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On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Chasity Lourde Wright. Chasity is inventor and founder of Infiltron  Software Suite LLC. Infiltron operates in the cybersecurity space; a Service disabled-Veteran owned and women-owned small business. Infiltron offers quantum-resistant cybersecurity solutions for decentralized digital identity, digital assets, and AI governance, utilizing proprietary post-secure encryption. Its patented technology integrates AI, blockchain, and quantum-resistant encryption to provide advanced cyber resilience, compliance enforcement, and real-time threat mitigation across multiple industries, including aerospace & defense, fintech, smart cities, and EVs.   Chasity, as inventor, speaks about her team and how creativity in the work place is necessary for  enhancing innovation on really tough problems like Cybersecurity. As the CEO of Infiltron, Chasity Lourde Wright is also a former USAF Aerospace Engineer, Intel Officer, and Cybersecurity Instructor with extensive experience in cybersecurity, AI governance, and national security. She was part of the team that developed reconfiguration capabilities for the USAF C-130 and contributed to the creation of the CMMC framework since its inception in 2019. Additionally, she has engaged in high-level cybersecurity and AI governance initiatives, including industry collaborations, government advisory roles, and proprietary innovations in quantum-resistant encryption, AI security, and blockchain-based compliance solutions. Her expertise extends beyond participating in NIST challenges, encompassing leading-edge cybersecurity development, policy influence, and defense sector innovations. You can find out more about Chasity and Infiltron at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/infiltronsoftwaresuite/ https://infiltron.net/     Transcript: 00:04 Hi, I'm pleased to announce something very special to me, a new subscription-based service through Next Act Advisors that allows members exclusive access to personal industry insights and bespoke 00:32 corporate governance knowledge. This comes in the form of blogs, personal book recommendations, and early access to the founder's sandbox podcast episodes before they released to the public. If you want more white glove information on building your startup with information like what was in today's episode, sign up with the link in the show notes to enjoy being a special member of Next Act Advisors. 01:01 As a thank you to Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25% off your membership costs. Thank you. 01:19 Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host of this monthly podcast in which I bring entrepreneurs, founders, corporate directors, and professional service providers who, like me, want to effectuate change in the world by building resilient, scalable, and purpose-driven companies. I like to recreate a fun sandbox environment with my guests. And we will touch on not only their purpose, 01:47 and what has driven them to create their own businesses. But also we're going to touch upon topics such as resilience, purpose-driven, and scalable sustainable growth. Today, I am absolutely delighted to have as my guest Chasity Wright. Welcome, Chasity. Hey. Thank you for having me. 02:13 Super excited to talk about how Infiltron has evolved and the lessons learned and how we're preparing to relaunch in 2025. Excellent. And it's perfect timing because I've known you for a couple of years now. Yeah. Right. So Chasity is CEO and founder of Infiltron Software Suite, a company that's headquartered out of Atlanta. 02:40 She is oftentimes in Los Angeles because she's working largely in the defense market and cyber security. So I wanted to have you on my podcast because you have gone further in building your business. So you and I met, I want to say back in 2022, you came out of the Women Founders Network cohort. 03:08 kind of very early stage. One of the events that I was a host of was the Thai So Cal Women's Fund. And you weren't yet ready for investing, but we struck up, I would say a friendship and I admire many things about you as, and we'll get into it in the podcast here, but you touch. 03:35 quite a few or check of quite a few boxes for my podcast. You says, so you are a woman owned veteran and women owned business. You are a veteran of the Air Force. You're in deep tech and you're by park and queer. And so there's many many boxes that you check and it was difficult to kind of hone in on what I really wanted to bring into the podcast today, but we're going to we're going to start from here. 04:05 I always like to ask my guests to start with kind of their origin story. I, when I first met you, right, in private conversations, got to hear your origin story and why you do what you do, what your firsthand experience while on missions, right, that really informed your aha moments to create infiltrant. 04:33 as a cybersecurity company. So tell us a bit about your origin story, Chasity. So, I mean, my origin story has, if you can imagine all of these different paths kind of streamlining into one path. So one of those paths would be a little black girl born in Georgia, still seeing dirt roads and... 05:01 being able to go to the country and work on a farm and, you know, just still having that connection to the past, you know, and not necessarily the past in a bad way. So athletic, played ball in college, went to Clark Atlanta University, you know, the HBCUs are a big hurrah right now, but they've always been one. 05:29 I grew up with one in my backyard, Fort Valley State, which is in Fort Valley, Georgia. So, you know, roughed it with the boys, played in the backyard with the boys, always been a boys girl, cousins, neighbor. We're all still close. We all still play sports when we meet. So it's like an adult play date, so to speak. But also, you know, 05:58 raised religiously, you know, I'm in Southern Baptist Church, two parent household, maybe lower middle class, but middle school was very transformative for me because they decided to mix in everybody. So it was my first time, you know, being in a more diverse population in school. 06:25 And, you know, music is a big thing for me as well. I DJ, I make music. That's the creative part of me. And I found a lot of people in deep tech to do something with music. So, yeah, so, you know, that's my like early years background. And then coming through, I decided to go into the Air Force. I actually took off between my junior and senior year at Clark Atlanta. 06:52 Um, there I was majoring in global leadership and management. Okay. And went in and I was in for eight years. I was an aerospace engineer, uh, got deployed several times, uh, to different places, and that kind of brings us to why Infiltron exists and, um, on one of those deployments, I was a part of a network takedown. 07:21 And it was, whoo. I mean, I don't mean to quote the pitch deck story, but it is what it is. I wrote it because that's the way it felt. It was catastrophic. So just imagine the city of Los Angeles losing power out of nowhere. The rail stops working, Sinai has no power, so all of the medical equipment is no longer working. 07:49 The internet's completely gone and not rebooting like it normally would. Your energy grid is down. That is what I experienced in one of those deployments. And I was a part of Iraqi freedom and Afghanistan. I was a part of both of those wars. And when we came, you know, we got everything back. Thank God we were smart enough to ship. 08:19 brand new equipment. Okay, you know, so you know, we weren't able to get there. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that's part of our job. We're engineers. And when you're in the middle of nowhere, there's no calling HP. There's no calling Cisco. Like you got to know how to do what needs to be done. There was there was a lot of makeshifting. I can be I came out of Air Force, I could be a mechanical engineer to 08:45 because we had to figure out how to make components on the fly. It was just so many things. Innovation, right? Like you had to be innovative. You had to be adapt quickly while keeping the mission as a focus. So just imagine something that catastrophic and something similar has happened. I feel like Colonial Pipeline was something that is known now in the US for sure. 09:15 that had similar elements of what we experienced in being deployed. Yeah, and that was two years back. And SolarWinds is another one. I generally refer to those because people generally gasp, even non-technical people, because they know how damaging it was. So we can reuse. Normally, when the equipment goes down, 09:44 Unplug, right? Plug back in. Reboot. Yeah, reboot. But that was not happening. And what we found out in the debrief was that quantum was used. So quantum simplistically is about frequencies in this context. It's about frequencies. And frequencies matter in so many aspects of life, from spirituality all the way through tech like what Infotron has. So... 10:14 What they did was they basically zeroed out the frequencies of our satellite communications. And I believe that they created some frequencies that damaged other equipment. So these are things that again we found out in the debrief. And I wasn't really able to talk to that probably when we met because I wasn't sure if it was unclassified yet. 10:42 But as soon as Biden started talking about quantum initiative, which was back in 2022, when we were in, I was like, everything's hitting it the right time because we were literally in Techstars LA space. And Biden pushed the quantum initiative. And I'm like, see, told you, because a lot of people, a lot of people doubted what I was saying because of the year that I said it had happened. And as. 11:09 we started to grow out our team. There are other veterans on our team from different branches. And of course we war story swap all the time. And those other two people work for like NSA and they did kind of the same thing, telecommunications. And I'm telling the pitch desk story and they're sitting there like, yep, yep. That happened to us too. And I'm like, when? 11:38 And they're saying different years. So at that point, we understood it. It happened more than once. So that's why Infiltronic. So what's Infiltronic? So let's bring it back to, Yeah. So you leave, you leave service after eight years after also experiencing that. I still feel like I'm a part of it because I do consult them still. Right. So it'd be great. So. 12:08 And once in the Air Force forever? Always. Well, I really would have been in Space Force. Yes. Yeah. Well, you heard that here on the Founder Sandbox. The next, yes. So for my listeners, again, you check a lot of boxes. Deep tech, women in STEM. What is it exactly that? 12:37 your suite of services. All right. So Info-Trans software, right, has two patents now. And on your landing page, it says, our patented solutions, solutions utilize adaptive artificial intelligence, advanced quantum encryption and blockchain technology to deliver real-time cybersecurity for a wide array of applications. Later on, we'll get into smart cities, but 13:06 including the internet of things, smart devices, legacy systems, hybrid data, signals and devices. All pretty, pretty understandable, but what is it that Infiltrion software is able to do that others are not? So we're able to create a easier way for businesses to migrate their devices. 13:36 and their software, so their applications that they use, maybe they've developed them themselves, we provide a way for them to easily migrate those entities over into a more quantum-proofed infrastructure. So we created what we've trademarked as quantum encapsulation. So just imagine something being encapsulated. And basically we've created, 14:05 a brand new method of leveraging quantum, the AI, we leverage it for the pro-activeness. So in lieu of just waiting for threats to happen to our clients, we go look for the threat. So we want to go be where the bad guys are and find out and bring that information back and update the solution in real time to provide protection for all of our clients in real time. 14:33 That's how we leverage the AI. The blockchain is kind of leveraged to kind of make sure that people, things like devices, aren't on networks that shouldn't be. So it's kind of, I mean, we use it for what blockchain was pretty much basically developed for, and that's a ledger. So keeping up with the transactions of what's happening. 15:03 in a client's infrastructure. Fantastic. So it's largely a B2B business, yours, right? We do. We have B2B, but we've been approached several times here recently by consumers. Because now, because of the biometric protection aspect of our solution using the quantum encapsulation, we can protect, say, 15:32 Halle Berry from deep fake, being deep faked, or, you know, protecting her likeness from being used without her knowledge in movies, CGI'd into movies. So it's kind of getting a little bit more consumerish as we iterate, right? Yeah, and we were briefly speaking before the podcast recording, Chasity and I, and... 15:59 I've known her for years. She's a very private person, would not allow photographs. So I told my producer, I'm certain Whitney Chastity's not going to be sending us a picture, but you said yes, that you might, because you do have biometric, artificial intelligence, safeguards that can actually discover deep fakes, right? Yes, yes. Yep, if it didn't come from us, if it wasn't checked back from us, 16:29 It wasn't approved by the person. So it's kind of pretty much that simple. Amazing. Well, later on in the show notes, we will have how to contact you at Enfield Tron. So you are in the startup ecosystem. Again, you travel a lot. You're between Washington DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and actually the Bay Area. Yeah, the Bay Area. Right. So. 16:58 Revenue can be elusive, right? How? Especially in tech, and especially in these really large markets that I call deep tech. Deep tech and leading edge, bleeding edge, right? People don't know what they're actually buying, right? Or what they don't even, they probably don't even know that they have a need, right? What's been your strategy at Infiltron to keep the revenue flowing while maintaining also a pretty playful, innovative culture? 