SMART Community Review (SCR) SMART Community Exchange 2018 Program | Page 26

21st Century Vocational Education and Training Program Building A SMART Workforce to Implement and Manage New Technologies SMART Community Exchange As SMART communities increase, the need for a SMART workforce increases. Communities across the world are implementing SMART electricity, water, and natural gas meters that are connected to the cloud to give subscribers fine-grained control over their resource usage. SMART communities are using sensors and real- time data to solve specific problems in areas such as health, transportation, sanitation, public safety, e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t , s u s t a i n a b i l i t y, s t r e e t maintenance, and resilience. Communities can now use technology tools for much finer-grained access and management of their streets, above-ground assets, belowground assets, land, and building. Drivers are using apps that work with community-provided road closure data to navigate city streets more efficiently. Emergency (911) - dispatch centers are integrated with third-party smart-phone apps to help Good Samaritans know when, where, and how someone nearby needs CPR. These and many other new technologies reflect the transformation of SMART communities, and a need for more effective approaches to data integration and sharing, and professional management of SMART. Making the most of new technologies in communities implies having a workforce with the necessary skills, within governments and within local communities. Training certificates, curriculum, and mini-degrees can help to create a SMART workforce to implement and manage technology-based innovation in SMART communities. Vocational Education and Training (VET) 21st Century VET aims at improving the fit between local training and local employment opportunities. 21VET fosters training associated with innovative technology relevant to SMART communities and new and evolving capabilities to use technology both to deliver training and facilitate the match of people to SMART training and to SMART jobs. www.SMARTCommunityExchange.com Technology suppliers are invited to contribute to the 21VET program. Companies can share their new technology and training programs through 21VET cloud- based SMART learning platform. The platform is designed to help educational institutions build a SMART workforce capable of deploying and managing new technologies in SMART communities. Certification Standards and Goals Beyond the Building Level Improving the quality of life in different ways at the district level would benefit from new district- and city- scale certifications that reward excellence in, for example, local energy management and other environmental outcomes. The objective of such certifications is to go beyond LEED-ND certification to create a rolling challenge for urban innovation as well as provide a means for setting specific targets and measuring progress. Such certifications should encourage innovative solutions for achieving the highest levels of performance, feature ways to combine function (e.g., energy-efficiency) with attention to equitable distribution of benefits (e.g., credit for use in disadvantaged areas), and plan for periodic revision of their parameters to ensure continued challenge and open-ended innovation. With a well-recognized rating system, districts can more effectively identify and achieve high standards (for example for energy and/or water conservation or reductions in greenhouse gas emissions), with additional incentives through recognition by a public designation (e.g., “Energy Star Districts” or some other suitable term). A tiered recognition system would provide incentives for districts within cities to deploy energy-efficient technologies, distributed renewable power generation, healthy mobility (e.g., walkable neighborhoods, bike sharing, electric vehicles), micro-grids, and other known contributors to greenness, mobility, and socioeconomic enablement. Model neighborhoods that achieve, for example, carbon- neutrality and the highest levels of energy autonomy and resilience earn attention and attract investment, businesses and residents. Contact: [email protected]