Smart America
The SmartAmerica Challenge is a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow project with the goal to bring together research in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and to combine test-beds, projects and activities from different sectors, such as Smart Manufacturing, Healthcare, Smart Energy, Intelligent Transportation and Disaster Response, to show tangible and measurable benefits to the US economy and the daily lives of American citizens.
Cyber-Physical Systems is a name for the combination of the Internet of Things and System Control. So rather than just being able to “sense” where something is, CPS adds the capability to control the “thing” or allow it to interact with physical world around it.
In December of 2013 the SmartAmerica Challenge was launched by Geoff Mulligan and Sokwoo Rhee, two White House Presidential Innovation Fellows, to bring Industry, Academia and the Government to show how Cyber-Physical Systems can create jobs, new business opportunities and socio-economic benefits to America. Over 65 Companies, Government Agencies and Academic institutions came together on December 12, 2013 and launched 12 teams/projects. Since that time 12 new projects have been formed. These teams have been hard at work over the past months building systems, prototypes, pilots and products that demonstrate the capabilities of CPS, but more importantly as the goal of the SmartAmerica Challenge they will show how these technologies will deliver socio-economic benefits to America.