poor taste, with no head's up - only a big screen presentation showing reactionary video clips from all the short-listed communities. Finalists this summer will receive a $250,000 grant to fund their business proposals, with the winners announced in the spring of 2019. Some 200 communities have submitted proposals, including 130 for a $5 million grant prize, vying for Infrastructure Canada grant dollars in the tech challenge. One of the ten finalists for a $10 million grant was the City of Airdrie and the Airdrie and Area Health Cooperative with their proposal to create an open data health platform. Learn more at smartcitieschallenge.com.
