With 2023 on the horizon, at Curiosity Lab we cannot help but look back at 2022 to see how far we have come. This past year has been full of new partnerships, incredible firsts, cutting-edge technologies, new international relationships and our city in the news. None of this would be possible without the support from our partners, the city, our residents and our in-house startups.
Partnerships
Some of the most important and fruitful relationships we have at the Curiosity Lab are our partnerships. These relationships not only support the growing ecosystem we have at the lab, but also are key in helping develop our smart city and our startup programs. This year we are proud to share that we have a handful of new partnerships at the lab including North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA), Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), Shadow-Soft and Single Mom Network.
NTXIA: NTXIA is a regional consortium of nearly 30 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across North Texas created to develop a supportive and collaborative network to integrate smart city efforts across the region. In line with our own beliefs of supporting cities across the country in developing their smart city, this was a perfect fit. This cross-regional partnership extends both Curiosity Lab and NTXIA’s efforts in supporting the expansion of smart cities across the US through public-private partnerships. Read more here.
PAVE: Peachtree Corners and Curiosity Lab were thrilled to join the Public Sector Advisory Council at PAVE to support public awareness of autonomous vehicle technology. As a member of PAVE’s Public Sector Advisory Council, the City of Peachtree Corners is one of multiple public institutions that assist PAVE and academic experts in raising public awareness on autonomous vehicle technologies and analyze the effects of these technologies in various areas including public transit and mobility, sustainability, public health and safety, infrastructure and more. As we have AV shuttles running along Technology Park, this aligned perfectly with our mission to keep our residents aware of smart city technologies like AVs and how this can help our communities. Read more here.
Shadow-Soft: In line with supporting our startup programs with additional resources, this partnership with Shadow-Soft is key. Shadow-Soft helps companies modernize infrastructure and applications in containers, applications and the cloud, and provides guidance around where startups should start in their software and cloud journey, helps with development prototyping, aids in rapid scaling, and more. We are looking forward to kicking off 2023 with you all. Read more here.
Single Mom Network: Outside of startups, Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners supports women in tech and women in business. Single Mom Network is an organization developed to assist in connecting single moms to the resources they need to be successful in their career and lives as a single parent. We are proud to be supporting this incredible organization as they grow in 2023, helping educate and provide career services to single moms across the state. Read more here.
Startups
Each year, we aim to grow our startup ecosystem in the lab. As an incubator, our goal is to provide our startups with all of the resources they need to successfully grow their business and technologies. This year we are excited to have welcomed a great new group of startups!
- SkyMul
- Catalyst Robotics
- Pipedream
- Juganau
- SmartPoint.io
- Pertinent
- Urban Canopee
Read more about our in-house startups here.
Cutting-Edge Technologies and World Firsts
In addition to partnerships, we have introduced some incredible new technologies and achieved some global firsts at Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners. Acting as a living laboratory where established international companies to startups can deploy their developing technologies, we are proud to be able to facilitate innovation through public-private partnerships. We have been able to use some incredible new smart city technologies that are improving the efficiency and safety of our city, roads and recreation for our residents. This includes everything from installation of Juganu’s 5G light fixtures, to underground construction for exciting announcements to come in 2023. We are looking forward to the new technologies to be deployed in 2023! In the meantime, here are some major highlights:
World’s First Preemption of an Autonomous Vehicle over 5G: Applied Information, T-Mobile and Temple, Inc. introduced new 5G-connected vehicle technology that enables traffic signals to communicate with any vehicle on the road via a revolutionary mobile app, Travel Safely. This technology enables two-way communication on T-Mobile’s largest and fastest nationwide 5G network between the traffic signal and devices such as smartphones, tablets and vehicles equipped with on-board-units. Using this technology on our Beep shuttles, we completed the first ever preemption of an autonomous vehicle over 5G, shortening the shuttle route time by 3 minutes. Read more here.
5G Wireless WAN Technology: Partners Cradlepoint, Bosch and T-Mobile collaborated to enable advanced IoT connectivity solutions, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and AR/VR, using 5G Wireless WAN technology. This technology facilitates real-time parking and safety monitoring in Peachtree Corners Town Center. Read more here.
ACiiST: Israeli startup company ACiiST announced a partnership with Curiosity Lab and deployed their SD-LAN network solutions optimized for connecting outdoor cameras and sensors through a robust networking system. This partnership provides Peachtree Corners with connected infrastructure network solutions via fiber that allow various mobility technologies on Peachtree Corners’ smart city streets to communicate with minimal digging, saving the city and residents time and money. Read more here.
Brodmann17: Brodmann17 joined the 5G Open Innovation Lab (5GOILab) after several months of successful tests of its state-of-the-art Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technology in the city. In June 2021, Israeli-based Brodmann17, added their technology to Curiosity Lab’s Level 3 autonomous test vehicle to further develop and prove its software-only perception technology for assisted driving in real world conditions. The success of Brodmann17 is another example of numerous Israel-born technology startups that have worked with Peachtree Corners to leverage their differentiated, city-owned smart connected infrastructure and overall technology ecosystem to develop and scale technologies, while creating critical new partnerships and scaling their efforts in the U.S. market. Read more here.
Building Local, National & International Relationships
Curiosity Lab and City of Peachtree Corners are continuing to make waves in the smart city arena. As we continue to grow our ecosystem, we have been increasingly asked to speak at conferences, join international delegations and have had some incredible visitors from Consulate Generals, government organizations, trade representatives and more. In 2023, we cannot wait to continue to build relationships, spread awareness of our smart city and share our knowledge internationally.
Read more about our speaking engagements here.
Find out more about our international delegations to Israel and Barcelona.
See our distinguished guests here.
First Events
This year, the Curiosity Lab and City of Peachtree Corners held multiple events for the first time that were such a hit, residents and startups have all asked that we make these events a series! Thank you again to our residents, startups, partners and sponsors for making these events possible.
- Curious Connections – Startup Learning Day Series
Acting as a startup learning day event, here we brought together industry leaders, unicorns and VCs to help support and further educate Atlanta’s startup community. Here, our startup program partners also shared how their resources can further aid entrepreneurs in their journey. - Electrify PTC – Peachtree Corners First EV Car Show
In honor of National Drive Electric week, Peachtree Corners held the first ever EV car show, showcasing the city’s innovative mindset and support for environmentally friendly smart city solutions. Here, residents enjoyed seeing the latest EVs, modified EVs, food, drink and even some of our robots and AV shuttles.
In the News
With all of the incredible partnership and technology announcements, the City of Peachtree Corners and Curiosity Lab ecosystem were highlighted in key pieces of news. This not only increases awareness of our smart city, but supports our mission in educating our residents and cities across the United States who are interested in starting their smart city journey. In fact, Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners was recognized with an international award for setting the blueprint for smart cities in the United States by IEEE Smart Cities.
Key pieces of news include:
See more of our news highlights here.
Rolling into 2023, we cannot wait to share some upcoming world firsts, new partnerships and new technologies being deployed at the lab. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements.
Happy holidays and happy new year from Curiosity Lab!