Industry Insights

Catalyzing IoT Innovation to Bring Utilities and Communities Together

January 29, 2020

This week, we are excited to announce the Smart Community Challenge, Itron’s second edition competition that is designed to bring innovation to solve challenges that communities are facing. For this year’s challenge, we have partnered with leading utilities to define two challenges:
  • Transforming Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations into Grid Resources through grid optimization, time-based consumption and load management while improving the customer experience. (Sponsored by Avista)
  • Creating Safe & Resilient Communities by enabling communities to endure prolonged outage events caused by extreme weather events while minimizing disruptions to critical services. (Sponsored by Liberty Utilities)

We recognize that every community will have unique needs and priorities, so we partner with our customers and their communities to identify strategic opportunities to deliver technology for a purpose. Leveraging Itron’s proven technology and our open IoT developers program, we are changing the paradigm for how utilities and technology providers drive innovation forward. We are seeking innovation on the technical and business domains that will maximize the economic, societal and environmental impact of the solutions we will bring to market in the service of communities.

Step-Up to the Challenge – Apply Today
Innovators around the world are invited to submit creative solutions to these challenges and compete for the opportunity to deploy their solution. Applications must be submitted before March 31, 2020. Finalists will have approximately eight weeks to demonstrate an integrated solution using our developer kits. Winners will be announced July 2020. Apply online through our website.

Sponsor a Challenge
The Smart Community Challenge is a part of an ongoing series of open innovation opportunities, and additional challenges and utility sponsors may be announced. If you are interested in organizing your own challenge, click here.

By Itai Dadon


Director, Product Management


Itai Dadon brings more than 15 years of experience in corporate leadership, new business development and product strategy in the telecom sector to Itron. Prior, Itai worked at Silver Spring Networks and Broadcom in several capacities, including leading the software product team in the wireless connectivity division and business development activities across multiple industries, generating $100M of growth YoY. Earlier in his career, he held product, development and sales roles for ST-Ericsson, Texas Instruments and e-SIM Ltd. Itai holds a master’s in engineering, computer science from the Paris Graduate School of Management school. A native of Jerusalem, Itai lived half of his life in France and speaks five languages.