17:27 You talked about your team and so talk, that's kind of two questions. So how have you kept revenue coming, right? While not going out for dilutive funding yet, but tell us a little bit about how, what's your business model? So the business model in itself is set up for B2B and we also have a licensing element there. So if they, for instance, 17:56 a Fortune 500 company who has a cyber team, right? They have an internal cyber team. If they want to license out the patents that we have and kind of customize it or create or build off of those, use it as a baseline for what they need for their systems, we offer that as well. But let me just put it out there. But back to your question, how do we keep it fun? So the team... 18:25 The original team members, should I say. So we met about seven years ago at a place called the Gathering Spot in Atlanta. So the Gathering Spot is a community and they just opened one in LA and I do go to the one in LA too when I'm there. But it's a community of people, creatives from creative people to deep tech people like myself and everything in between. 18:55 We went to a black tech event at the gathering spot and found ourselves not being able to get into the actual room. So we ended up, because they have a bar and everything at the gathering spot. It's a social club too. It has a club aspect to it too, but you can network there, have meetings there, meet all types of people. I mean known people, I mean it's a great 19:25 great concept, shout out to Ryan. But we found ourselves at the bar, and we're looking at each other. We knew each other because we had been introduced by the Hellbrella person, Tracy. Yes, yes. Because they had done some things for her with a previous startup that she had, development-wise. So we're all sitting at the bar, and we're looking at each other like, but we're the real tech people. 19:55 We do it. It's like we don't really take people. Um, we can't even get in there. We like, we know the organizers and personally and everything. So let's start a company. Well, what we did was we launched, um, what we launched kit labs. And it was literally right down the street from the 20:23 and connect to the community. So we had, it's not far from the AUC and the AUC is where Morris Brown, Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlanta are. Got it. So a lot of times you would come in there and find some of the founders, cause this was founded by myself and like six or seven other black tech founders. The ones that were outside. Drinking like, you know. 20:53 That's where we had that conversation. You know, the conversation started at the bar, being outside of that first Black Tech meetup, so to speak, with Joey Womack, who is a part of Goody Nation, who we did get a 50K grant from back in 2020 through Google for Startups. Let me just say this so much. We were so interconnected. I mean, Atlanta is Wakanda. Don't let anybody tell you anything different. 21:21 It's definitely Wakanda. But literally, not even a mile away from the Gathering Spot, we opened up Kit Labs. It's a smart lab where we can tinker with stuff. We're engineers. We're tech people. We need something. We need a makerspace. We don't necessarily need a space that is compared. The Gathering Spot was a little bit more buttoned up. 21:46 And then what we needed, we needed to be able to throw things and make things. We had everything from like 3d printers to, um, VR, AR headsets. I mean, you, anything in tech. Innovative fun. It was in, is in that lab. Um, but that's where around today. So we dissolved it. So it's been dissolved. What one of, one of the founders, he unfortunately transitioned. Um, 22:15 So, you know, and he was kind of like the pillar of it. And it kept going for a while, but it was just a lot of people like myself, it was two female founders, Dr. Nashley Cephas, who herself is from Jackson, Mississippi. I'm shouting out everybody, right? She's from Jackson, Mississippi, and she bought 10 acres in downtown Jackson, Mississippi and started a nonprofit called Bean Pad. And he basically took the concept of what we were doing at Kit Labs and brought it to our hometown. So. 22:44 Um, and it's so funny. She actually founded it on my birthday. So I was like, okay, I can dig that. Um, uh, but, but no, but we're still connected. Everybody still works with each other. You know, if I have to come in and do some things around cyber for a contract or, you know, commercial or whatever client that they have, I do like we, we all kind of still work together on each other's things. So that has allowed you to bring in some revenues, right? 23:14 through its service context. Yeah. Oh, for sure. For sure. Consultant wise, cause they're like, I think people may look at Infotron and think that there's not a human touch piece there, but if you're dealing with me, there's always gonna be a human touch point there because we have to consult the client. We can't assume, you know, we cannot assume. 23:41 what you need, we have to actually have a conversation with our clients throughout the process, even after we possibly have set up the platform for you, trained your people on it, there still needs to be an element of communication, human communication, right? But the team, we've been working together for about seven years. Yes. 24:10 Infiltron has been around for five, going on six years now. So, you know, I mean, respect, mutual respect, we're still kids at heart. I mean, we grew up wanting to be engineers. So, you really can't take the light of innovation out of an engineer unless they're just at the point of not wanting to do it anymore. So we're always, what I've found is most people in any engineering discipline are very, 24:39 curious and forward thinking. So we, and we kind of, we're kind of like a community. We are community and not kind of like, but we are community of folks that contribute to each other's, you know, projects. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And not just, not just business-wise, but personally, like we, I mean, we've been around each other for almost a decade, so. 25:04 there's been kids born and like I just said, one of our founders transitioned, like we've been through some things together that have brought us closer together. And you can, I believe when you have a team like that, and we're all diverse, you know, we have a team like that that cultivates innovation, for sure. You know, I've had a few guests to my podcast and I also write about this, 25:35 Creativity is only possible or it's greatly possible when you create a fun environment and make games out of things and have, right? And set up teams. So I think a shout out to you and what you've set up at Infiltron and in its earlier rendering at Kit Labs, just creating an environment that allows for what ifs, right? Is key. There are a lot of what ifs in cyber. 26:04 I bet you there. So I have a boatload of questions here. One is, before we get into your fundraising path, again, I mentioned earlier you have two patents that have been issued. What is post-quantum encryption technology in layman language? Post. 26:32 Quantum encryption technology. So there is definitely confusion out there that has been addressed. And because there is a difference between post secure quantum and encryption. There's a difference. So. Excellent. 27:02 Post quantum encryption, it is designed to protect data from quantum computers. So. And that's done through the encapsulation? For us, that is how we provide the protection, the encryption. That is the quantum encapsulation is a method of encryption with Involtron. So the current encryption. So you have things like RSA. 27:32 elliptical curve, which elliptical curve is more widely used and kind of being marketed as quantum encryption. It is, it is, it's on the list of quantum protections, right, or quantum methods of encryption protection. So companies like Okta use ECC a lot. But what's happening is that quantum computers are being built now. Yes. Like right now, there's no... Yeah, the cost is going down. 28:02 Yeah, there's no waiting five years from now. Like I urge anyone under the sound of my voice to prepare now for quantum computer attacks. The same thing that I describe happening to us when we were deployed, it's gonna happen. And again, I alluded to feeling like 28:33 situations like Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds were, I feel like they were tests because there were so many different elements of what we saw in the deployment that happened in those two cases. Yeah, because I'm sitting there and think it's like 2020, 2021, 2019 actually, it started. I think this didn't know, but. 28:59 And it's still going like 20, SolarWinds was still going, the last time I checked SolarWinds was still unraveling. Like it's still, still going. But back to the question. So for us, quantum encapsulation for us is breakthrough. So NIST has had these challenges, right? Where they put out bidding for companies, 29:27 researchers, because a lot of people that are in the quantum space, whether it's physics, mechanics, are generally found in academia. They're not at Infiltron. They're not at QED. They're just not there, right? It's very far in between, and we generally have to lure them. Or we have to do something like partner with them on... 29:53 grants, like the STTR grants. Like that's the only way, generally the only way that we can probably connect with the academia or pierce them and have them work with us. And they usually through that take all the funding, but it's, you're still. Exposed, right? You're exposed, but you're also getting the expertise that you possibly need and can't rightly find in the freelancing world. Yeah. So it generally works out in the long run. 30:23 Um, but so our encapsulation is a, is a breakthrough method because I look at it like this, NIST is holding these challenges and nothing against NIST. We're connected. I contribute to NIST and everything, but they are holding these challenges. And basically they're telling the hackers what people are going to the framework. 30:49 what people are gonna have to adhere to when they create their quantum algorithms to protect their devices and data. You know, you're giving away the secret ingredients. So like, even if they don't know specifically your algorithm, they know what you've based it off of. And that gives it like a tiny thread can unravel a whole t-shirt, right? So I look at it like that. So... 31:15 And even before, you know, we were already developing things before NIST put out these challenges. We are in alignment. We can adhere and do it here to the framework that they're putting out because, you know, you have the DOD space who definitely follows their framework, especially when it comes to the risk management framework. So they're going to follow NIST regardless. They're going to follow their framework, whatever they put out about cybersecurity protection. 31:44 The DOD space and all of its agencies are gonna follow that. However, being in the cybersecurity space every day, seeing what is happening and knowing that you've given some clues, some contextual clues to the malicious hackers about what you're using as a baseline to build your algorithms will, guess what? What we have is not that. Like we are... 32:12 One of the things that differentiates us right now, because I'm sure as quantum cybersecurity continues to grow legs, so to speak, people are gonna start using the more, less susceptible to hacks by quantum computers method. So you have things like multivariate hash code. So these are some of the 32:40 quantum properties that you can use that are not generally hackable by a quantum computer. They won't be hackable by a quantum computer. So we leveraged some of that. It was like, if I'm built, I looked at it like this, I've been in cyber, I've been in tech for almost 20 years. I know I don't look it. I get it all the time. You don't have to say it. I've been in tech for almost 20 years. I've been, and when I was in the air force, we call it InfoSec. It's the same thing. And that dates me. 33:08 If I say, if you hear somebody say InfoSec, trust me, they've been in cybersecurity for at least 20 plus years. So, but it's cybersecurity, that's what it is. And I've seen the changes and I've paid my dues too. Like I didn't, when I got out of the Air Force, I was just, side note, like I cut grass and loved it. I would go back and do it if I can make these results. So then like, it's very, it's very fulfilling. Don't let anybody fool you. Like I love, but I like being outside, but. 33:38 Um, my first tech job though, I literally went through the phone book. Cause this is like still, you know, internet was not quite what it is now, of course, but it was like still growing. And I went through the yellow pages and went through the aerospace companies and called all of them and was like, Hey, let's just get out of the air force, look for a job. I don't care if it's an intern or co-op and L3 L3 before they merged with Harris. Uh, 34:08 they created me a co-op. And, but again, still in touch with, cause you know, L3 is a huge government contracting company, right? And in the satellite communication space, cause they're in line with my background. And so I've seen it all. I've seen the changes of InfoSec into cybersecurity. And now we're entering a new frontier with quantum cybersecurity. So I've been here, 34:37 maybe at the latter part of the info set, but definitely through the cybersecurity and here for and to forge some guidelines and pathways in the quantum cybersecurity space with Inflotron. So when you know Inflotron was founded in 2019, I was like, okay, if I'm gonna start 35:03 something new in cyber and we hadn't even gotten to the quantum piece yet. They hadn't even gotten to me yet. Like it started like I was getting downloads. Yeah. Because I'm, I always, I'm a reader. I wake up looking at cyber news and just staying in the know because I need to know what's going on so I can protect my clients, whether that was me in a government contracting position or me as a consultant in my businesses. So. 35:33 I need to know what's going on. And if I'm going to build something new, why am I going to build it with compromised parts? Right. That's a great way to describe it. Yeah. Forget the tech. It didn't make logical sense. If I'm going to build something new, a SaaS product that's going to integrate and be flexible and adaptable and proactive. 