Three years ago the state of Illinois ranked in the last quartile of states when it came to using IT efficiently. After two years on the job Hardik Bhatt, the state’s CIO, has transformed Illinois.
Danielle Alvarez has served as Florida’s CISO for more than two years, but on June 1, 2017, she will serve her last day in the Agency for State Technology. Before stepping down, Alvarez spoke with 21st Century State & Local about her work within the state and her hopes for her replacement.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced a $5 million matching grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to will help support the launch of a new health care research initiative called PracticePoint at WPI.
To help prepare the public for wildfires, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection released a new app called “Ready for Wildfire.”
Connected Nation, an organization committed to bringing affordable Internet to Americans, announced that Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa won the Connected Nation Broadband Visionary Award.
The Consumer Technology Association released the 2017 Innovation Scorecard, ranking states in four categories: Innovative Champion, Innovative Leader, Innovative Adopter, and Modest Innovator.
The states of Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Maryland have all discussed bills that restrict automated vehicle testing to motor vehicle manufacturers, which puts technology companies like Uber and Waymo at a disadvantage.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has declared April to be Information Technology month in order to bring attention the state’s IT efforts and increase the IT workforce.
A bill proposed in the Florida legislature would take away the authority of the Agency for State Technology to oversee statewide IT projects, which could ultimately drive up costs, according to Eric Larson, chief technology officer at AST.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s program to improve the state’s broadband connectivity will continue despite its contractor’s sudden declaration of bankruptcy, according Brian Noyes, Mass Tech’s director of research and communications.
