RENO, NV -- The city of Reno is bringing in the big guns.  In November, IBM named Reno a ‘Smarter City’ of 2012, a grant to improve the town’s economic development.  Yesterday, IBM officials, including Business Performance member Alexey Ershov, came to city hall to begin the project.

“It’s an A-Team that IBM sent here to work on making Reno a smarter city,” says Ershov.  The Smarter City project is a consulting engagement grant program to help improve whatever the individual city requests help for.

IBM Global Studies member Lori Feller says Reno will use the grant to expand business.  “Reno put together an amazing application about what it wanted to do to change the face of their economic development and bring in new business,” says Feller.

For the next three weeks, the team of six IBM senior management executives is interviewing stakeholders and business experts throughout the area.  The team will then develop a hypothesis and create a road map report on how Reno can us data and analytics to revitalize the local economy.

“Make it easier to open a business,” says Ershov. “Make it easy for site selectors to choose Reno over many other places for this business (and) how to make Reno more competitive.”

Members of the IBM team assigned to Reno come from as far away as Italy and China, to give world-wide expertise because of how broad business competition is.  “Not only within Northern Nevada,” says Ershov. “Not only within Nevada, not only within the United States because competition is global now.”

Once their report is complete, IBM steps away until their follow up meeting while Reno utilizes the money as they see necessary.  “They really know what the answers are in terms of ecomomic development,” says Feller. “What they need help with is someone to help bring it together into one solid recommendations and report.”

IBM says Reno was selected for the grant because they partnered with other groups throughout the region like the University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute.