CONTENTS

SMART NEWS

Announcing Mobi Prize Winners!

Thanks to Mobi Judges and Mentors

Thanks again to Mobi Partners

SMART in Lansing

SMART in the News

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

May 22: 12:30 – 2 pm: Springtime Distinguished Speaker Luncheon Talk at Tom Gladwin’s Barn.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER: Philippe Crist, Administrator and Senior Researcher, International Transport Forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (And esteemed MobiPrize Judge!).

TOPIC: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES: Policies and Interventions to Advance New Mobility Innovation with Examples from Around the World.

SETTING: The Pastoral surroundings of Tom Gladwin’s barn, with friends and colleagues interested in the future of transportation and cities. What better way to spend a springtime lunch hour?

BY INVITATION. To request an invitation and for directions to the barn, contact Bonnie Pond at bmckie@umich.edu.

Also, don’t forget SMART’s Calendar and Event Listings on the SMART Blog: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/calendar/. Just click on the event to get details on a wide variety of local and international events that come SMART’s way.

IMPORTANT JOB AND ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES:

Don’t forget SMART’s Opportunities Listings: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/category/opps/. It posts local and international funding and job opportunities, as well as academic posts, prizes, and competitions that we hear about. Check the whole list, or search by category. Just scroll down.

ABOUT SMART

Welcome to May 2012’s SMART e-News!

Dear friends of SMART,

Though we’ve been a bit preoccupied with all the excitement of the SMART Mobi Prize of late,  a few other things have been going on since we last checked in. Including SMART presence at the VERGE conference on green business in March in Washington DC, and at the OECD / International Transport Forum Summit on Seamless Transport in Leipzig. SMART also made it into the press a couple of times.

SMART NEWS

ANNOUNCING THE MOBI PRIZE WINNERS!

Drum roll please… The three grand prize winners of the 2012 SMART Mobility Enterprize (“Mobi” Prize) are:

Zambikes (Judges Choice)

Hangzhou Omnipay Co. Ltd. (Judges Choice)

Carolnetas Caronas Intelligentes (People’s Choice)

These three innovative and replicable enterprises joined over 80 others to compete for three top Mobi Prizes, ($5000 U.S.D., a trip to present at Rio + 20, and top notch mentorship). See the Enterprize Register for links to the original candidates.

The field was then narrowed to the top 15.

The esteemed panel of judges then had the hard work of selecting the their top two. And YOU had the hard work of selecting the People’s Choice award.

We are so pleased that the three winners address the multiple goals of the Mobi award:

• advancing sustainable transportation systems (New Mobility) world wide
• identifying and promoting innovation and replicable new business models related to New Mobility
• serving the urban poor
• encouraging young entrepreneurship
• advancing the emerging global New Mobility industry

And we’re so pleased with the results that we’re doing our best to see if we can continue the prize in future years. If you or your company or agency are interested in helping this happen, please contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@umich.edu.

For much more information and background on Mobi Prize 2012, visit the Mobi Prize site at www.mobiprize.com

THANKS TO MOBI JUDGES AND MENTORS

Our honored and dedicated “Final Judges” panel was represented across the globe and across disciplines and sectors that are relevant to transportation, livable and sustainable communities, business, and social enterprise.

Members of the equally diverse Group of Top Notch Mentors have generously committed focused time with the three prize winners to advise on their particular challenges and opportunities – another great motivation to apply for and win the prize.

Heartfelt thanks go to all Mobi Judges and Mentors, including:

David Berdish, Manager of Social Sustainability at Ford Motor Company and noted “intrapreneur.”

Jeb Brugmann: Leading practitioner and thinker on strategy and the process of innovation; author of “Welcome to the Urban Revolution,” and founding Secretary General of ICLEI, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

Sonia F. Cadornigara: Board Member of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), Regional Coordinator for the Visayas of the Homeless Peoples Federation Phillippines Inc., Project Manager for Iloilo City (CLIFF) Community Led Infrastructure Finance Facility.

Robin Chase: Voted one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People; Founder and former CEO of Zipcar, (the largest car sharing company in the world), GoLoco, and now BuzzCar.

Maiyue Cheng, Lead, Urban Innovation Initiatives in China for Cisco Systems.

Philippe Crist: Administrator and senior researcher, International Transport Forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Celine D’Cruz: Coordinator of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), World Fellow at Yale University, SDI representative to the World Bank based Cities Alliance, and founding member of SPARC.

Martin Kelly: IBM Venture group and “Entrepreneurs Camp” lead.

Ashwin Mahesh: – Founder and CEO of Mapunity; Editor of India Together; Ashoka Fellow; Senior Fellow in Transportation @ Indian Institute of Science; Member of Bangalore’s planning task force (ABIDe).

YOU! : For the People’s Choice Award!

THANKS AGAIN TO MOBI PARTNERS

SMART is extremely grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for making the creation of the Mobi Prize possible. We also want to thank Ford Motor Company, the Alcoa Foundation, and the IBM SmartCamp for their support.

Through the course of the MobiPrize we’ve also been especially appreciative of our “Promoting Partners” who have kindly spread the word to sustainable mobility enterprises through their lists or newsletters, and have been the key to our “crowdsourcing” efforts to find innovative sustainable transportation enterprises. Our promoting partners include:

Arup

Ateneo School of Government Philippines

Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

Chennai City Connect

Christensen Global Strategies

Cisco Institute

Cities for Mobility

Detroit City Council

EcoMobility Alliance

EcoPlan

EMBARQ India

GLEQ (Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest) Michigan’s Startup Central

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Ilona Posner, User Experience & Usability Consultant

InnoMobility

Institute for Competitiveness, India

Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, (ITDP)

International Transport Forum (ITF)

New Cities Foundation

New York Regional Plan Association

Organization of Black Designers, (OBD)

Parking Carma

Praja

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA): SFpark

Shepherd Systems

Sustainable Transportation Standing Committee

Taubman School of Architecture & Urban Planning (TCAUP)

Trans4m (Michigan)

Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium (TTRCC)

UM Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

WheelChange

SMART in Lansing

Back on April 9, SMART collaborated with Lynne Martinez and a diverse and vital working group to map Lansing’s New Mobility (multi-modal) Grid and identify specific short and long term enhancements and interventions. This session was made possible by the Alcoa Foundation through SMART’s “New Mobility Solutions” project. SMART is working with selected transportation leaders and communities across Michigan to map and enhance the existing multi-modal transportation grid, with a focus on connectivity, enabling policies and technologies, enabling business models, and marketing. The project continues through next year, so if you are keen to map your community’s or project’s New Mobility Grid with the purpose of generating pilots or on the ground interventions, contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@umich.edu.

SMART In the News

Its been a good month for SMART in the media. See “Ticket To Ride” in the April 9 issue of TIME Magazine, in which Roya Wolverson profiles an innovative information system that makes it easier to take a bus in India. See also “Why Ford & Ashok Leyland are Thinking Beyond Vehicles,” an Economic Times of India article by Naren Karunakaran. Also check out a great video on Detroit transportation infrastructure by Translogic featuring Taubman College’s Larissa Larsen and promoting SMART and Trans4m.

ABOUT SMART

SMART, Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation, is a project of UMTRI, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Its steering group represents a breadth and diversity of departments, institutes, and initiatives related to sustainable transportation at the University of Michigan.

SMART catalyzes and undertakes research, demonstration projects (living labs), education, and global learning exchange on a range of issues related to the sustainable future of transportation.

SMART Blog: um-smart.org/blog

SMART ExChange–SMART’s networking site–is at smartumich.ning.com.

SMART is on Twitter.

SMART is on Google+.

