Parsons Joins Smart City Works Venture Studios as a Disrupter to Drive Innovation Forward

Smart cities continue to be globally developed, as a fascination with their ability to revolutionize our daily lives only grows. Many large cities are engaging in plans to implement numerous features that increase the efficiency of entire infrastructures through improvements to services, connectivity, data usage, and more. These initiatives are predicted to only increase in their adoption, with global spending expected to reach $189.5 billion by 2023, an increase of $31.5 billion from the previous year.

Some of the most important projects that will be allocated the greatest budget cover a variety of strategic priorities that aim to develop and improve the efficiency of cities and benefit the citizens within them. The most prudent projects include smart grids, transportation, smart lighting, and traffic management.

Committed to identifying key trends and working with various alliances to discover promising solutions, Smart City Works Venture Studio (SCWVS) focuses on providing innovation opportunities throughout private, municipal, state, federal, and critical infrastructure segments. Joining as a "Disruptor" Member of SCWVS, Parsons Corporation will be a key addition to an already substantial list of members engaging with the Studio focused on the commercialization of infrastructure-focused innovation.

"We see a convergence between the imperative to revitalize and modernize our critical infrastructure and the existential imperative to enable much greater levels of sustainability and resiliency," said Don DeLoach, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Smart City Works Venture Studio. "Technological innovation is at the intersection of this convergence, and we are dedicated to finding the most promising solutions in these areas, then providing an experienced team of entrepreneurs as an extension of these emerging companies to help them navigate the numerous execution risks as they strive to achieve scalable, repeatable commercialization."

“Parsons is on a mission to upgrade our world’s critical infrastructure, which requires delivering fast, secure, sustainable solutions to our customers across all markets,” said Ricardo Lorenzo, chief technology officer for Parsons. “As a member of Smart City Works Venture Studios, our teams will have industry-first access to emerging technologies that will help us achieve our mission and deliver the innovation at the core of all we do.”

Smart City Works Venture Studio has both Corporate and Agency members, designed to facilitate a meaningful dialog about relevant innovation to benefit the Studio's corporations, agencies, and startups. Peter Torrellas, President of Connected Communities at Parsons, will be joining the Board beside two other Disrupter members, the level of membership that is considered the top tier.

The Chairman of Smart City Works Venture Studios, Tim McManus stated, "I've been a member of Parson's Critical Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Board for over two years now, and I've seen how their Chair, President and CEO, Carey Smith, and Parsons have embraced technology and digital solutions as key elements of their solutions for improving the infrastructure of cities, states, and national governments across the globe," he continued. "Peter Torrellas, President of Parson's Connected Communities, has advanced the collaboration and convergence between Parson's federal and critical infrastructure market segments over the last year and has become an industry leader and visionary in the EPC industry."

Parsons joins New Jersey Transit, Urban Movement Labs, WGI Engineering, and Civic Infrastructure Collaborative in the growing list of members at SCWVS, which will commence operations this summer. The group is collectively focused on technology and associated innovative processes that can revolutionize the development, deployment, and maintenance of infrastructure while also improving quality, accessibility, cost, and sustainability.