The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce announced a new partnership with Google along with its new Big 5 initiative at its 130th annual dinner on Nov. 21.
Kansas City is one of a handful of cities worldwide picked by Google to be part of an Urban Mobility Platform pilot project. That dovetails with the chamber’s new Big 5 goal: Building KC’s innovative regional transportation solutions.
“While our core is well-connected to public transit, an analysis by Brookings found that only 18 percent of all jobs in the region are reachable by transit. That’s not acceptable,” said Karen Daniel, outgoing chamber chairwoman. “The solution to that challenge will be solved through innovation and emerging technology.”
More details about the Google partnership will be announced in January, chamber CEO Joe Reardon said.
“This is an amazing opportunity for our region to be working with Google around workforce, urban mobility, and transportation insights,” he said.
The Big 5 initiatives originally were announced in 2011 as big-picture goals to make the Kansas City metro the best place to live, work, start a business and grow a business. The other initiatives on the Big 5 list are:
- Making Kansas City America’s most entrepreneurial city.
- Revitalizing urban neighborhoods through the Urban Neighborhood Initiative.
- Moving UMKC’s world class arts programs to a new downtown location.
- Building Kansas City’s workforce of tomorrow through kindergarten-readiness.
A previous goal, growing Kansas City’s medical research from discovery to cure, was retired. The region has made progress on that goal; one big step was the University of Kansas Cancer Center earning designation as a National Cancer Institute in 2012.
At the event, entrepreneur Matt Condon was named as the incoming chairman of the chamber—at age 42, he’s the youngest in chamber history. Condon is CEO of Bardavon Innovations and founded ARC Physical Therapy+.
The chamber also named Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the University of Kansas Cancer Center, as 2017 Kansas Citian of the Year.