CONTENTS

SMART NEWS

• April 1 Deadline for “Mobi,” Prize Honoring New Mobility Entrepreneurs Worldwide
• Many Thanks to “Promoting Partners”
• SMART A Partner in Successful $3.5 M Region V UTC Grant Focused on Sustainable Transportation
• Alcoa Foundation Supports New Mobility Collaboration with Ross Business School
• SMART to lead New Mobility Round Table At Asian Competitiveness Forum in Delhi in April
• SMART Engages Indian Transit Leaders in Multi-Modal Mapping at EMBARQ Session In Bangalore
• New Developments in Cochin
• SMART in China
• ITF Summit Focuses on Seamless Transportation
• Remembering Gail Achterman, Cherished Portland-based Visionary Transportation Leader

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

Don’t forget SMART’s Calendar and Event Listings on the SMART Blog: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/calendar/. Just click on the event to get details on a wide variety of local and international events that come SMART’s way.

IMPORTANT JOB AND ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES:

Don’t forget SMART’s Opportunities Listings: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/category/opps/.

It posts local and international funding and job opportunities, as well as academic posts, prizes, and competitions that we hear about. Check the whole list, or search by category. Just scroll down.

ABOUT SMART

Welcome to March 2012’s SMART e-News!

Dear friends of SMART,

There’s never a dull moment! After some intensive and inspiring work in Asia, among other things SMART now looks ahead to presenting the Mobi Prize in Rio in June and moving ahead with our global report on new business models and markets. Closer to home we’ll be going forward with work linked to the New Region V University Transportation Center, our new Ross Business School collaboration, and multi-mobility mapping with Connect + Prosper in Michigan. See below and get in touch if you’d like more detail or if you’d like to get involved.

SMART NEWS

DON’T MISS THE APRIL 1 DEADLINE FOR “MOBI” PRIZE HONORING NEW MOBILITY ENTREPRENEURS WORLDWIDE!

The “Mobi” (short for SMART Mobility EnterPrize) is an award celebrating entrepreneurial ventures in sustainable transportation, made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation. See www.mobiprize.com.

If you are an entrepreneur with a venture that advances New Mobility, you can apply for the prize.

There are 3 Grand Prizes that include:

• $5000 USD
a trip to Rio + 20 in June to receive the prize
• dedicated time with top notch entrepreneurial mentors

Special recognition will be given for New Mobility ventures that:

• seamlessly connect with or enhance the wider (sustainable) transportation system
• serve the urban poor
• encourage young entrepreneurs

Though SMART has been working to promote the prize in India, South Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines, the Mobi is open to all New Mobility enterprises worldwide as long as they are legal and already up and running.

Even if you don’t win one of the three grand prizes, you are still a winner because you will be listed in the SMART EnterPrize Register of New Mobility Ventures. This listing will profile your enterprise and connect you with customers, VC’s, investors, other entrepreneurs, and collaborators locally and globally.

As context, the Mobi Prize is one component of a year-long Rockefeller Foundation-supported project of SMART called “Catalyzing the New Mobility in Cities.” The aim of this project is to identify existing and emerging New Mobility business models and innovative transportation approaches including those that benefit the urban poor; to identify and convene the social entrepreneurs advancing these new models along with key stakeholders; and to explore possible paths for scaling up those models.

In addition to the prize, SMART is connecting with representatives from the private sector, social enterprise, government, civil society, and academe to produce a report focused on the current state of the New Mobility industry worldwide, emerging new business models, and recommendations for related policy, research, and tech transfer that benefits the urban poor and at the same time addresses wider emerging trends and opportunities related to New Mobility globally. If you are interested in learning more about the report or contributing to it, please contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@umich.edu.

MANY THANKS TO “PROMOTING PARTNERS”

Members and friends of the SMART community are so very excited about the unique opportunity of the “Catalyzing New Mobility” project to discover and celebrate innovators and trailblazers from all corners of the world and all walks of life. We’re especially excited to learn about some of the common challenges posed for entrepreneurs who are at times working against all odds to invent and roll out solutions aimed at improving quality of life, environment and economy from the neighborhood to the global scale. We see both the prize and the listing as ways to “unearth” or “crowd source” the widest range of unique and promising ventures that in the aggregate can inform policy, research, and practice worldwide and perhaps help to remove barriers to innovation in this growing area of sustainable transportation / New Mobility.