36:01 Why would I use RSA encryption when I know what's coming? Got it. That will be one of the snippets that I share in my YouTube channel as well as the podcast. That is excellent. Why build something with compromised parts? Frontier technology, quantum cybersecurity is what Epfiltron is about. 36:30 Next generation. Talk to me a little bit more for us, less tech savvy listeners about the use of Infiltron in a SelleGov's program for smart cities. That kind of brings it more home and more tangible. How is technology used for smart cities? So first, SelleGov through leading cities. Yes. 36:59 It connects companies like ours with municipalities to tackle urban challenges. So for us, it's infrastructure, security, and sustainability. So we were a finalist in leading cities global competition back in 2021. And we've worked through them. You know, we've been able to work with city leaders to secure IOT systems and critical infrastructure. 37:28 And quick shout out to Michael Lake. Okay. He's the founder of Leading Cities, amazing guy. Another keep in touch, answer the email quickly person. He's based in Boston, but he's built a very supportive ecosystem. So shout out to Michael Lake. But as a part of this program, 37:56 We're offering smart cities our enhanced quantum vulnerability assessment. And this is to help the smart city leaders identify areas that need better quantum protections now. We've just had a session on November the 11th, Veterans Day. And the second one is coming up December the 5th. So you. 38:24 If you're a smart city leader or see so small, medium, large enterprise, no matter what market you in, you're in, definitely tap in. You can register for it on the leading city's website or on our website at Infotron.net. Yeah, that's on December 9, 2024 at 1pm. Is that Eastern? December 5th. December 5th? No, it's the 9th, because I have it here. And that's my cousin's birthday. So yeah, it's December 9th. 38:53 Did you get to influence those dates? Yeah. So let's jump into your startup. You've taken in very little dilutive funding. How much money have you raised to date? And how have you, what is the next phase, right? In terms of outreach for fundraising. So we've raised 120K and that was through Techstars, LA Space. 39:23 Still counting. I do not take a salary. I could take one, but I'm just, it's the long game for me. And I still consult. Don't let these people tell you not to quit your job and be an entrepreneur. Don't let people do that. Especially if you have a family. Don't let these people, don't let these people try to guilt you or shame you because you still have a job while you're building your startup. Don't let, don't do it. 39:53 Because I do have a company that I started called Right Tech Solutions and we still, that's why I said I still feel like I'm in the Air Force because I still consult them. So I can, you know, the revenue that we do and we've hit 500K in revenue. So you know, I could easily take a salary, right? But I just, it's the long game for me. It's the global expansion. 40:22 um, you know, more IP and patents, uh, protections, right? Because we do have global count clients. And, um, one of the things that I wanted to make sure of before we even took on the clients was that we had legal backing there. So IP trademarks, um, at least patent, at least the application is pending, but you know, like I want to, I want to, I want it to at least have that. And we have great attorneys. Um, shout out to Malika Tyson. 40:52 and Matthew and Dorian who have, they took over because I had a, I had an attorney, IP attorney that would, had her own boutique firm and then she had to go back, you know, she just couldn't do the entrepreneurship, it's not for everybody, but we still stay in contact as well. But she introduced me to McAndrews, they're based out of Chicago. 41:20 And they are the legal team for Impletron. I always tell them that when we're on calls, like you are the legal team. Like, yeah, anything that I need from them legal, legal wise, they do it. I literally just sent a partnership NDA over to Malekka this morning and she just sent it back to me. So like, that's not IP and trademark, right? But they do, they do it. And I always tell them how much I appreciate them because... 41:49 IP and trademarks are not free and they're not inexpensive. So, and then imagine, you know, we have one pending now in Japan. We just got one in Canada. So yeah, like it's expensive, you know, it's expensive. So a lot of the funding that we get now is going to be allocated to pay them, you know, even though they work with us. But it's going to be paying them. 42:18 doing some iterations, we have a partnership where there's some hardware that's gonna be involved. We're definitely tapping into the hardware. So we'll be forging our way there because people like things they can touch. SaaS isn't necessarily something that you can touch, although put it into a platform makes it a little bit more tangible for people, visual at least. So in the- 42:48 Yeah, I mean, hardware has always been a part of the vision. FBGAs, we have another colleague of mine, he has developed a cryptocurrency mining machine, and it leverages quantum. So it's mining at exponential speeds, right? Because generally what quantum does is speeds things up. It speeds exactly, in simplified terms. 43:18 Definitely still going after Sivers traditional government contracts globally. We participated in Fintech down in the Bahamas last October. Cause we are in the Fintech space and there's a lot of similarities between Fintech and Space Tech. Because when you're talking about fault zeros and being able to detect anomalies. 43:46 both of those markets need that and they need it quick. So we've been able to, yeah, like we've been able to leverage some of the things that we're learning in both of those for each other. So we've been able to participate in some conferences. We actually getting ready to go to Barbados in January for Fintech Islands, I'll be speaking about 44:14 the kind of the intersection of the quantum age and what's coming in respect to the fintech space, cryptocurrency, web three, traditional finance and AI, because we do leverage AI. And we've been in the AI space, Impletron has been in the AI space from the beginning. One of our advisors is an AI evangelist at AWS. I did say her name earlier on this podcast, but. 44:42 She's amazing. She's a Georgia Tech grad. We do have a few Georgia Tech people on the team, but she's amazing. And I'm able to tap her. I've been able to tap her because she was one of the Kit founders. So I've been able to tap her about AI and machine learning very early on. So all of the LLMs and the SLMs that everybody's kind of talking about, we've been doing. 45:11 Like even as small as we are, we've been. 45:16 Yeah, so, Chasity, how can my listeners contact or get information about Infotron? So, yeah, of course the website. So, infiltron.net. You can follow us on all of our socials at Infotron Software Suite. It might be, I think on Twitter is Infotron app. We wanted to keep it short. 45:41 And then, or you can email us at mfultronapp at gmail.com. And I know people are gonna be like, why you use Gmail? That's another filter. And that's an email that everybody on the team can look at and not be bombarded with, cause spam and it's just, everybody has their own email address, but. So you probably, it's a test environment for all of you. 46:09 beautiful quantum encryption that you're working on. Yes. And that's it all. One better way to start. Yeah, Gmail, right? Google knows a lot more about us than we'd like them to. Oh, Google knows everything. That's tough. Even when you turn location off. Oh, Instagram. I just posted something about Instagram. So Instagram's new. They just updated their policy maybe a month ago, maybe. 46:38 Okay. Whether you want to or not, they now have access to your photos, your GPS location, everything even if you say no, even if you turn it off, they still contract. 47:00 Just putting it out there guys. Yeah. So if you do platform. So there's cause to the platform. Right? Yes. Thank you. All right. We're coming down to the section of the podcast where I like to ask each of my guests what the following three words mean to you. Because this is what I do with my consulting business. 47:24 In addition to my podcast, I work with founders that are really building resilient, purpose-driven and scalable businesses. What's resilience mean to you, Chasity? Man, that's a word that I use. Uh, I mean, I'm, I mean, you gotta think about it. I'm black trying to raise money. It's hard for black people to raise money on top of that. I've been, you know, um, I've come face to face with people that didn't believe that I wrote my own patents. Like. 47:53 you know, as if black people didn't invent a lot of things, like that we still use today. Like, come on. I mean, it's just the truth. Resilience. Resilience for me is bending, but never breaking. Bending, but never breaking. Yeah. It's about, you know, adapting to challenges. I just mentioned some and facing them. Like you can't, you can't, and I'm about to sound 48:23 run from the pain, you gotta run towards it. So you can come out stronger on the other side. And it's not necessarily about survival, it's transformation. That's transformation. It's transformation. And that transformation is preparing you for what's next. And you'll be standing taller than you were before. Amazing, thank you. Purpose-driven, what's a purpose-driven? 48:53 Enterprises or? Yeah. I'm a visionary. So like, there's a lot of founders that I've met. If I have the opportunity to get close to them or kind of hear them speak about what they're building to include myself, because I do talk to myself about the things that I'm building. I counsel myself. I'm sure my ancestors are around me. 49:23 Purpose is, it should be intentional. I think that it's kind of interchangeable for me. But in the context of the question that you asked on purpose driven enterprise, so it's the heartbeat in what we build here at Infotron. I can definitely say that. It's creating meaningful solutions that solve real problems. And in solving those real problems, 49:52 you're still staying true to the mission. I still bring the aspect of the military into Infiltron. We are mission focused. We have fun. We do all the fun things, right? Because again, that cultivates innovation too. And it keeps it spicy. You need to let things be spicy because in a regular deglar cybersecurity job, you're probably bored. Like. 50:19 I mean, let's just be real. Like you're probably bored. You're probably looking at Excel spreadsheets and creating a report by hand from that. Like it's boring. Like, but you know, it's also making moves that matter. And it's solving problems that for me leave a legacy and just never losing sight of why we started in the first place. 50:48 So never lives in sight. Excellent. What about scalable? So how does- That's one of those BC's favorite words. That's right. Because that's what they want to see. How will you scale? That's right. I mean, I'm an investor too guys. Don't get it twisted. Like, I think that was a question that I did ask with one of the investors I had. Like, how are you going to get over that challenge? Like, before I give you this money. 51:18 Scalable. So growth, like we can think about growth in so many different ways, like growth, personal growth, because if you embark on the entrepreneur trick, you are going to be, and need to be open to growth. To me, entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey. Beautiful. 51:45 about the Southern Baptist roots, but I'm not spiritual. I'm a yoga, meditating, put my feet in the sand, grass grounding person nowadays, but still bringing that element of praying. And it's all the same to me. They just changed the name of God, right? Just that's my perspective, but growth isn't just about getting. 52:14 bigger. It's about getting better. And me speaking about the personal aspect, that is what growth is. It might not feel good, you know, while it's happening. But, you know, once you get through it and you can get in a reflective mindset and look back with what you just came through and be grateful, like find gratitude in it, you know. 52:43 That's how I look at growth. It's expanding mindfully and staying grounded in your values and making sure that every step that you take going forward strengthens the foundation that you've already built. And it's... 53:11 Like I said, it's moving with intention. And while you're moving with intention, you're also preserving the quality and the vision that define you. Which goes back to purpose-driven. Yes, thank you. Last question, Chasity. Did you have fun in the sandbox? Oh yeah, I mean, it's you. You know, we already have a great rapport. 53:38 I'll say this, one of my favorite memories of you is when you brought Ty to the table to kind of see if they were, could invest in Infiltron and it was too early. But we had to sign an NDA, it was some type of contract, but it was during Mercury retrograde. You said it before I said it, I was like, I wonder if she's onto this type. 54:05 Cause I wasn't going to sign it. I was going to try to delay it as much as possible, but you're like, no, let's wait, let's wait. So after Mercer, that's your great. Well, I was like, oh, these are this. She's my people. And I was like, and I think I responded like, let's wait five days. So it is no, it's like clear. So, um, that's a little fighter for me with you. Oh, I love it. I love it. Generally hear that in business. No, no. 54:32 And the Founder Sandbox again is a pretty eclectic podcast, bringing in deep tech founders like Chasity Wright that are on the frontier, bringing in what the future, will, it's the future's here. It's here. That's right. So to my listeners, if you like this episode with Chasity Wright, CEO and founder of Infiltron, sign up for the monthly release of 55:01 this podcast where founders, business owners, corporate directors, and professional service providers share their own experiences on building with strong governance, a resilient, scalable, and purpose-driven company to make profits for good. So signing off for this month, thank you, Chasity. Thank you, Brenda, so much. I hope to see you soon.  

In the final episode of this series of Generation One, we take a look at cities and climate action. With many elections happening around the world, what are cities actually doing to adapt to climate change, mitigate climate impact on populations, and reduce emissions? Our hosts discuss urban adaptation and transformation with UCL Professor Lauren Andres (Director of Research at the Bartlett School of Planning) and Mark Watts, the Executive Director of C40 Cities, a global network of mayors taking urgent climate action. C40 Cities website: https://www.c40.org/ The Bartlett School of Planning: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/bartlett-school-planning For the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/podcasts-videos/generation-one-climate-podcast Date of episode recording: 11th April 2024 Duration: 33.46 minutes Language of episode: English  Presenter: Mark Maslin and Simon Chin-Yee  Guests: Professor Lauren Andres, UCL Mark Watts, C40 Cities Producer: Adam Batstone

Mike Lake, CEO of Leading Cities and a member of the Smart Cities World Advisory Board, hosts a special episode recorded live from the 2023 Smart City Expo in Barcelona, where he is joined by Genesis Gavino, Chief of Staff Resilience Officer for the City of Dalla. Genesis provides a behind-the-scenes look at her role as Chief of Staff, detailing the essential elements that the role encompasses that don't necessarily fit elsewhere but are crucial for city operations. We hear how she manages diverse portfolios, overseeing strategic initiatives like the Resilient Dallas strategy, as well as smart city projects. Key to Dallas' digital resilience work is digital equity, with Genesis shedding light on the city's efforts to bridge the digital divide. She shares experiences from the field, discussing digital literacy programmes and the importance of community engagement in shaping policies. This conversation also takes a turn toward cybersecurity, touching on the ransomware attack on Dallas earlier in 2023, where Genesis emphasises the city's commitment to proactive measures, including the development of secure apps for residents. As the episode unfolds, we delve into the broader challenges faced by cities and the need for holistic, multifunctional solutions. Genesis stresses the importance of understanding each city's unique context and challenges, urging technology providers to align their solutions with the specific needs of the communities they serve. The episode concludes with a reflection on the continuous nature of urban challenges and the vital role of collaboration, innovation, and adaptability in building resilient cities. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation at the intersection of technology, governance, and community empowerment in this episode of "Cities on the Frontline."   About the speakers Genesis Gavino, Chief of Staff and Resilience Officer, City of Dallas Genesis currently serves as the Deputy Resilience Officer where she works closely with the executive team across the organisation to implement the Resilient Dallas Strategy. She is also the Chief of Staff to the City Manager where she manages the Council Agenda Office, Local Government Management Fellows Program, departmental budgets and works with the executive team to advance the City's strategic priorities. Genesis has served as lead in the organisation's interdepartmental and collaborative projects, most recently the implementation of the Council Agenda Preparation System through Granicus – Legistar, and the development and implementation of a pilot program to activate City Hall Plaza. Mike Lake, President and CEO, Leading Cities As President and CEO, Michael develops and establishes relationships with municipal governments, businesses and universities internationally, creating a global network of partner cities dedicated to implementing Smart City solutions that improve the quality of life in cities. Leading Cities builds bridges between academia and action, between business and government, and between urban problems and solutions.Among its signature programs are AcceliCITY- among the largest, most prestigious smart and resilient city solutions focused competitions- and AcceliGOV—a competition of cities vying for globally sourced, expert-vetted, pre-paid pilot projects.

