Pollination workshops - apps due 12/1
Through a series of facilitated workshops centered around each of the six research challenges, this stage helps increase awareness of existing experts on campus, build partnerships with external stakeholders,...
Bold Challenges is a new initiative, led by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), that integrates social and technical sciences from across the University of Michigan to address societal challenges that intersect equity, health,...
Peter Adriaens discusses "The Transformational Role of Data for Democratized Digital Project Delivery" and how it relates to smart infrastructure finance.
Historically, public infrastructure systems such as roads, water utilities, and schools are financed using a combination of tax revenue, government and revenue-backed bonds. This system has repeatedly fallen short due to insufficient tax revenue and political aversion towards funding “social infrastructure”. Especially for schools, the access to quality infrastructure is highly correlated (in the US) to poverty, stemming from property values, credit worthiness and other factors. A recent bill (not passed) required a 1:6 leverage of federal with state and private finance, compared to 1:12 in Europe and 1:30 proposed under the Climate accords. Either infrastructure has not been built or upgraded, or private capital has stepped in the breach. At the Center for Smart Infrastructure Finance, we're asking whether data-driven models can close the gap by taking advantage of the internet of things (IoT): smart sensors that deliver information which can be monetized. This seminar will explore how private financing models that leverage digital data supply chains to attract 'efficient capital' (e.g. insurance, options trades, debt securities, variable interest rate bonds) can be adapted to financing public infrastructure while limiting recourse to the citizens that use it, and leveling the economic disparities of access.