For this reason we’re especially appreciative of our “Promoting Partners” who have kindly spread the word through their lists or newsletters. They include:

Arup

Ateneo School of Government Philippines

Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

Chennai City Connect

Cisco Institute

Cities for Mobility

EcoMobility Alliance

EMBARQ India

GLEQ (Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest) Michigan’s Startup Central

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Ilona Posner, User Experience & Usability Consultant

InnoMobility

Institute for Competitiveness, India

International Transport Forum (ITF)

New Cities Foundation

New York Regional Plan Association

Parking Carma

Praja

Shepherd Systems

Taubman School of Architecture & Urban Design (TCAUP)

Trans4m (Michigan)

Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium (TTRCC)

UM Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

WheelChange

If you are interested in becoming a “Promoting Partner” email us at Info@mobiprize.com with “Promoting Partner” in the subject line.

SMART A PARTNER IN SUCCESSFUL $3.5 M REGION V UTC GRANT

SMART is a key partner in the Region V University Transportation Center (NEXTRANS) which has been selected to receive $3.5 million in new grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation for continued research, education and technology transfer.  Following a competitive selection process, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the selection of twenty-two university transportation centers to receive a total of $77 million to address critical transportation challenges.

The NEXTRANS Center was established in 2007 based on a competitive award from USDOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to conduct a multidisciplinary program of transportation research, education and technology transfer.  NEXTRANS, a regional university transportation center representing federal region 5, is a multi-university consortium of universities from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  The Center also has many partners from the public and private sectors that provide a combination of financial, technical, logistical, and strategic collaborations.

The vision of the NEXTRANS Center is to seek integrated and sustainable solutions to transportation-related problems that further leverage technology when appropriate.  In addition to seeking holistic transportation solutions, it will explore the linkage of transportation to energy security, environmental sustainability and climate change.  In addition, the role of transportation in fostering economic revitalization and global economic competitiveness will be examined.  The Center will foster the principles of integration and sustainability in developing solutions that range from concepts to deployment in the context of policy, planning, design, implementation, operations, maintenance, and management for transportation-related needs.

In addition, several activities related to transportation workforce development will be continued and expanded including education programs for P-12, undergraduate and graduate students, and current professionals.

NEXTRANS is administered by Purdue University’s Discovery Park and is located in the Purdue Research Park.  Srinivas Peeta, professor of civil engineering at Purdue, is the director of the NEXTRANS Center. Jonathan Levine of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning is the U-M Principal Investigator representing TCAUP and SMART.

ALCOA FOUNDATION SUPPORTS NEW MOBILITY COLLABORATION WITH ROSS BUSINESS SCHOOL

MBA students and Faculty at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business interested in helping to transform Detroit will benefit from two Alcoa Foundation grants totaling $65,000.

A $15,000 grant to U-M’s Revitalization and Business Initiative, which promotes Detroit’s assets and engages students with important issues shaping the city’s future, will support consulting projects matching about 40 Ross MBA students each year with up to eight Detroit businesses and nonprofit organizations. The grant also will help fund the R&B Initiative’s 2013 conference, which showcases business opportunities and initiatives with Detroit’s business leaders, decision makers, entrepreneurs and innovators.

The Alcoa Foundation also will provide a $50,000 grant to expand SMART’s New Mobility Solutions Project to encourage Ross School MBA students and faculty to identify and develop new business models, case studies and related research geared at accelerating development and tech transfer of new mobility solutions in Detroit, as well as in Beijing.

SMART TO LEAD NEW MOBILITY ROUND TABLE AT ASIAN COMPETITIVENESS FORUM IN DELHI IN APRIL

SMART partner Amit Kapoor of the India Institute for Competitiveness is a key mover of the Asia Competitiveness Forum to take place in Delhi on April 26 and 27, 2012 (http://competitiveness.in/acf2012). The Forum’s theme this year is “Competitiveness: Economic Development, Prosperity, and Creating Shared Value.” The forum will feature a special round table led by SMART and focused on New Business Models and Markets related to the growing global New Mobility Industry Cluster, with some emphasis on Asia. Connect + Prosper lead Robert Polk will also participate and present at the forum.

