Steve Adler became Austin’s 52nd mayor in January of last year. Since then, his efforts to improve the city have spanned industries and include finding homes for 200 homeless veterans, the recent approval of a $720 million mobility bond to relieve traffic congestion, and a number of sustainability initiatives around the increased use of solar and wind power.
With more than 140 people moving to Austin a day and an equally steady stream of companies launching, relocating, or opening new offices here, Mayor Adler is also focusing on the tech community.
“We have a disproportionately large pool of young, educated talent,” said Adler. “Some of that is due to UT and other local universities. Some of that is due to how much people want to be in Austin.”
To capitalize on this influx of tech talent, Mayor Adler and his team have rolled out several tech initiatives that lean on Austin innovators to help solve city-wide issues.
Reverse Pitch launched last year to invite tech innovators to come up with unique ways of reusing wasted industrial materials. This year’s Reverse Pitch winner, GrubTubs, proposed using inedible canned goods from the Central Texas Food Bank to make cost-effective, high protein livestock feed. Last year’s winner, Brewnola, reused discarded beer grain from a brewing company to make nutritious snacks.
But Adler's investment in the tech community goes further than these events. Take the Design, Technology and Innovation Fellows program, which launched via GitHub to call on designers and developers to collaborate with teams from the city last June. Currently, the program is working on building tech-centric approaches to managing city permits, achieving zero-waste as a city through recycling and composting, and designing a digital door to the Austin Convention Center.
Adler said the city also looks to the startup sector for their ongoing Smart Cities initiative, a federally supported international movement to make city services more efficient. Last month, the city passed a resolution for a Smart Cities Strategic Roadmap to prioritize initiatives and begin work.
In looking ahead, the Mayor said he would like to see the tech scene and city government come together on regulating the sharing services that have burst into popularity.
“I think there is a lot of opportunity in the tech sector to help bridge the divide between the sharing economy and regulatory bodies,” said Adler. “The intersection of strangers in the new economy is something that raises new issues, and technology can be part of a solution that works for everyone.”
At the start of 2017, one city-led tech initiative to pay attention to is the text-to-911 service, which plans to modernize the emergency communications system. The Austin Police Department will start preliminary testing early in the new year, with plans to go live shortly after, Adler said. Efforts have been in the works since 2013 and when finalized, people will be able to send text, photos and videos to communicate with emergency responders.
Image via Facebook.
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