Jennifer Sanders, North Texas Innovation Alliance: innovation at regional scale

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We're back at the Kurrant
booth for another interview.

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We're here with Jen Sanders.

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She is executive director of
North Texas Innovation Alliance.

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We're going to be talking
about why innovation

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may need to happen at regional scale.

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The smart city industry
has traditionally focused

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on individual cities
launching their own projects.

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Why do you believe regional
collaboration rather than individual

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city projects is becoming more
important for smart city innovation?

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Well, I think there's always
going to be a place at the

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city level, but what we
really try and do is how do we

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support individual cities in
making sure that strategically

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the region is working in
alignment from a standards

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perspective and really can
find the efficiencies to

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make sure cross-jurisdictionally
everything is working.

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And if you don't look at
that at the beginning,

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you're going to have to
redo a lot of things later.

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So we're trying to get ahead
of any mistakes that are made.

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I recently had an interview with
the city of Valencia where they

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said that the city, you know,
residents or people who go to a city,

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their lives doesn't just stop
at the border of the city.

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You know, it keeps going.

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So that they said they
were— we would talk about

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smart territories
instead of smart cities.

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So how could North Texas cities
benefit from joint procurement,

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shared technology standards, and
infrastructure for that collaboration?

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Well, I think Valencia
is absolutely right.

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And we often say, you
know, 30% of North Texans

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cross at least one
county line every day.

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And so they don't care.

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They want the traffic signals to work.

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They want public safety to be able
to reach them in an emergency.

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And so what we do know is that
jurisdictionally, we need— again,

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we need the standards, to
your point, especially right

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now as we look at privacy
implications and how are cities

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utilizing AI in a way that
can benefit the whole region.

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There's some public safety entities
throughout North Texas that

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work collaboratively and have
those agreements so that the

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way data is shared is consistent
and consistently structured and,

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and, and constructed from a
privacy and use perspective.

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Okay.

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And through initiatives
like the Smart Cities Global

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Startup Challenge, NTXIA
connects startups with cities.

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What's stopping successful pilots
from scaling across the region?

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Well, I think— it sounds like cheating,

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but it's financial and
it's planning, right?

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And so part of the reason everyone
got tired of what everyone called

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pilot paralysis is because there
wasn't a plan for after the pilot.

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There wasn't budget set
aside to implement more

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widely the things that
worked and understand that.

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And so I think that
is the largest piece.

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So regionally, cities like Frisco
and McKinney that we work with

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on that challenge, they have
predetermined what the similar

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problem statements, what the
similar challenges they want to

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solve for are, and they know that
they're ready because they've

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been collaborating since before
the challenge is designed.

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So those are the type of steps that
I think really make a difference.

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And through the Internet
for North Texas Coalition,

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you're involved in a lot of— yeah,

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you're working on
digital connectivity.

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Should broadband be
treated as public utility,

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and how would that change
regional investment?

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No, absolutely.

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I think broadband is
considered a utility.

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The difference is that it's a mix
of public and private ownership.

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And so part of what the Internet
for North Texas works to do

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is provide the resources and
the education, particularly to

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smaller cities and smaller
towns, to make sure that they get

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the efficiencies of scale where
they may not be getting the—

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they may not be getting the
attention of the larger providers.

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But so to your point, how do we
bundle that type of procurement

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in a way that, one, has the
standards built in, and two,

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makes it possible for smaller
cities to be able to do it.

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And the one other thing that
I think is really innovative

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for our regional government
system is that they

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designated broadband as
a mode of transportation.

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And so what that means
is any transportation

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funding that they put
out, connectivity can

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and should be part of
that project design.

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And so that, I think, is
very innovative in the US.

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With growing interest
in AI and data centers,

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how should cities balance
economic benefits against

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electricity, water,
infrastructure demands?

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I think that's a million-dollar
question right now.

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And, and I think Texas, I think,
is the second state behind the D.C.

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area and the number of data centers
that are here or planned for here.

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And I think part of the, part of the
piece is how our economic development

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incentives structured, because
I think it needs to be designed

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differently than perhaps traditional
economic development has been.