SMART ENGAGES INDIAN TRANSIT LEADERS IN MULTI-MODAL MAPPING AT EMBARQ SESSION IN BANGALORE

In mid-February SMART was invited to lead a multi-modal mapping session for 40 transit system leaders from cities across India, as part of WRI EMBARQ India’s learning workshop on transit station design. It was a good opportunity for transit system leaders to explore the advantages of planning across all modes, especially those that feed their systems. It was also a productive and enjoyable learning collaboration with EMBARQ.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS AT COCHIN LIVING LAB

What started as a coconut grove on 40 acres of agriculture ministry land in Cochin has in less than two years become a multi-modal hub that connects buses, scooters, cars and soon to be boats and the metro. A synergistic combination of the New Mobility grid or hub network concept with the work of a progressive research institute (Center for Public Policy Research, SMART’s Living Lab partner in Cochin) and (last but definitely not least) enlightened leadership has resulted in a transformative and integrative direction for Cochin’s transportation system with the Vytilla New Mobility hub as a first concrete step. For more information contact D. Dhanuraj at dhanu@cppr.in.

SMART IN CHINA THANKS TO ALCOA FOUNDATION

David Chock and Sue Zielinski got together last week with Shanghai-based SMART partner David Hung of SJTU Joint Institute for a foundational trip to Beijing to launch the China-based component of the “SMART New Mobility Solutions” project, supported by the Alcoa Foundation. The trip was more successful than anticipated, thanks to the active support of Cisco Systems (Maiyue Cheng, Nicole Ni), AECOM (ChenXi Bae), ICET and its Beijing Energy and Environment Network (Feng An and Robert Earley), Ford of China (Scott Chang), CAI Asia (Yan Peng), Alcoa (Vanessa Chang), Peking University (Penjun Zhao) and more. Zielinski also took the opportunity to meet with Dr. Tang Ya in Chengdu to explore New Mobility partnerships there, following last May’s Michigan Meeting on Sustainable Development led by Mark Banaszak Holl. She also connected in Hong Kong with Becky Loo of Hong Kong University. Next steps on this project include refining both piloting and research scopes and activities in preparation for a return trip in the fall.

ITF SUMMIT FOCUSES ON SEAMLESS TRANSPORTATION

Two years ago Sue Zielinski focused her opening panel presentation at the International Transport Forum (ITF) on Seamless Multi-Modal Mobility, one of the key themes of SMART. This year, the ITF has decided to focus their entire conference on this theme! The conference takes place in Leipzig Germany, May 2 – 4 and is highly recommended if you can make it to Leipzig in the spring. For more information go to: http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/2012/index.html.

REMEMBERING GAIL ACHTERMAN, CHERISHED PORTLAND-BASED TRANSPORTATION LEADER

The SMART community has lost a dear friend and a transformative and inspiring leader in transportation, land use, and ecology. Gail Achterman, a Portland lawyer, policy and legal expert on natural resources and transportation (former Oregon Commission of Transportation Chair), and lifelong Oregonian, died recently at age 62. She will be missed. Here are some exerts from a tribute to Gail:

“One thing Gail did better than anybody else was integrate land use, environmental and natural resources,” Kirkpatrick said. “She understood that land use and transportation and climate change and other natural resources law all needed to work together.”

…

Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, who rode bikes with Achterman, said Achterman was one of the first female law partners in her firm and the first to bring a “sustainability ethic” to the transportation commission.

…

“If one word comes to mind, that is ‘trailblazer,’” she said. “She was a visionary and she was an extraordinarily hard worker with a public service ethic you just don’t see very often.”

…

Lynn Peterson, transportation adviser to the governor, said Achterman was adept at balancing competing interests on transportation and creating positive working relationships during her work on the transportation commission. She had served on the commission since 2000 and chaired it since 2007.

