DEARBORN — Dearborn has become one of three cities selected to participate in the MINextCities Program to become a “smart city” of the future.

The program is a new statewide program that supports the use of technology to improve energy efficiency, reliability, sustainability, safety and overall quality of life in order to model a road map for small and mid-sized cities to become the “smart cities” of the future.

Under the program, the city will be able to implement technical solutions that address some of the city’s most pressing needs, at no cost.

“The MINextCities program allows us to tap into our roots as a birthplace of innovation to fully realize the potential of next-generation smart city solutions,” Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said. “Dearborn couldn’t be more thrilled to have been selected and more excited to work with partner cities to model a path forward.”

Flint and Marquette are the other two cities selected for the program.

The program is being facilitated by NextEnergy, a Detroit-based leader in deploying smart city technologies, and Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing-based public policy consulting firm. They will be joined by local project teams composed of elected officials, city staff and community leaders in order to offer community-specific guidance.

The team will work to identify solutions tailor-made for each city’s objectives and capacity constraints using community-defined goals, like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving mobility and quality of life, increasing attraction and retention of workers and businesses, enhancing public safety, and boosting private sector and community investments.

The MINextCities Program is funded by the Michigan Department of Energy and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). More information can be found at www.minextcities.org.