City and County of Broomfield’s Post

Did you know that according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: "Thirty-nine percent of small businesses reported plans to add AI to their digital toolkit. However, the lack of knowledge around AI technology will need to be addressed first, since 77 percent of small businesses indicated that they do not know enough about AI or claim its benefits are unclear, making the education gap the single most common barrier to entry for this technology." https://lnkd.in/euim4jEE So what might that look like in Southwest Florida? Florida Gulf Coast University and the Horizon Council (Lee County Economic Development Office) took up this question as a special topic in the latest business climate report. Shout out to Amir B. Ferreira Neto and the rest of the team at the Regional Economic Research Institute for their work. It highlights some interesting findings that are of interest to the #SWFLTech ecosystem. 🚩 31 percent of the respondents use AI to assist with work activities 🚩 74 percent of the respondents currently using AI agreed that implementing AI made work more efficient and saved them time. 🚩 80 percent of the respondents felt AI will be important for their business over the next five years 🚩 65 percent of the respondents not currently using AI indicated that they were not likely to invest in AI over the next 12 months citing concerns data security, and the time it would take to learn and implement. A similar study was done for Collier County with somewhat similar themes. The survey identified an additional concern related to a lack of AI/automation tools built for their business. In reading the reports, I wondered: ❓ how respondents defined 'AI' and what use cases they might have developed for the use of AI to increase general worker productivity vs. the use of AI as part of an organization's digital transformation strategy ❓whether suppliers of talent in K12, Higher Ed, and Corporate L&D might need support to purposefully integrate "AI literacy for all" into their plans ❓which organizations are actively working on this issue for the benefit of the region Looking forward to seeing what comes next! #SWFLTech #BetterTogether #talentpipelinemanagement Horizon Foundation Lee County , SWFL Tech, Tech Alliance of SWFL, CareerSource Southwest Florida, Mark Rieger, Christopher Westley, Peggy Aune, Ed.D., Rachel Tease Ludwig

The transition to a climate-smart, resilient, and inclusive world requires redefining every level of public agencies and every industry. Learn how Guidehouse ES&I can help: https://lnkd.in/dxyJgXrY

🔍 As we dive into 2024, Shane Wenzel 🏘️ shares a thought-provoking analysis of the year ahead, focusing on critical wake-up calls for the housing sector and climate change policies. From questioning the feasibility of government housing initiatives to debating the practicality of tiny-home movements and public clean air shelters, Shane offers a candid reflection on policy predictions and their implications. 🏡💡 Climate change solutions and housing strategies prompt us to consider the balance between ambition and practicality. Let's engage in this important conversation and explore paths to a sustainable future. 📚 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eSNTTM4t

Join us on Tuesday, July 23rd, as Weston & Sampson's Bella Purdy, AICP and Anna Kimelblatt, CFM present "Integrating Climate Resilience into Everyday Planning" alongside industry experts at the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association annual conference. 📅 Date: Tuesday, July 23rd 📍 Location: Williamsburg, Virginia Today, there is a growing focus on planning for climate resilience. However, if your community is tight on resources, facing local housing shortages, economic challenges, or needs a zoning overhaul, your attention as a planner may be elsewhere. How can we integrate climate resilience into our everyday work? As we face a worldwide crisis, climate resilience must be integral to our thinking. Otherwise, climate change impacts may exacerbate the myriad of problems our cities and towns already face. This is the revolution of urban and environmental planning. This panel session highlights the work of local governments, state agencies, planning district commissions, non-profits, and private consultants, showcasing how these practitioners integrate resilience into planning activities. Planners will learn climate resilience techniques, types of plans that incorporate climate resilience, and approaches for integrating resilience considerations into various planning activities. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and join the conversation on climate resilience! https://lnkd.in/eHSWchTw #ClimateResilience #UrbanPlanning #EnvironmentalPlanning #PlanningConference

Last week, the Pacific Institute in partnership with LiKEN Knowledge (LiKEN), and Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated (RCAP) launched a critical new report addressing the devastating impacts of climate change on rural water and wastewater systems across the US. "Building resilience in rural water systems requires a holistic approach that considers social, economic, and environmental factors," says Lena Schlichting, Senior Research Specialist at RCAP. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/gZffQVGQ #WaterEquity4All #RuralWaterClimateEquity #WaterEquityNow

I found out today that William Cosgrove, a great mentor and early warrior for global water futures visioning exercises has passed. I was fortunate to be part of his path-breaking World Water Vision process in the late 1990s that included consultations and water and water-food modeling exercises and put forward a series of key messages that are still as relevant today as ever: The concluding statement of a key report reads as: To conclude: there is a water crisis, but it is a crisis of management. We have badly threatened our water resources with bad institutions, bad governance, bad incen- tives, and bad allocations of resources. In all this, we have a choice. We can continue with business as usual, and widen and deepen the crisis tomorrow. Or we can launch a movement to move from vision to action – by making water everybody’s business https://lnkd.in/djutKgWb This is only a very tiny sliver of the many, many contributions Bill made to water research, policy and practice. Here is another visionary paper of his that focused on water's planetary boundaries or resource limits and summarized research areas that are as important today as they were 10 years ago : https://lnkd.in/d4pKCdBe I also had the fortune to live not too far from Bill over the last 15 years or so and we used to meet every year for a mutual update of where the water world was going (but also Quebec politics--as he used to be quite active there as well, among his many, many other talents!). Unfortunately, we could not meet during COVID and he was less well recently. But he will NOT be forgotten.

This is an insightful read by Ryan Meres with RESNET. I love that we have this level of insight because data is available to measure and analyze it. It still astonishes me that the most desirable areas of the country in which to live are also the areas experiencing significant impact from a changing climate and resource stress, like water - the focus of this paper. https://lnkd.in/e5P5D-mi

In a new blog, out today, FFCC’s Georgie Barber sets out how a #LandUseFramework can help the new government deliver on many of their missions – and secure a more resilient future for us all. “Taking an explicitly resilience-focused approach to land is the new imperative. Land is the essential, foundational ingredient for solutions to the problems we face: we need land to produce food and energy, to build homes and ensure our water supply. [...] how we use land is not only essential to mitigating our environmental impacts, but also how we can adapt to a new climate and nature reality.” The answer, Georgie writes, is a Multifunctional Land Use Framework that embeds resilience into national and local decision making. Read her blog in full  👇 https://lnkd.in/emA9fbsw

Mission Zero works to support businesses in our region to reduce their carbon emissions, and to understand our business community’s thoughts and progress on sustainability. This is a really important area of business to be considering in regard to managing risk, and it's helpful for us to know what business need on their sustainability journeys. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey below 👇

Some really powerful stories at the Natural Hazards Research Australia research forum this morning from practitioners in utilities and government about the exhausting intellectual, emotional and professional challenge of trying to manage and avert complex emergencies and related ‘gnarly problems’. Thank you Steve Crowley from Optus, Bridie Fennessy from Yarra Valley Water, Rob Considine from Vic DEECA and Steve Martin from Powerlink for your candid reflections. So important to learn from and support those managing and leading climate responses in organisations. Especially given we need to refocus emergency response and #climatechangeadaptation on the overlaps between our domains and the collective good, as Bridie Fennessy rightly pointed out we need to. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute some insights from our research, and well done Natural Hazards Research Australia, panel chair Kate Vinot and Adriana Keating for your skilful summing up and call for deep, purposeful innovation, including in governance.