…

Achterman’s 15-page résumé documents a long record of public service, university and research service, charitable activities, academic appointments, professional activities and awards, publications and reports, grants, public testimony and lectures and presentations.

…

She is survived by her husband, stepsons Daniel McGinnis and Ryan McGinnis; siblings Chris Achterman, Peg Achterman and Tom Achterman; and grandson Elliott McGinnis. The family suggests contributions to the Japanese Garden Society of Portland, Hoyt Arboretum Friends, the Deschutes River Conservancy, the Oregon State University Foundation for the Institute for Natural Resources or the Gail Achterman Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.

And here is some video footage from a conversation Gail had with Chris Leinberger at the 2009 SMART Summit:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5VBftWr5o8

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rCuH5h-sAc

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQu0g2n8eOI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLE689655C2EE1CA8F

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk8cg2VdN7Y&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLE689655C2EE1CA8F

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB2oURvYsLg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLE689655C2EE1CA8F

ABOUT SMART

SMART, Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation, is a project of UMTRI, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Its steering group represents a breadth and diversity of departments, institutes, and initiatives related to sustainable transportation at the University of Michigan.

SMART catalyzes and undertakes research, demonstration projects (living labs), education, and global learning exchange on a range of issues related to the sustainable future of transportation.

SMART Blog: um-smart.org/blog

SMART ExChange–SMART’s networking site–is at smartumich.ning.com.

SMART is on Twitter.

SMART is on Google+.

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CONTENTS

SMART NEWS ABRIDGED

• SMART Announces the “Mobi,” a prize Honoring New Mobility Entrepreneurs Worldwide!
• Transforming Transportation Summit Video Footage now online!
• Mobility Mapping in Manila
• U-M Graham Institute Planning Grants Announced: Advancing Livable Communities through Sustainable Transportation
• December 19 Project Launch a Convivial Success
• Brief SMART News summary

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

Don’t forget SMART’s Calendar and Event Listings on the SMART Blog: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/calendar/. Just click on the event to get details on a wide variety of local and international events that come SMART’s way.

IMPORTANT JOB AND ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES:

Don’t forget SMART’s Opportunities Listings: http://www.um-smart.org/blog/category/opps/.

It posts local and international funding and job opportunities, academic posts, prizes, competitions that come our way. Check the whole list, or search by category. Just scroll down.

ABOUT SMART

Welcome to February 2012’s SMART e-News!

SMART NEWS

Dear friends of SMART. This e-news is an abridged edition to focus your attention on the launch of the new Mobi Prize for New Mobility entrepreneurs. Do read the quick update on SMART activities since December, but watch for much more detail on what’s brewing in the next issue.

SMART ANNOUNCES THE “MOBI,” A PRIZE HONORING NEW MOBILITY ENTREPRENEURS WORLDWIDE!

The “Mobi” (short for SMART Mobility EnterPrize) is an award celebrating entrepreneurial ventures in sustainable transportation, made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation. See www.mobiprize.com.

If you are an entrepreneur with a venture that advances New Mobility, you can apply for the prize.

There are 3 Grand Prizes that include:

$5000 USD
a trip to Rio + 20 in June to receive the prize
dedicated time with top notch entrepreneurial mentors

Special recognition will be given for New Mobility ventures that:

seamlessly connect with or enhance the wider (sustainable) transportation system
serve the urban poor
encourage young entrepreneurs

Though SMART has been working to promote the prize in India, South Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines, the Mobi is open to all New Mobility entrepreneurs worldwide.

Even if you don’t win one of the three grand prizes, you are still a winner because you will be listed in the SMART EnterPrize Register of New Mobility Ventures. This listing will profile your enterprise and connect you with customers, VC’s, investors, other entrepreneurs, and collaborators locally and globally.