When the City Club convened its first forum in 1912, Cleveland Mayor Newton D. Baker, Cincinnati Mayor Thomas Hunt, and Toledo Mayor Brand Whitlock came together to discuss the work of city government, the challenges they faced, and the solutions they were implementing. Now, more than 110 years later, as the City Club opens a new home for civic dialogue at Playhouse Square, Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb and Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval will join us to discuss the work of governing Ohio cities today.rnrnJustin M. Bibb is the 58th Mayor of Cleveland. He has prioritized improving public safety, investing in neighborhoods, and modernizing City Hall. Mayor Bibb was born and raised on Cleveland's southeast side in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.rnrnAftab Pureval is the 70th Mayor of Cincinnati. Raised in Southwest, Ohio, the son of first-generation Americans, he is the city's first Asian American mayor. He served as Hamilton County Clerk of Courts from 2016 to 2021 and was the first Democrat to hold this office in over 100 years.

On December 5th, 1933, the 21st amendment of The U.S. Constitution was ratified, effectively ending Prohibition in the United States. 90 years later, alcohol has become a well-studied substance with universally accepted quantities for what constitutes a single drink. But recently, there's been a new player in town. Cannabis. Across the United States, widespread legalization of marijuana has hurtled our country into uncharted territory. In 2018, more than 12 million Americans admitted to driving while under the influence of cannabis. Unlike alcohol, with no “legal limit” or field sobriety test, the dangers of driving while impaired by marijuana become all the more consequential. In fact, it was found that the rate of fatal crashes attributed to impaired driving doubles in states that have recently legalized the drug. All in all, it doesn't matter if you are for or against cannabis, as my guest today is an advocate for safety. Hello, I am your host Mike Lake and in today's preview I will be talking with Denise Valenti, CEO of IMMAD, a company that has developed a technology that can measure visual field functions that are essential for safe driving. Support the show

