Mark Lindquist – University of Michigan
Community driven urban green space planning utilizing crowdsourcing and gamification
*NSF Funded, Ecology
Initiative Description
Effective urban planning plays a crucial role in cultivating vibrant and livable communities within our cities. Creating resilient urban areas has significant impact on helping cities withstand and recover from environmental shocks and stresses. However, due to a variety of pandemic, demographic, and societal issues, existing models of gaining community input into planning decisions are falling far short of expectations, leading to urban planning decisions that don’t consider the population’s needs.
A team at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, led by Dr. Mark Lindquist, has developed a 3D visualization and planning application for urban green space design utilizing crowdsourcing and gamification to encourage community participation in the design of spaces. Utilizing the gamification of Decision Support Systems, Dr. Lindquist believes that urban planning can be made more fun and engaging, leading to increased participation and collaboration from a range of stakeholders.
This research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Agriculture McIngtire Stennis program, has recently been awarded a grant to explore commercial opportunities and methods of encouraging adoption of the Decision Support Systems by local governments.
Role Description
Dr. Lindquist is hiring a business lead who can start the initial commercialization conversations. This role is pivotal in guiding the team to driving product/market fit and early commercialization of the technology. The candidate will be the first business hire and work closely with the team principle. As such, the individual will be responsible for creating a strategy incorporating organizational, product, go-to-market and financial planning to reach initial ramping of a product within a target market.
Core areas of accountability:
- Identifying target market(s)
- Refining product and business model to meet user/customer/market need
- Identifying highest value use cases and user flows
- Developing an MVP engagement plan
- Producing a business plan
- Driving a funding plan
Key Experience Desired:
- Business development experience engaging local government entities
- Consumer Application software product go-to-market or marketing
- Knowledge of 3D/Interactive/Gaming software stacks
- Some experience with gamification and crowdsourcing business models
- Experience or desire to have an impact in local communities and cities
This is a contract role. Location for this role is flexible and can be fulfilled remotely with some travel.