Members and friends of the SMART community are so very excited about this unique opportunity to discover and celebrate innovators and trailblazers from all corners of the world and all walks of life. We’re especially excited to learn about some of the common challenges posed for entrepreneurs who are at times working against all odds to invent and roll out solutions aimed at improving quality of life, environment and economy from the neighborhood to the global scale. We see both the prize and the listing as ways to “unearth” or “crowd source” the widest range of unique and promising ventures that in the aggregate can inform policy, research, and practice worldwide and perhaps help to remove barriers to innovation in this growing area of New Mobility.

So if you’re not an entrepreneur yourself, please forward nominations or links to people or ventures you think should be included on the journey and we’ll invite them to apply right away.

As context, the Mobi Prize is one component of a year-long Rockefeller Foundation-supported project of SMART called “Catalyzing the New Mobility in Cities”. The aim of this exciting project is to identify existing and emerging New Mobility business models and innovative transportation approaches including those that benefit the urban poor; to identify and convene the social entrepreneurs advancing these new models along with key stakeholders; and to explore possible paths for scaling up those models.

In addition to the prize, SMART is connecting with representatives from the private sector, social enterprise, government, civil society, and academe to produce a report focused on the current state of the New Mobility industry worldwide, emerging new business models, and recommendations for related policy, research, and tech transfer that benefits the urban poor and at the same time addresses wider emerging trends and opportunities related to New Mobility globally. If you are interested in learning more about the report or contributing to it, please contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@umich.edu.

TRANSFORMING TRANSPORTATION SUMMIT VIDEOS NOW ONLINE!

You’ll remember that last April the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University held a successful and ground breaking Inaugural Summit of the Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium (TTRCC). If you missed it you can now catch videos of the many and diverse presentations on transforming transportation in Michigan and beyond. If you were able to attend, enjoy the memories! Go to: http://www.ttrcc.org/Summit/Program/Presentations.aspx.

Many thanks to the fine folks at MSU who made the videos possible.

Meanwhile please be in touch to share your stories of what research and action has transpired / transformed / emerged for you or your project since the summit.

MOBILITY MAPPING IN MANILA

As part of the “Catalyzing The New Mobility in Cities” project, representatives of local and regional government, large and small business, ngo’s and academe came together with SMART last week to map the transportation mode and service connectivity (the “New Mobility Grid”) and related economic opportunity in Manila Philippines. This SMART mapping process was part of a larger project to identify new business models and integrated mobility solutions geared to the urban poor in Metro Manila. Led by Dean Tony LaVina, Dr. Doy Romero, Dr. Danielle Guillen, and Lorenzo (JR) Cordova the session focused on a part of Quezon City as a starting point for mapping other areas across Metro Manila, and as a step towards implementing an enhanced New Mobility grid region wide.

U-M GRAHAM INSTITUTE PLANNING GRANTS ANNOUNCED: ADVANCING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES THROUGH SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

What policies, interventions, innovations, and partnerships best enable urban areas to create more livable communities? To answer this question, an Integrated Assessment can bring together researchers, stakeholders, and decision makers to develop common analytical approaches, data sets, tools, and policies for relevant sustainable transportation and livable community interventions. This holistic view incorporates a wide range of policies and strategies including sustainable transportation initiatives, land-use planning, economic development, communications and telecommunications, technology, environmental protection, health promotion, and more.

Integrated Assessment Planning Grants

To support this work, the Graham Institute has funded five planning grants at $20,000 each. They will last for six months and run concurrently between November 30, 2011 and May 31, 2012. The five projects involve 13 University of Michigan faculty from six academic units and nine different communities (Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Francisco, Portland, Tacoma, Olympia, Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti, and Detroit). The principal investigators and their projects are:

• Richard Gonzalez, Institute for Social Research: Consumer Uptake of Seamless, Multi-Modal Mobility (the New Mobility Grid): Policies and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Affecting Behavior of Users and Decision Makers
• Jarod Kelly, School of Natural Resources & Environment: Integrated Assessment of Infrastructure Greening within Detroit for Improved Sustainable Transportation, Water Quality, and Health
• Larissa Larsen/Joe Grengs, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning: Providing Healthy Food and Transportation Access for Lower Income Populations in Eastern Washtenaw County
• Richard K. Norton, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning: Realigning Public Services for Sustainability & Social Equity in Kalamazoo County
• Steve Underwood, University of Michigan-Dearborn: An Integrated Assessment of the Potential for Innovative, Disruptive Applications of Technology for Transportation to Advance Livability and Sustainability

Teams that successfully meet planning grant objectives will be invited to submit full IA proposals from which the Graham Institute will select a limited number to support at approximately $150,000 per project year over a 15 month period.

