AcceliCity Program partnership will accelerate time to value for cities and SME’s by building federated scale

Barcelona, Spain — 15 November 2017 — TM Forum, the industry association driving digital transformation through collaboration, today announced a partnership with Leading Cities, the global non-profit organization focused on improving quality of life in cities through smart city solutions.  Leading Cities is planning the launch of AcceliCity, an international Accelerator Program for SMEs working with cities, in 2018. The Program will encourage the use TM Forum’s Smart City Reference Architecture and Open APIs.

TM Forum’s Open APIs have been made collaboratively by many of the world’s leading communication service providers and are carefully documented and managed. By using proven Open APIs and a common Smart City Reference Architecture, AcceliCity Program participants will reduce development time, build on a solid and replicable foundation, and improve the potential to federate their work across multiple cities.

The AcceliCity Program is an international network of smart city-focused accelerators combined with an intensive boot camp in Boston, USA, that culminates with opportunities for smart city startups to secure clients, investment funding and exhibition space at next year’s Smart City Expo. The first two sites for the accelerators will be Barcelona, one of the world’s leading Smart Cities, and Boston, one of the richest startup ecosystems globally.

Leading Cities and TM Forum both have a global community of urban experts and practitioners. They will leverage these networks to better prepare and position smart city startups – the companies developing the solutions to the greatest challenges facing urban areas – for success beyond prototyping.

“It is not sufficient to mentor and prepare startups so you can point them in the direction toward success. They must be put securely on the path of success, with investment funding, clients and revenue,” said Michael Lake, President and CEO of Leading Cities.

Companies creating solutions within the AcceliCity Program will use and benefit from the principles outlined in the City as a Platform Manifesto as well as Smart City Reference Architecture and its Open APIs recommended by the TM Forum.

“A shared collaborative approach between cities makes it possible for startups to build solutions not just for one city, but for many” said Carl Piva. “This agreement further strengthens the bond between cities and the technology ecosystem represented within TM Forum. Aligning a de-facto, standards-driven, global Smart City Reference Architecture with urban needs is the way to enable successful public private partnerships,” he continued.

About TM Forum

TM Forum is an association of over 850 member companies generating US$2 trillion in revenue and serving five billion customers across 180 countries. We drive collaboration and collective problem-solving to maximize the business success of communication and digital service providers and their ecosystem of suppliers around the world. Today, our focus is on supporting members as they navigate their unique digital transformation journeys, providing practical and proven assets and tools to accelerate execution and platforms to facilitate collaborative problem solving and innovation. Learn more at www.tmforum.org.

About Leading Cities

Leading Cities is a global leader in Smart City solutions, city diplomacy and collaboration advancing sustainability and resilient city strategies and technologies. With its global network of world-class cities, Leading Cities has built bridges to share best practices, urban solutions and lessons learned among city leaders while breaking down barriers within cities by engaging each of the five sectors of the Quintuple-helix (Q-helix): Public, Private, Non-profit, Academia and Citizenry.

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