Colony 5 Chicago Brings Array of Things to Community Development

HOMEWOOD, Ill. - Jan. 22, 2019 - PRLog -- Colony 5, a not-for-profit organization accelerating the redevelopment of distressed retail corridors via techentrepreneurship, has partnered with the Array of Things (AoT) team to bring the potential of the Array of Things to Chicago's Englewood community in the Colony 5 Array of Opportunity pilot. The Opportunity is part of Colony 5's Civic Tech Challenge and limited pilot to replace empty storefronts with tech enabled startups and test a digital-ready retail corridor meant to support growth and employ sustainability practices for the built environment of areas like the south and west sides of Chicago.

Throughout Chicago there are already 100 or so mushroom shaped AoT devices or nodes, adorned with the familiar city stars and stripes. "The AoT is an urban sensing project powered by a network of nodes that can essentially see, smell and hear." Steven C. Philpott, Sr. Managing Director of Colony 5, CEO XtraMedium Communication and member of the AoT Executive Oversight Committee.

"The Array of Things is a tool for the people, so this Opportunity gives residents hands-on access to learn and utilize cyberinfrastructures like the AoT as a utility for gaining local efficiencies by monitoring things like air quality and traffic flow in their neighborhoods."

Smart Collaboration & Smart Outcomes
The Array of Opportunity will further collaboration between residents and the brain trust of our research community. "AoT has always been envisioned as a partnership between scientists, the City of Chicago, and Chicago residents and communities.", Charlie Catlett, Lead investigator AoT and Director of The Urban Center for Computation and Data at UChicago. "Our policies have been shaped through public interactions at meetings and online, and indeed a growing number of node locations have come from community requests. The Colony 5 project is our first partnership with a community group to not only select locations but to do so in context of a community development initiative."

The AoT/ANL team will join Colony 5 and community partner Greater Englewood Community Development Corporation in hosting a series of AoT information sessions and courses for residents, researchers, and entrepreneurs December 2018 thru March 2019. This content will cover the basics of the Array of Things as well as hardware, software, and operation. Special community projects will be offered to further engage participants interested in areas like mobility, machine learning, data modeling, etc. Sessions and courses will be available both onsite and online.

The Potential for Potential
AoT nodes are being installed on light posts at major intersections along the Colony 5 Opportunity retail corridor between Halsted and Ashland streets along 63rd street. "We're inviting the community to discuss the reality that this technology is here to be a utility by and for the people. This is the first opportunity of its kind and we need to come together and learn our full potential.", Derrick Warren, Executive Director, Greater Englewood Community Development Corporation.

The Opportunity will also give local entrepreneurs a chance to consider innovative development and use of AoT infused apps (edge apps) that can benefit their commercial interests and the broader industries. Colony 5 believes the Array of Opportunity collectively is the gateway model for corporate stakeholders to collaborate with this new crop of startups and experience discoveries in last-mile delivery, augmented telematics, drone assisted safety, omnichannel marketing and other innovations.

For more information about upcoming Array of Opportunity events https://colonyfive.com or send an email to steven@xtra-medium.com.

About the Array of Things

The AoT, which produces real-time data about the environment, infrastructure, and activity, will serve as a clearinghouse of use cases and trends published openly and without charge.  AoT is a partnership among Argonne National laboratory, the City of Chicago, the University of Chicago, DePaul University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the U.S. National Science Foundation and includes scientists at several dozen additional research institutions including Northern Illinois University, Vanderbilt University, and industry partnerships with AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, and Motorola Solutions.

About Colony 5

Colony 5 has selected a 1-mile corridor slated to become along 63^rd street to grow into an innovation testbed in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.  The Civic Tech Challenge and Community "Array of Opportunity" Overlay are derived from past social venture collaborations with City of Chicago, Center for Neighborhood Technology, City of Chicago BCAP, World Business Chicago, the Array of Things Executive Oversight Committee, U.S. Census Bureau, the Illinois Green Buildings Council and a bevy of advisors and allies including community organizations, technologists, researchers, entrepreneurs and municipal leaders collaborating to connect the digital sciences and community development for social and economic impact.

We are smart community architects dedicated to placing a lens on the science and benefit of launching clusters of tech-enabled businesses into distressed retail corridors.  We promote the education in and utilization of smart city infrastructures through information sessions, access, and connectivity to key resources focused on growing local economies. Colony 5 is collaborating across several key partnerships to include: Englewood Small Business Development Corporation (Englewood SBDC), the AoT Team, Chicago's Departments of Innovation and Technology, Planning and Development, and Rocket Wagon Enterprise IoT & Digital services, Chicago Beverage Systems, Reyes Holdings and Great Lakes Coca Cola.

About Englewood Community Development Corporation

Greater Englewood CDC's mission is to rebrand, rebuild and revitalize the Greater Englewood Community by building on existing community assets and facilitating ongoing collaborations between residents and other key stakeholders. We execute this through business and workforce development , workshops and advisory, as well as real estate initiatives.

#