For more information, please contact: John Callewaert, Graham Institute Integrated Assessment Program Director, (734) 615-3752 or jcallew@umich.edu.

DECEMBER 19 PROJECT LAUNCH A CONVIVIAL SUCCESS

Just before Christmas SMART partners and friends got together at the Michigan League in Ann Arbor to launch the Rockefeller-funded Catalyzing New Mobility In Cities project and to set the tone for a collaborative and productive 2012. In addition to the lively mingling we got a warm welcome from SMART leads Peter Sweatman of UMTRI, Jonathan Levine of Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, and Tom Gladwin of Ross School of Business and the Erb Institute. We heard wise words on cities and the urban poor from Benjamin de La Pena of the Rockefeller Foundation. And we got exciting updates from Matt Brest of the Alcoa Foundation; Rich Gonzalez and David Chock on the Consumer Uptake Study; Steve Gutterman and Robert Polk of Connect + Prosper, Hi Fitzgerald of MSU representing the TTRCC (Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium); Megan Owens, Richard Murphy, Conan Smith of the Trans4M Coalition; Michael Ford of the AATA and more.

BRIEF SMART NEWS SUMMARY

It was a busy holiday season and start of the year for SMART. In late December the Connect + Prosper project hosted a half day mapping and implementation meeting with key project leads across Michigan. And through December and January preparations have been underway for the Mobi Prize, the Catalyzing New Mobility Report, and project visits to the Philippines, India, China, and South Africa. Watch the next e-news for details.

ABOUT SMART

SMART, Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation, is a project of UMTRI, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Its steering group represents a breadth and diversity of departments, institutes, and initiatives related to sustainable transportation at the University of Michigan.

SMART catalyzes and undertakes research, demonstration projects (living labs), education, and global learning exchange on a range of issues related to the sustainable future of transportation.

SMART Blog: um-smart.org/blog

SMART ExChange–SMART’s networking site–is at smartumich.ning.com.

SMART is on Twitter.

SMART is on Google+.

The 2010-2013 collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO) calls for the creation of a Professional Development Fund (the “Fund”) for LEO Lecturers on the Ann Arbor campus. Awards of up to $550 are available to eligible Lecturers each academic year. The purpose of the Fund is to encourage creativity through the support of Lecturer professional development by providing grants in support of activities that enhance Lecturers’ teaching at the University of Michigan; the Fund is not intended to provide a salary supplement to the Lecturer.

For more information, see http://hr.umich.edu/acadhr/contracts/toolbox/ahrnews.html

Author: Patrick Lydon

Earlier this month, I wrote a piece about how Rush Hour can Save you Money, it compared a typical Silicon Valley commute using a car, and the same commute using a bicycle. At the end of the article, a breakdown of costs was provided.

A Twitter re-posting in several different languages followed the article, and many readers found it compelling proof that you don’t need to completely replace your car with a bicycle in order to see immense benefits. Part-time bicycle commuters come away all the better through increased health and cost-savings.

Read the full article at http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/pmlydon/34289/does-car-bike-good-thing

A major European project aimed at delivering green traffic management systems in European cities and towns will be officially launched today (January 18) at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. The three-year project, known as ‘THE ISSUE’ (Transport Health Environment – Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies), will support scientists, engineers and development agencies from several different European regions to work together, using the latest space and information technologies, to develop more effective methods of easing road congestion and improving the urban environment. It is hoped that the final research outcomes will be used to influence future policy and the implementation of traffic management systems that benefit public health and safety.

Read the full story at http://traffictechnologytoday.com/news.php?NewsID=35996.