May 17, 2018 - Municipalities have been delivering foundational services their communities depend on for generations. In many cases, however, although information about services and programs are available, they are not easily accessible to the people who need them. Communities depend on more than new technology (IoT, sensor devices, AI, etc.) to become smarter. Public access to information, participation, engagement and collaboration on community issues to identify and solve strategic priorities make a smart organization. Creating synergies between people, processes, data and technology grow and support highly functional, resilient and more livable communities. The cities of Maple Ridge and Brampton both exemplify the best of open government by working in collaboration with multiple city departments, focusing on their community’s needs to develop comprehensive open data portals that are tightly integrated with other city systems. Christina Crabtree, CIO, City of Maple Ridge will explain the steps they took to discover and prioritize what is critically important to their community. She will review how the City is moving forward to increase citizen's access to information, participation, engagement and collaboration for community issues and to increase transparency and accountability of actions. Matthew Pietryszyn, Team Lead, GIS and Open Data, City of Brampton will discuss how they use open data to bring strategic priorities into focus with data-driven citizenship as a key driver of good governance. With the public in mind, he will also explain how they use open data to engage key stakeholders and the public around policy initiatives to tackle pressing issues. We will look at the guiding principles that ensured success for both organizations. Then we will conclude with key learning and recommendations on approaches to become a smart community by engaging the public.