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I think in talking to hyperscalers
about how can you really

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demonstrate to communities
that you're invested here,

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looking at more permanent investments
like the building of housing

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and that kind of an investment
surrounding the data centers.

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Obviously, bring your
own power is a large

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piece now, but there's still concerns.

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And so I think the big piece
is how flexible are the

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hyperscalers willing to be and
how can we meet in the middle?

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Because broadband was very similar
actually from the standpoint

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of the private sector said
this is the city's problem,

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the city said this is the
private sector's problem,

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and getting in a room and saying
it's okay if both things are true.

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We know that you need to make profits.

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We know that you need to
take care of residents.

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Those things don't have
to be mutually exclusive.

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We can find a middle ground
to get all of this done.

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I think data centers is going to
need to operate in much the same way.

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Of course, so that it
can benefit everyone.

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It's a simple but not easy philosophy,

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but I think you just
need to be honest.

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Yeah.

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And where could better regional
data sharing make the biggest

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difference to electricity, water,
transport, and telecom networks?

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So I think the great news is the
single electricity distributor,

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Oncor, has a vast— they
use their data very wisely.

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They're very mature in that.

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So when we think about looking at that
and from the planning perspective,

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they cover the whole region
or almost the entire region.

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So you already have that
standardization of data.

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And I think, you know, the
biggest impact I think will be

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on those key natural resources,
energy, water, broadband.

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And then we're seeing so many
more extreme weather events.

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So how is emergency response tied
into all of these connected networks?

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And I think AI can really help train
models that make us more prepared.

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How can cities ensure
partnerships with technology

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companies that deliver
lasting public value?

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I think the private-public
collaboration is always a bit

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tricky, rather than just creating
new markets for suppliers?

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So one thing that, you know,
there's so much hesitation

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from cities in terms of getting
into these partnerships.

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And some of the things— one of the
things that I have said to cities

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before is this isn't new, it's
just a new type of investment.

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So there's a lot of public-private
partnerships and things like

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large park projects, large
infrastructure projects in that way.

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And so it's, it's, it's not the
same, but that worked and it

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created public benefit and
there was a revenue structure.

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And so I think if you can
look at a situation that was

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less scary but the same
model, there are certainly

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ways to build, to build
structures on these larger

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infrastructure projects that
can have similar benefit.

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And then for my
last question,

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I wanted to talk to you
about your book.

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So in your book, The Science
and Soul of Innovation,

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you explore the challenges
of building coalitions.

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What's the biggest
mistake cities make when

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bringing different
organizations together,

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and what's the— what's
your most important lesson?

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I think there, there are so many,
but, but one I think is on both,

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both the public and private
side is not— is being afraid to

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ask questions or not asking the
right questions at the beginning.

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And so what a lot of cities
that I work with will not,

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you know, will be— think
that they sound dumb or

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that they're not in the same
place, so they won't want

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to ask the questions that
they need the answers to.

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And we can kind of be a conduit
to gather those and make sure

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that everyone is on the same
page, everyone is prepared.

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And if you don't ask those questions,
you end up moving forward with

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something that you might have known
at the beginning was not going to

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work in your city, either because
of systems you had or otherwise.

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So I think the first
is asking, asking a lot

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of questions and finding
that common ground.

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And then I think identifying where
are the investments already planned

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so the private sector can be able
to work their models and come to

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the table with what they're willing
to do, what's important to them.

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And if they don't think it's going
to work, that they share that too.

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So a lot of listening, a lot of
trust, a lot of question asking,

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and then making sure that you
know where your resources are,

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I think, are some of
the important lessons.

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Well, for those who are
scared of asking a question,

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because they think they'll look dumb.

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In Germany, there's a song for
kids that says, who, how, what?

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If you don't ask, you stay dumb.

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So that's perfect.

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I'm going to use it.

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I'm German, so I feel, I
feel like it's natural.

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There you go.

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Well, thank you so much
for the conversation.

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Thank you so much for having me.