News Releases

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Penton's IoT Emerge, a new event that targets the opportunities and challenges posed by IoT devices, platforms and services, presented by the IoT Institute, today announced the Illinois state leaders keynote presenters for its co-located event SmartGig Chicago. SmartGig Chicago, which will take place in November 2-3, 2016 at McCormick Center in Chicago, has been designed to provide practical and objective information to civic leaders throughout the region on gigabit-speed connectivity, municipal fiber networks, 'smart city' infrastructure and more.

Timothy Downs, Event Director said, "Governments, together with startups and corporations, are re-examining policies, processes and community engagement. To build the smart cities requires building the city from the Internet up – connecting the city street and the cloud in one digital infrastructure. By bringing these elite state representative to our event we'll hear practical insights and new ideas on the they are shaping, designing and planning the city of the future."

The following Illinois state leaders will keynote the event:

• Hardik Bhatt is the Secretary Designate of the newly formed Department of Innovation and Technology and the Illinois State CIO in Governor Rauner's cabinet. Bhatt leads 1,700 IT employees and over $1B of technology budget, including a P&L for digital transformation of Illinois Government. 
• Brenna Berman, Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) Commissioner and Chief Information Officer, City of Chicago is focused on transforming the DoIT to provide the skills and expertise to implement Mayor Emanuel's commitment to leveraging data and technology to create a more efficient, effective and innovative City government. Under her leadership the team has delivered commitment to a robust open data program, integrated advanced analytics and real-time data-driven decision making across the city, driven IoT innovation for the City through unique partnerships at UILabs and, in partnership with the University of Chicago, realized the vision of urban scale sensing with the Array of Things.
• Pat Quinn (D) served as the 41st Governor of Illinois. During his governorship he lead the completion of a nearly $100 million, four-year project to install more than 1,000 new miles of high-speed fiber-optic broadband infrastructure across 55 Illinois counties which connects approximately 400 anchor institutions, including community colleges, universities, libraries, health facilities, K-12 schools and public safety agencies. Today, he is leading Take Charge Chicago, a petition for referendums to term limit the Mayor of Chicago and create an elected Consumer Advocate in the city.

Leadership from the municipal, regional, county and state level are encouraged to attend to understand the value in leveraging ultra-high speed municipal networks to enable the cloud-based 'smart city.' Public sector professionals and their private sector counterparts often don't have the time or resources to travel to broadband, wireless and 'smart city' conferences. SmartGig Chicago brings the education, information and thought leadership to the regional level.

IoT Emerge, scheduled for November 2–4, 2016 at McCormick Place in Chicago, will offer real-world education and insights, hands-on experience of IoT enabled businesses through conference programs, live demos, case studies, and local tours. Mirroring the focus of the IoT Institute on Smart Cities and the Industrial IoT, the event will provide comprehensive insights and guidance on achieving success with IoT strategies and implementations in these segments. The event will feature strategic and technical sessions, workshops, hands-on training, cross-functional peer-to-peer networking, advice and lessons learned on achieving organizational readiness, leveraging data analytics, and instituting security best practices. Embracing the reality that IoT requires multiple stakeholders and departments working together, the event is targeted at private and public sector leaders; operations, IT, engineering, and facilities management; as well as system integrators and IoT developers.

For additional information on SmartGig Chicago, click here to view the agenda.

SmartGig Chicago will also be held in tandem with IWCE's Critical LTE Communications Forum and co-located with IoT Emerge and Empowering Customers & Cities. To access the line up of speakers at both IoT Emerge and SmartGig Chicago register for either an IoT Emerge Conference pass or the IoT Extreme pass to maximize your conference experience. SmartGig Chicago.Click here for details. To register to attend IWCE's Critical LTE Communications Forum, click here.

Media interested in obtaining media credentials to attend SmartGig Chicago, contact Bibi Jackson at bibi.jackson@penton.com.

To learn about speaker or sponsorship, visit www.smartgigchicago.com.

Stay connected with Penton IoT Institute on Twitter @IoTiPenton, Facebook: IoT Institute and LinkedIn Group: The IoT Institute. To sign up for the IoT Institute weekly IoTi Informer newsletter, visit: www.ioti.com.

About Penton's IoT Institute
Penton's IoT Institute is an online community and live events franchise focused on practical B2B applications in the rapidly growing world of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT Institute provides actionable case studies, insights, research, and e-learning on the industrial and cultural phenomenon that's changing the shape of business and cities today. The IoT Institute's mission is to enable cross-industry and cross-job function learning to drive business performance.

About Smart Gig Media LLC
Based in Southern California and Arizona, Smart Gig Media LLC is an information and education resource focused on next generation broadband and wireless infrastructure and applications. The company's mission is to help both public and private sectors understand a vision of the network's strategic role at the center of every region, every company's, and every industry's digital transformation. More information is available online at www.smartgigmedia.com.

ABOUT PENTON
Penton is an innovative information services company that empowers nearly 20 million business decision makers in markets that drive more than 12 trillion dollars in purchases each year. Our products inform with rich industry insights and workflow tools; engage through dynamic events, education and networking; and advance business with powerful marketing services programs. Penton is the way smart businesses buy, sell and grow.

Headquartered in New York, Penton is privately owned by MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein & Co., LP. For more information, visit http://www.penton.com or follow us on Twitter @PentonNow.

MEDIA CONTACT
Bibi Jackson
Penton IoT 
Bibi.jackson@penton.com 
(510) 423-0345

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SOURCE Penton