Smart Cities Could Benefit From Infrastructure Bill

Brief 

The Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill presents an unprecedented opportunity to test smart city technology, says Sanjeet Pandit, global head of smart cities and digital transformation at Qualcomm. Cities are advised to begin considering which technological projects they want to focus on, including broadband expansion and connectivity, accommodations for electric vehicles and new forms of transit.

Insight

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill moving through Congress has the potential to be a game-changer for cities as they consider projects in areas like broadband connectivity and other urban technology projects.

Urban technology advocates are closely watching the development of a major piece of infrastructure legislation as it makes its way through Congress, anticipating a rapid expansion in connectivity, electric vehicle adoption, transit improvements and more, should the measure pass.

“This is an historic bill, in terms of upgrading infrastructure, looking forward,” said Sanjeet Pandit, global head of smart cities and digital transformation at Qualcomm.

“The way I am looking at this is, it is really connecting the unconnected,” Pandit told reporters during a virtual roundtable discussion Monday. “This is going to change the landscape on the infrastructure side. Things that we normally don’t assume are connected, will be pretty much surely connected.”