George Burciaga, Managing Director for Government Development and Innovation recently spoke at the Gigabit Cities Live conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

George spoke on the panel ‘Better Broadband leads to smarter cities’ which was moderated by Mari Silbey, Senior Editor, Light Reading. Other panelists included Matthew L. Dosch, Customer Operations, Executive Vice President, Comporium Joe Kochan, COO, US Ignite and Colman Keane, Director of Fiber Technology, EPB.

The panel debated why gigabit connectivity is necessary as communities start investigating applications like smart parking. They also went on to discuss some of the operational challenges around smart city development – and whether local governments are equipped to handle these challenges. Insights were shared on how governments and the private sector should be thinking about working together around smart city investments, what would help smooth the way for faster, better smart city deployments and when we will hit a tipping point for smart cities.

For more information on the event, visit http://www.gigabitcitieslive.com/