The pandemic has left many smart region planners and educators wondering, “Where do we go from here?” At ASU’s first-ever ShapingEDU Winter Games, held from January 5-7, 2021, more than 80 presenters — including Cox Business and ASU — helped answer that very question for 1,200+ registrants.
Cox Business and ASU hosted “The Rise of the Collaboratory”, a panel that shared the past, present and future of the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory. This collaboration between ASU and Cox formed an innovative lab where both parties work together in the research and development of smart solutions that empower students, citizens and local government teams to live and work better. The work will undoubtedly enhance operational efficiencies and effectiveness of the communities and businesses in which they serve and live.
How the Collaboratory started
ASU CIO Lev Gonick led the forward-thinking search to find the best communication plan, networks and wifi that would meet ASU’s cutting-edge needs as the nation’s most innovative university. “[The RFP] was designed to not only optimize the network, but to prepare for an [Internet of Things]-enabled smart campus, as well as a cloud-enabled suite of solutions,” said Chris Richardson, Deputy CIO of Product Ownership & Leadership Development.
To find the right partner, ASU hosted Art of the Possible sessions with 28 best-in-class providers from around the world. “I’ve been in Telecomm over 30 years, and what ASU put together was the most forward-thinking, most expansive RFP, certainly, that I’ve seen,” said Ed Aaronson, Vice President of Cox Business Arizona. Cox earned the coveted collaboration, which was announced in 2019 at the Smart Region Summit.
Fast forward one year and the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory, simply referred to as the Collaboratory, has made significant progress, operating as a lean start-up with dedicated IoT networks already deployed at ASU’s Skysong Campus in Scottsdale, AZ and at the Tempe campus, as well.
Reflections from the Collaboratory’s first year
Because the Collaboratory team solicits ideas from the community, it is able to develop solutions that directly impact cities and regions throughout Arizona. To achieve this, the team uses a four-step process – Ideation, Research and Development, Concept Creation and Refinement and Concept Commercialization – ensuring that projects are scalable to maximize their impact for the ASU community and beyond.
The Collaboratory currently has multiple projects in the works, said Jake Huber, Director of the Collaboratory. He shared an example of a project they are working on with a campus group called On-Campus DART, which provides on-campus transportation to students, faculty, staff and guests of the university with permanent or temporary physical disabilities. Rides are provided to and from residence halls, designated parking areas and all campus buildings using golf carts. Huber is working with DART to apply sensors to its carts to know the exact location of the carts to set up more efficient routes and help serve more riders.
The future of the Collaboratory
Cox Business and ASU are united on their vision to develop open source solutions that can be shared with other universities, cities or groups with similar needs.
“We want to drive impact: You have to be disruptive in a value-added way, but you also need to scale, and you need to get the solution out there,” said Barak Weinisman, VP & General Manager of Cox2M & Smart Communities at Cox Communications. “If we only have a handful of assets and environments connected at ASU, and it doesn’t go anywhere else, then we have not accomplished our goal.”