The Illinois Smart City and Region Association (ISCRA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides education, resources, and vital information to Illinois communities and regions. ISCRA’s mission of being the leading comprehensive platform where technology providers, together with, city staff and local elected officials converge to discuss, develop and deploy appropriate networked technologies on top a city’s existing infrastructure to improve the quality of life for all citizens and businesses.
ISCRA carries out their objective by bringing together through collaboration and partnership, technology vendors, city staff, and elected officials with a common goal to deploy next-generation systems and solutions to create real, positive, change in a community.
ISCRA is the State’s leading voice identifying and outlining technological needs of municipalities regardless of size to the vendor community. ISCRA is the trusted, impartial subject matter expert that municipalities refer to for education and information on which initiatives they should pursue and what deployment process to follow.
ISCRA distributes a variety of frameworks covering many different connected community initiatives that communities utilize when initiating innovation, improving social experiences, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency within their pre-existing infrastructure to create a vibrant ecosystem that fosters public and private partnerships encouraging long-term, sustainable programs through such P3 arrangements.
ISCRA aims at helping communities deploy next-generation “smart technology” systems and solutions in a standard and integrative manner, which allows neighboring communities to connect under present or future circumstances in order to form larger smart or “connected” regions.
The vision of the Illinois Smart City & Region Associations is a multi-layered concept. ISCRA expects to, one day, see every city and town across the state of engaged in our ecosphere to successfully propel their digital transformation. ISCRA expects to see those cities deploy the systems, sensors and software in a standard manner so that each community has the capacity to integrate with their neighbor when creating a larger “smart” region. The ultimate goal is to achieve a unified and interoperable network of cities and towns throughout the state establishing one of the nation’s first true Smart States. Using an instructional “how to” framework coupled with a collaborative approach, ISCRA provides education, guidance, and vital resources to all communities aligning them with reputable, reliable vendors who possess the needed technology.