In the time it took you to brush your teeth this morning, there were over 900 calls placed to 911 emergency services in the United States alone. But would you believe that out of these 900 calls made, almost 300 of them were either non-emergencies or complete butt dials? Unfortunately, within the past couple years, the coronavirus pandemic has spurred an increase in call volume to emergency services, while simultaneously introducing a myriad of understaffing issues. In fact, 77% of public-safety answering points, such as 911 and emergency dispatch, reported being consistently below authorized staffing levels in 2022. But it's not just emergency services that have been suffering. The utilities sector experienced the second to highest percentage of worker resignations last year, leaving those still in the field to be completely overburdened with customer calls. Hello, I am your host Mike Lake and in today's preview I will be talking with Tinna Hung, director of marketing at Daupler, a company that has created a response management system that can be used to help service providers prioritize emergencies and effortlessly match a service to an available provider. Support the show

When was the last time you had a meal? Maybe it was a quick granola bar before work, or possibly you're eating some lunch right now. Whatever the case may be, I bet you didn't realize that you were consuming a resource that, in about 40 years, will be as precious as gold. It has been estimated that, in order to keep up with the current population growth, humans will need to produce more food in the next 40 years than in the previous 10,000 years combined. But here's the kicker. If we increased production by clearing out more agricultural space (like we have in the past), it's estimated that by 2050, this would create about 2 billion more metric tons of CO2 to be emitted into the atmosphere. So, how do we deal with such an imminent crisis if we don't even have the space or the resources to do so? Where do we go from here? … Well, how about up? Hello, I am your host Mike Lake and in today's preview I will be talking with Juan Succar, co-founder and CCO of Verde Compacto, a company designing indoor vertical farms allowing fresh food anywhere, anytime with their revolutionary farm-to-table supply chain. Support the show

Just a few decades ago, the concept of unmanned aerial vehicles, or, as you may know them: drones, was a reality confined only to science fiction films and comic books. In fact, if you told someone just 30 years ago that there are over 900,000 drones registered in the United States, with over half of them being used for recreational use, they'd probably look at you like you were crazy. But the truth is, unmanned aerial vehicles are quickly becoming a close companion to the concept of smart cities, with the potential to offer cost-efficient services for everything from environmental monitoring to traffic management. Yet, with no established system within cities to rent out drones, the potential to use these flying machines for good is wasted. Drones can deliver packages in under 30 minutes and cut surveying costs by up to 98% - so why shouldn't we make them accessible to all?Support the show

