Meet our new technical overlords.
Mayor Sylvester Turner
Microsoft will provide STEM education at schools, teach computer literacy skills to adults and transform Houston into a “Smart City” as part of a new partnership announced Friday.
“These sort of efforts become infectious and contagious,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Because of their presence, and the strength of their presence … I would venture to say that others will be motivated to do the same.”
Microsoft’s educational efforts will help boost the existing workforce while fostering the next generation of technology innovators. The Smart Cities element will look at improving city functions by adding sensors, collecting data and finding more efficient solutions.
Sensors, for instance, could be used to track buses and find more optimal routes that would have less congestion while being convenient for more people. It could also be used to determine if a bus is being driven too aggressively and consuming more gasoline than it otherwise would, said Cameron Carr, director of Internet of Things and Solutions for Microsoft.
After events like Hurricane Harvey, drones could be used to find people needing assistance or to determine areas that are flooded and impassible.
“We are right on the edge of creating this bold new world,” Carr said.
The Microsoft announcement is the latest in a string of technology developments as Houston seeks to become a hub for high-tech startups and venture capital.
Here’s the Mayor’s press release, which contains a few more details. It’s a little hard to say what this means right now – more specifically, it’s a little hard to say how long it will take for much of this to get rolled out – but I’m sure we’ll be seeing announcements soon. Putting my professional hat on for a moment, I hope this agreement includes security monitoring and incident response for all these IoT devices. Dwight Silverman has more.
More dollar-store ideas from the Turner administration.
No worse than the vacuous, unrealistic, and often illegal, ideas you propose, Joe. And, Turner managed to get more than a small percentage of the vote.
They aren’t my ideas.
I just copied and pasted ideas that have been going on in other republican states and democratic cities for decades but Houston leaders are too lazy to do anything about