machineQ Brings 'Smart City' Events to Philadelphia

The events are designed to inform Philadelphia-area software developers, startups, universities, and municipalities about the benefits of IoT technology.

From June 9-14, Comcast’s machineQ will host a series of events designed to showcase "Smart City" applications from Philadelphia and around the world using LoRa sensor and network technology to support the Internet of Things (IoT). The events are designed to inform Philadelphia-area software developers, startups, universities, and municipalities about the benefits of IoT technology and encourage adoption of techniques that can help to make the city and surrounding areas more effective when delivering vital public services.

"We are excited to bring together and host leading communications and technology companies, promising IoT start-ups, and forward-looking municipal partners for a collaborative event focused on emerging Smart Cities solutions," said Alex Khorram, general manager of machineQ. "Global companies representing each portion of the IoT stack (modules, network, cloud, applications) will be in attendance, making the events a rare opportunity for any organization that is planning a municipal IoT strategy, product, or service, to attend and accelerate their respective plans."

Events include:

The machineQ Smart City Hackathon: June 9-10
Comcast will team with Technical.ly Philly to host the machineQ Smart City Hackathon, focused on solving Smart City challenges using IoT. The event will kick off June 9 at the WeWork at 1900 Market Street, where teams will select projects and network with other participants. On June 10, the event will move the Comcast Center, at 1701 JFK Blvd, where teams will code and present their work, and winners will be named. The winning team will receive $5,000, second place will receive $2,500. The winning teams and ideas will also be shared during the adjacent LoRa Alliance summit.

Register here: https://smartcityhack.splashthat.com/

Smart Cities Summit: June 14
Headlined by Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Comcast and the LoRa Alliance invite municipal officials, civic technology enthusiasts, and the development community to The Franklin Institute to learn about the benefits of LoRa technology in creating smarter cities. LoRa is a leading platform for developing IoT solutions for businesses and municipalities deployed in cities and countries around the world.

Speakers include LoRa Alliance Chairman Geoff Mulligan, machineQ General Manager Alex Khorram, City of Philadelphia Chief Technology Officer Charles Brennan. Panel discussions will include representatives from global carriers SK Telecom (South Korea), Tata (India), and Proximus (Belgium), and innovative IoT solutions from Trimble Water, FlashNet, Sensoterra, SmartBin and Globe Tracker. Citylab.com Executive Editor Robert Bole will emcee the event.

The event is open to the public and interested individuals can register at: https://machineqsmartcitysummit.eventbrite.com

LoRa Alliance Global All-Members Meeting: June 12-14
Comcast will host the Alliance's 8th All-Members Meeting, Open House and Marketplace Exhibition from June 12-14, at The Franklin Institute. The first two days of the meeting are open to current members and will focus on ongoing collaboration to advance the LoRaWAN protocol's capabilities and push the boundaries of IoT innovation, including committee, working group and board meetings, as well as "marketplace" demonstrations by member companies. On the third day, the event will open its doors to the community for an Open House and Smart City Summit.

The LoRa Alliance™is a global association of more than 400 companies backing the LoRaWAN standard for low-power wide-area IoT networks (LPWANs). In April 2017, Comcast joined the Alliance as a sponsor member and has joined its Board of Directors.

Those interested in joining the LoRa Alliance or attending the event as a prospective member can visit the membership page for more information.