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Saagar Jain & Maggie Pan

2019

Technology Commercialization

Demonstrations and Pilots

Project and Program Development

Grant Funding

Smart Mobility and Smart Grid

of Michigan citizens live in cities with populations under 100,000.

identify factors

that make a

community

an ideal target

for a smart city

program

compile a list

of initial target

communities

provide

recommendations for

the implementation

of the program

85%

OUR TASKS:

NextEnergy is developing a smart city program to

work with these smaller communities.

SMART CITY

PROPOSAL

Competitor

Analysis & Case

Studies

Certification

Program ResearchCity

Outreach

Competitors Analysis and Case Studies

Compiled list of ~60 national and

Michigan-based competitors

Categorized organizations as

potential partners, models, competitors,

or funders

Performed case studies on two

promising potential partners

DELIV

ERAB

LES

Certification Program Research

We performed an analysis of the Michigan Green Communities Challenge (MGCC). We analyzed cities'

participation in the challenge and contacted some cities to identify pain points, improvements, and potential

partnerships.

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

Cities

Michigan Prosperity

Region

Population

Size

We created an excel database of 700+ Michigan

municipalities with key pieces of information

including prosperity region, population size,

participation in the MGCC, etc. We used this as a

base for our data analysis to determine an initial

target city list.

DELIVERABLE

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

CitiesWe analyzed this data to determine the city

categories that have the highest participation

rates in the MGCC in regards to their prosperity

region membership and population range. This

analysis suggested a broad target geographical

location and population range for initial city

partners. The overlap of these two metrics

created our initial target city list.OBJECTIVE

APPROACH

DELIVERABLE

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

Cities

Initial List

Expanded List

Our first list of cities to contact were taken

from the list of cities that dropped out of the

MGCC. We set up phone calls and/or in-

person meetings through email. For each

conversation, we followed a question

template we made for consistency.

The second batch of cities we called was more

expansive, covering cities that did not participate

in the MGCC. These cities were of differing

population ranges in our target prosperity

regions and organized to determine any

correlations. Our Goals:

1. Determine pros and cons for a certification program

2. Identify city pain points and what services to provide

3. Gauge interest in a smart city program

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

Cities

Initial List

Expanded List

1. Manually inputted information equates to

some degree of human error (City of Novi)

2. Contacting city leaders was difficult

because of the July 4th holiday and their

busy schedules

The second batch of cities we called was more

expansive, covering cities that did not participate

in the MGCC. These cities were of differing

population ranges in our target prosperity

regions and organized to determine any

correlations. Our Goals:

1. Determine pros and cons for a certification program

2. Identify city pain points and what services to provide

3. Gauge interest in a smart city program

CHALLENGES

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

Cities

Initial List

Expanded List

1. Manually inputted information equates to

some degree of human error (City of Novi)

2. Contacting city leaders was difficult

because of the July 4th holiday and their

busy schedules

Unfortunately, we did not have time or the

capacity to call all the cities we intended to, so

we decided to prioritize and contact cities that

had a designated environmental commission,

manager, or program. Our Goals:

1. Determine pros and cons for a certification program

2. Identify city pain points and what services to provide

3. Gauge interest in a smart city program

PIVOT

CHALLENGES

City Outreach and AnalysisDatabase

Creation

Final List of

Target Cities

Developing

Target

Criteria

Contacting

Cities

From city interviews, we

determined trends for:

1. Things to improve for the

certification program

2. General city limitations/pain points

3. Important services to provide

4. Factors that make (or don't

make) for an ideal first city partner

SUBJECTIVE APPROACH

Our recommendations for initial

partner cities were based on our

direct interactions from our

interviews. The final list of target

cities highlighted these cities as the

most promising cities to work with.

DELIVERABLE

Our Final Report

DELIVERABLES

Report includes all our findings, data

analyses, methodology, question

template, final list of target

cities, obstacles, certification program

proposal outline, and overall

recommendations

Appendix includes case studies and

recommendations from our first competitor

analysis task, and our recorded city responses in

more detail

THANK YOU

with special thanks to Matt, Katherine, Andrea, Tim, Angella, Jim, and the rest

of the NextEnergy team for an incredible experience!

Any Questions?

Maggie Pan

(732) 669-2538

maggie.pan@duke.edu

Duke University '22

Saagar Jain

(954) 296-8533

saagar.jain@duke.edu

Duke University '22