When it comes to our plumbing, we usually take an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach. Once we don't see it anymore, we don't think about it anymore - but for the waste that we put in our drains and plumbing systems, the initial flush is only the beginning of its journey. After flowing through mazes of pipes below our cities, waste ends up at a sewage treatment site, where tanks and aerators process the waste into byproducts. But want to hear a dirty little secret? These byproducts can contain pathogens, heavy metals and excess nitrogen that pollutes our landfills and forests. And any excess byproducts end up being incinerated, putting large amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. So, the question remains: how do we sustainably dispose of our waste's waste?Support the show

Potholes: the modern car driver's worst enemy. How many times have YOU hit a pothole just a little too hard, eyes darting to the dashboard, hoping and praying that you don't see that flat tire light blink on? In the U.S alone, there are reportedly 220 million flat tires that happen every year on our roadways, posing a risk to the driver and everyone around them. Flat tires aren't the only threat: heartbreakingly, traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for both Australians and Americans under the age of 15. Despite this, it takes multiple years to gather enough data from police reports to identify an unsafe road. We need a proactive, not reactive approach to maintaining our city's traffic patterns and roads to effectively prevent further tragedy. Hello, I am your host Mike Lake and in today's preview I will be talking with Emily Bobis, founder of Compass IoT, a road intelligence company that utilizes connected car data to better identify unsafe road or traffic conditions.  Support the show

The first ever solar panel cell was created more than eighty years ago: and like many other innovations, it was created by pure accident. Yet since then, those signature rectangular structures can be spotted on the roofs of houses and buildings all over the world. In fact, the number of US solar panel installations is 23 times higher today than in 2014. While this is a clear win for environmental sustainability, it remains near impossible to measure and manage one's clean energy consumption with solar panels alone. And with more than a third of the world's population calling apartment buildings home, many consumers lack easy access to clean energy altogether. Support the show

With more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than at any time in human history, and sea levels rising faster than ever before, it is clear our world is facing a global climate crisis. Despite our urgency, did you know that over two thirds of businesses have reported having no plan for sustainability? With small businesses comprising over 99% of all businesses in both the US and UK, their participation is critical in making a significant environmental impact.  Corporate social responsibility has proven to be an important issue for consumers as well, as 87% of buyers admit they will make a purchase simply because a company advocated for an issue they care about. Clearly, the time is now for businesses to begin tracking their carbon footprints and goals for sustainability. Enter SDG Assessment, an application that helps small businesses and fast growth companies easily report sustainability, ESG and corporate social responsibility performance. Hello, I am your host Mike Lake and in today's preview I will be talking with Sian Young, co-founder and COO of this groundbreaking sustainable solution. Support the show

Did you know that over 80% of Chinese medicine products suffer from severe quality control issues? with the Hong Kong market for Chinese medicines accounting for over 3.7 billion US dollars, we are in desperate need of a solution to standardize the Chinese pharmaceutical industrySupport the show

More than 10% of the world's population goes to bed undernourished every single day. Unfortunately, with the threat of a complete climate crisis on our horizon, it is that same group of people who are at the highest risk of starvation.Support the show

Did you know, for example, that 92% of the world's largest lower-middle income cities don't have mapped public transit routes? And with over two billion people within these cities relying entirely on public transport, we desperately require a solution that will empower those in emerging-market cities to safely, confidently, and more accurately navigate their streets.Support the show

As the sun dips and the city's streets are plunged into darkness, you can almost always count on the glow of street lights to provide a sense of safety until your final destination. Yet with over 230 million street lights around the world in use every single night, the total energy consumption certainly adds up. In fact, roughly 40% of a city's total energy costs can be traced back to its street lights. For this reason, street lights have become the entry point for smart city technology adoption, and will continue to be the source of innovation for cities around the world.Support the show

Despite this massive number, less than 20 percent of the waste will be properly recycled. This is partially due to the complexity of the modern waste system, with material being moved locally, nationally and internationally with no true structure or transparency.Support the show

Did you know that more than half of all public buses in the world don't have space for a single wheelchair? For those with disabilities, transportation can become a daunting task, as even a short distance to travel can present a myriad of obstacles to the destinationSupport the show

A recent study found that 89% of people would be encouraged to purchase an electric vehicle if they could access a parking space with a charger. However, as of right now, public charging in many cities is unreliable and inconvenient, and is in desperate need of transformation.Support the show

In 2021 alone, housefires and wildfires accounted for 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. We are in desperate need of technology that can more accurately identify and extinguish fires before it is too lateSupport the show

In 2019 alone, 3.5 billion gallons of fuel were wasted due to traffic congestion in the US, leading to more than 36 million tons of excess greenhouse gasses. We now must ask ourselves how existing road infrastructure can be more efficiently used to avoid traffic congestion.Support the show

The concept of urban forestry has become increasingly paramount, in fact, just one mature tree can sequester 22 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Today we present a solution to support the built greenery of our cities.Support the show

Did you know that upwards of 75% of the emissions associated with plastic waste don't even come from plastic at all? Today we met a circularity-as-a-solution platform that effectively transforms plastic waste into new products without long-distance supply chains or high-energy manufacturing. Support the show

In the chaos of wartime, much of the world is left disconnected from the crisis, unsure of what is needed or how they can help. Today we will explore a mobile application developed in the wake of the Ukrainian refugee crisis to provide visibility, transportation and immediate reliefSupport the show

Current wayfinding methods are mostly static and not accessible to people who are blind or have low vision - something that is becoming more and more important to building owners and managers Support the show

Human-induced climate change has spurred a sequence of widespread adverse weather patterns and our world's cities get pummeled with increasingly violent disasters. How can we invest in infrastructure better equipped to handle such events?Support the show

In a recent poll 48% admit that they could be making more of an effort to do so. Enter Greenerguide, a solution that solves these issues by mapping out user's energy consumption to plan a more sustainable lifestyle.Support the show

Calvary Church was excited to host the American Restoration Tour on September 14, 2022. The American Restoration Tour is a multi-state tour with Chad Connelly of Faith Wins joining forces with David Barton of WallBuilders, Lindsey Foundation, and many others to bring a message of Hope, Renewal, and Revival to America's Leading Cities and Churches.

Hoy en nuestras charlas sobre tecnología inclusiva hablamos con Daniela Rubio, que es Consultora de entornos digitales accesibles. Desde marzo del 2013, Daniela está certificada como Apple Distinguished Educator y  representante de proyectos de accesibilidad, educación e integración laboral para personas con discapacidad a nivel internacional. Fundadora dede DRJ Consulting y directora del area de consultoría, grupo dedicado al desarrollo de sitios web,  contenidos y campañas de Social media inclusivos, accesibilisación de contenidos digitales. Desde 2017, Miembro del Advisofy board de Barcelona para Leading Cities, organización internacional dedicada a la consultoría relacionada con Smart cities. Mi pasión es la tecnología usada para la mejora de la calidad de vida de todos, y y el camino a seguir es aquél que lleve a un mundo en donde la accesibilidad sea realmente invisible. Recorre con nosotros y Daniela el camino para que veas (puntada deliberada) cómo los recursos de la tecnología amplifican la capacidad del educador para llegar a cualquier persona, sin que las capacidades sean un obstáculo.   Puedes encontrar a Daniela en Twitter y en LinkedIn

Preview: The latest episode of the Urban Exchange brings together Mayor of Medellín Daniel Quintero with Leading Cities' Mike Lake to discuss the advance of urban resilience in Colombia's second-largest city.   The new Urban Exchange takes an in-depth look at how Medellín has been led through times of strain in the pandemic by Mayor Quintero, and how it is now emerging as a more resilient and robust city. Mayor Quintero explains what opportunities he sees for the city to build further resilience during its recovery from Covid-19, and how resilience is a critical part of addressing climate change in cities and beyond. He details the ways in which response to the pandemic and the climate crisis, judged by the ways in which citizens and communities are looking for answers on both fronts, are so closely linked and interconnected. Maintaining focus on climate action and environmental solutions, Mike probes further into the ways that city leaders in Medellín are seeking to make it Latin America's first eco-city. The mayor details how becoming an eco-city is key to driving resilience forwards and how that objective can help the city to find solutions to some of its more pressing and complex societal issues. As part of those solutions, we also hear about the city's plans to launch the Metro De La 80 by 2027, as Mayor Quintero explains how the metro will improve transport access for communities and create a more resilient and equitable city. As the city's youngest mayor to date, we also find out how the mayor's experiences have been shaped by his engagement with the community – especially the younger generation – and how building communities around important issues can drive progress towards urban and climate resilience forwards at a quicker pace

“THE AMERICAN RESTORATION TOUR: The Church Finds Its Voice,”is a multi-state tour hosted by Chad Connelly and Faith Wins, joining forces with David Barton and WallBuilders to bring a message of Hope, Renewal, and Revival to America's Leading Cities and Churches. America's founding principles, born from Biblical truth, are under attack like never before in our history. More than ever, it is crucial to understand why God's role in America cannot be ignored. The responsibility rests on The Church to find Its voice and preserve our Nation. Livestream from Dayton Event Learn more about Chad Connelly and find resources at FaithWins.us Let us help you Engage Learn more about David Barton at Wallbuilders.com Buy The American Story

Jonathan is a placemaker and New Urbanist in every sense of the word with a voracious appetite for studying and learning about new methods of community and economic development from around the world. His focus remains on building vibrant communities that foster connectivity and creativity and support a thriving, healthy downtown, small business ecosystem and community.  He currently sits on the local advisory board of Leading Cities, a global leader in Smart City solutions, city diplomacy and collaboration advancing sustainability and resilient city strategies and technologies.Related links for this episode:· Patronicity· Bench Consulting· Building Boston· Jonathan on Twitter· Peers Inc (book)· Walkable City (book)· The Death and Life of Great American Cities (book)· Happy City (book)· Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Diversity (book)· Mike Lydon at Street Plans· Jeff Speck· Al Wilson at Beyond WallsBe sure to support this podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Visit Authentic Form & Function for more information: https://authenticff.com© 2020 Authentic Form & Function

Property Matters this week was all about Smart Cities. Co-hosts Carol Tallon and Bryan Fox were joined in studio by Jamie Cudden, programme manager with Dublin City Council's Smart Dublin and Smart Docklands initiative; Paul McDonald of Sonitus Systems (noise and environmental monitoring); Gavin Gallagher of Proptech.TV; Andrew Farrell of Block Angel (tenant communications tool) and Alex Gibson of TU and organiser of Dublin's ARVR Innovate Conference, which takes place in the RDS on May 10th. Also discussed: the Leading Cities global post-accelerator competition and the 3D Data Hack taking place in Dublin next month (powered by a 3D model of the Docklands created by Sean Roche and the D3D.ie team). Produced by Katie Tallon.

Building an Innovation Economy–Secrets from America’s Leading Cities The same technologies that make a city smart also make it an ideal place to launch innovative new businesses. Hear from some of Silicon Valley’s most vibrant cities about their biggest successes; their biggest challenges; their biggest lessons learned; and the economic development aspects of their smart city efforts. Featuring: Lily Mei – Mayor, City of Fremont Jonathan Reichental – CIO, City of Palo Alto Joy Bonaguro – Chief Data Officer, City of San Francisco Shireen Santosham – Chief Innovation Officer, City of San Jose Jesse Berst – Chairman, Smart Cities Council

Michael Lake, President & CEO of Leading Cities and I cover some of the major challenges we face in cities. Smart Cities is a rapidly growing as a market as shown in these reports: https://readwrite.com/2017/01/07/smart-cities-market-will-grow-3-5-trillion-worldwide-2026-cl4/ ("Smart Cities Market Will Grow $3.5 Trillion Worldwide" ) and http://www.urenio.org/2017/03/22/21st-century-cities-global-smart-cities-primer/ (21st Century Cities: Global Smart Cities Primer). We discuss the solutions to the problems in the form of ecosystems including sociological, economical and environmental ecosystems.  We cover how introducing blockchain use can help the smart city initiatives, and some easy steps to work with Startup companies to introduce relevant ideas that can be taken on with governments to move smart city agendas forward.   Where you can find out more about Michael Lake and Leading Cities: https://leadingcities.org/ (Leading Cities ) https://www.linkedin.com/company/leading-cities/ (LinkedIn) https://twitter.com/leadingcities (Twitter ) https://leadingcities2014.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/leading-cities-partners-with-tm-forum-scewc-2017.pdf (LEADING CITIES PARTNERS WITH TM FORUM) Music By Epic Music Supervision: Show Notes: constructrr.com/ep61  

Interview with one of our Guest Speakers at CID's Speaker Series: Renato de Castro, International Advisor, World e-Governments Organization. Recorded on October 21st, 2016. CID.HARVARD.EDU About Renato: Renato de Castro is a Smart City senior consultant with more than 20 years’ experience and specialized in investment attraction and management for smart cities projects. He is senior vice president for Smart Cities at CreF, Inc, an American investment bank from Pittsburgh. He is also a member of the global advisory board of Leading Cities, located in Boston, and international advisor for The World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments, in Seoul. Renato responds as mentor and advisor specialized in globalization strategies for startups around the world. He is a Doctor of Business Administration candidate at Maastricht School of Management, MSM, Netherlands, researching about Smart Cities. He is also a writer, columnist and video blogger for Smart City, ICT and Urbanization Strategies topics.

I spoke with Larry Werner, City Manager of Carson City, Nevada in this episode of Leading Cities. Listen: Interview with Larry Werner